nine o'clock
Against their dark background one or two livid , sulphur-coloured splotches showed up malignant and menacing , while the surface of the sea had changed from the appearance of burnished quicksilver to that of ground glass . A low , moaning sound rose up from the ocean as if it knew that trouble was in store for it . Far out in the Channel I saw a single panting , eager steam vessel making its way to Belfast Lough , and the large barque which I had observed in the morning still beating about in the offing , endeavouring to pass to the northward . At nine o'clock a sharp breeze was blowing , at ten it had freshened into a gale , and before midnight the most furious storm was raging which I can remember upon that weather-beaten coast . I sat for some time in our small , oak-panelled sitting-room listening to the screeching and howling of the blast and to the rattle of the gravel and pebbles as they pattered against the window . Nature 's grim orchestra was playing its world-old piece with a compass which ranged from the deep diapason of the thundering surge to the thin shriek of the scattered shingle and the keen piping of frightened sea birds . Once for an instant I opened the lattice window , but a gust of wind and rain came blustering through , bearing with it a great sheet of seaweed , which flapped down upon the table .