M.Letourneur placed himself in front of Andre to shelter him from the waves.

Miss Herbey stood upright and motionless as a statue.
Soon dense masses of lurid clouds came rolling up, and a crackling, like the rattle of musketry, resounded through the air.

This was produced by a series of electrical concussions, in which volleys of hailstones were discharged from the cloud-batteries above.

In fact, as the storm-sheet came in contact with a current of cold air, hail was formed with great rapidity, and hailstones, large as nuts, came pelting down, making the platform of the raft re-echo with a metallic ring.
For about half an hour the meteoric shower continued to descend, and during that time the wind slightly abated in violence; but after having shifted from quarter to quarter, it once more blew with all its former fury.

The shrouds were broken, but happily the mast, already bending almost double, was removed by the men from its socket before it should be snapped short off.