n out of the darkness comes such a voice as this. But we fed the
fire the more industriously, and piled the logs high, and kept the
gathering gloom at bay by as large a circle of light as we could
command. The lake was a pool of ink and as still as if congealed; not a
movement or a sound, save now and then a terrific volley from the cloud
batteries now fast approaching. By nine o'clock little puffs of wind
began to steal through the woods and tease and toy with our fire.
Shortly after, an enormous electric bombshell exploded in the treetops
over our heads, and the ball was fairly opened. Then followed three
hours, with only two brief intermissions, of as lively elemental music
and as copious an outpouring of rain as it was ever my lot to witness.
It was a regular meteorological carnival, and the revelers were drunk
with the wild sport. The apparent nearness of the clouds and the
electric explosions was something remarkable. Every discharge seemed to
be in the branches immediately overhead and made us involuntarily
cower, as if the next moment the great limbs of the trees, or the trees
themselves, would come crashing down. The mountain upon which we were
encamped appeared to be the focus of three distinct but converging
storms. The last two seemed to come into collision immediately over our
camp-fire, and to contend for the right of way, until the heavens were
ready to fall and both antagonists were literally spent. We stood in
groups about the struggling fire, and when the cannonade became too
terrible would withdraw into the cover of the darkness, as if to be a
less conspicuous mark for the bolts; or did we fear that the fire, with
its currents, might attract the lightning? At any rate, some other spot
than the one where we happened to be standing seemed desirable when
those onsets of the contending elements were the most furious.
Something that one could not catch in his hat was liable to drop almost
anywhere any minute. The alarm and consternation of the wives
communicated itself to the husbands, and they looked solemn and
concerned. The air was filled with falling water. The sound upon the
myriad leaves and branches was like the roar of a cataract. We put our
backs up against the great trees, only to catch a brook on our
shoulders or in the backs of our necks. Still the storm waxed. The fire
was beaten down lower and lower. It surrendered one post after another,
like a besieged city, and finally made only a feeble res