in at intervals until all were gone on the ocean side. I was bewildered and did not know which way to turn, I was just about to return to my private office when a great wave came in from two directions, one from the ocean side and the other from Twenty-third street, and a big bundle rolled up at my feet and a light flashed. I helped this bundle scramble to its feet and it turned out to be a policeman, who was on duty at the outside of the Roney Plaza Hotel. He told me that he was trying to make his way along when a huge wave picked him up and deposited him right at my feet. We made our way back to the corner in which was the lounge, the northern window of which was still intact, we sat in arm chairs for awhile, when suddenly this one remaining window crashed, and I could feel the floor trembling. The water rose so high that the chairs on which we were sitting were floating, and I felt the floor quiver, and grabbed the policeman's wrist and bellowed to him to follow me outside. We could see trees going by uprooted, huge coconut palms as well as roofs of houses, I knew not where we were going, but it must have been Divine Providence that directed me to the only room the door of which held, as I rushed through this entrance still leading the policeman. I reached back and pulled the huge pecky cypress door closed behind me to prevent the waves coming in. The policeman now held his torch in his helmet, and as the water was up to our waists we had to climb upon the table, where we sat until it rose so high that we had to stand. Minutes now seemed hours, and although we scarcely spoke a word the knowledge that we were not absolutely alone was some comfort to both of us. As the water rose to a dangerous height he suggested that we had better get out. I asked him how. He suggested the door. I was, by this time, agreeable to try anything once, but on making our way to the door we found the sand and debris had piled up above the catch sash of the windows, to say nothing of the fact that a raging torrent was racing by the windows carrying every thing in its wake, including a huge piano, a relic from the house of the Emperor of Austria, which went floating by on a wave at a terrific rate as though it had been a feather. Escape was cut off. At this time we saw two huge roofs crash to the ground right outside of our windows. These had acted as wooden awnings for our office and the second floor of the casino above, and were completely demolished. A few moments later we saw the Roman Pools split completely in two, releasing five hundred thousand gallons of water in one deluge, having the same effect as a dam bursting and carrying everything before it. The water rose rapidly, and the most welcome
