It is coming down quickly now.

They must have waited for the storm to be over." Next moment the others saw something faintly marked against the horizon.
It _was_ a sail.
But Mrs.Costello either was gifted with longer sight, or her excitement sharpened her faculties.

She declared that it was certainly the expected boat; it was one, she knew well, and could recognize distinctly.
They began to speculate as to the time of its arrival; and while they spoke, still watching eagerly, they did not notice how the sky darkened.
The horizon still remained light; it even grew brighter; but the brightness was only a line, surrounded with a silvery border; the black cloud spread out overhead.

By-and-by the wind began to rise again in long, wailing blasts, as it had done that morning.

The edges of the cloud seemed to be torn into long, jagged fringes, and there fell sharp, momentary showers of snow and sleet, hissing as they touched the water.
The boat came on fast now; but at intervals it was hidden; once, when a denser obstacle than usual of rain and drift and frosty mist had come between it and the land, there appeared in the lull that followed another object much further away, but moving down the river also.