y past,
filling my mind with a vague impression that the besom of destruction
had become a veritable reality, and that we were all about to be swept
off the face of the earth together.

Strange to say, in this crisis I felt no fear. I suppose I had not time
or power to think at all, and I have since that day thought that God
perhaps thus mercifully sends relief to His creatures in their direst
extremity--just as He sends relief to poor human beings, when suffering
intolerable pain, by causing stupor.

The outburst was as short-lived as it was furious. Suddenly the wind
ceased; the floods of rain changed to slight droppings, and finally
stopped altogether, while the thunder growled itself into sullen repose
in the far distance.

But what a scene of wreck was left behind! We could not of course, see
the full extent of the mischief, for the night still remained intensely
dark, but enough was revealed in the numerous uprooted trees which lay
all round us within the light of our rekindled camp-fire. From most of
these we had been protected by the great pine, under which we had taken
shelter, though one or two had fallen perilously near to us--in one case
falling on and slightly damaging our baggage.

Our first anxiety, of course, was our boat, towards which we ran as if
by one impulse, the instant the wind had subsided.

To our horror it was gone!

Only those who know what it is to traverse hundreds of leagues of an
almost tenantless wilderness, and have tried to push a few miles through
roadless forests that have grown and fallen age after age in undisturbed
entanglement since the morning of creation, can imagine the state of our
minds at this discovery.

"Search towards the woods, men," said Lumley, who, whatever he might
have felt, was the only one amongst us who seemed unexcited. We could
trace no sign of anxiety in the deep tones of his steady voice.

It was this quality--I may remark in passing--this calm, equable flow of
self-possession in all circumstances, no matter how trying, that
rendered our young leader so fit for the work, with which he had been
entrusted, and which caused us all to rely on him with unquestioning
confidence. He never seemed uncertain how to act even in the most
desperate circumstances, and he never gave way to discontent or
depression. A gentle, good-humoured expression usually played on his
countenance, yet he could look stern enough at times, and even fierce,
as we all knew.