Late summer is hurricane season in the Everglades. Without taking the omens of the inevitable storm seriously, Tea Cake and Janie watch small groups of Seminoles leaving, heading toward Palm Beach Road and forsaking the money-making muck in order to survive the ominous, still invisible hurricane.
The fury does not wait long. In a sudden burst of thunder and lightning, the storm hits—and the world of Janie, Tea Cake, and the migrants is destroyed. As the people cluster together in fear of the elements, their eyes are not watching each other or the storm. In silent prayer, they are watching God. They make an effort to go to higher ground, but they are nearly swept away by the tremendous surge of water when the lake breaks through the dikes and surges toward them in a tall wall of rushing water. Tea Cake makes a valiant effort to keep Janie afloat by urging her to hang onto the tail of a cow. As the two struggle to survive the raging current, a rabid dog that is clinging to the cow bites Tea Cake on the cheek.
