All were plunged in darkness.

CHAPTER VII.

SUPERHUMAN HORRORS.

On their part it was with wild jubilee and delight that those on board

the hooker saw the hostile land recede and lessen behind them. By

degrees the dark ring of ocean rose higher, dwarfing in twilight

Portland, Purbeck, Tineham, Kimmeridge, the Matravers, the long streaks

of dim cliffs, and the coast dotted with lighthouses.

England disappeared. The fugitives had now nothing round them but the

sea.

All at once night grew awful.

There was no longer extent nor space; the sky became blackness, and

closed in round the vessel. The snow began to fall slowly; a few flakes

appeared. They might have been ghosts. Nothing else was visible in the

course of the wind. They felt as if yielded up. A snare lurked in every

possibility.

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The Man Who Laughs