atmosphere was absolutely still,
not a twig or even a leaf stirred, all nature seemed to be waiting in
breathless suspense for the coming outbreak; even the insects had ceased
to attack us, and had retired to their leafy retreat, and the air was so
heavy and close that, naked as I was, I perspired at every pore. Not a
sound broke the unnatural stillness save when, at irregular intervals, a
low groan broke from some poor wretch upon the crucifixion tree in whom
the life still lingered. But even to them relief was promised, for with
the impending downpour of rain their wounds would quickly mortify, and
then their sufferings would soon be at an end.

Very slowly and gradually the storm worked its way toward the zenith,
gathering intensity as it rose, and at length--probably about ten
o'clock--the first drops of rain, hot and heavy, like gouts of blood,
began to fall, quickly increasing to a drenching downpour, accompanied
by lightning, green, rose-tinted, violet, sun-bright, that lighted up
the town until every object, however minute, was as clearly visible as
in broad daylight, while the ceaseless crashing of the thunder was
unspeakably appalling.

In the very height of the storm, when thunder, lightning, and rain
together were raging in a perfect pandemonium, a stream of steel-blue
lightning darted straight from the zenith, struck the crucifixion tree,
and shattered it into a thousand fragments, leaving a great hole in the
ground where it had stood! The storm continued to rage in full fury for
about an hour, and then the flashes of lightning, with their
accompanying peals of thunder, gradually became less frequent, although
the rain continued to beat down upon the parched earth in a perfect
deluge which formed rivulets, ay, and even brooks of quite respectable
size, flowing in every direction.

My weary and aching frame soothed and refreshed by the pelting rain, I
must have fallen into a kind of doze, for I was suddenly startled into
full consciousness by the feeling that some one was meddling with my
bonds, which, the next moment, severed by a sharp knife, fell from my
limbs. Then a small soft hand seized mine and dragged me swiftly away
from the stake to which I had been bound. It was so intensely dark just
then, however, that I was quite unable to see where I was going, and was
obliged to trust implicitly to my unknown guide. For two or three
minutes we twisted hither and thither, blindly, so far as I was
co