The branches, in all the full foliage of
leafy June, swayed to and fro as the wind went roaring and shrieking
down the hillside; the next moment the earth shook with the clap of a
terrific burst of thunder.
The horses stood still and shuddered in their harness, and it was with
difficulty they were made to go on. It was evident the storm was right
over us, for now succeeded flash upon flash of forked lightning, with
thunder-claps that were instantaneous and unceasing.
At the same time the windows of heaven were opened upon us, or rather
the sluices of heaven it seemed to me; for the rain descended in sheets,
not streams, of water. Without any adventitious difficulties, the road
was as objectionable as a road could be; deep ruts alternated with now a
bare bit of rock strewn with treacherous loose stones, and now a sharp
curve with an ugly slant towards the precipice.
About half an hour after the storm first broke upon us it had become
night, indeed it was so dark that we could hardly see a pace in advance.
The repeated flashes of lightning helped us to make out our position
from time to time, and we trusted to the horses mainly to get us along
in the safe middle course. At moments when the heavens were lit up, I
could see the swaying branches of the fir-trees high above us battling
with the wind, for we were still in the forest. The sound of many waters
around on every side forcibly impressed us with the notion that we must
be washed away--a result not by any means improbable, for the road we
traversed was little better than a watercourse.
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