ravine, whose walls towered up on either side, the gathering
light seemed suddenly to begin to fade away. It grew more obscure. The
soft cool refreshing morning breeze died away, to give place to a
curious sultry heat. The silence, save the rushing of the river, was
profound, and it seemed at last as if it was to be totally dark.

"What does this mean, doctor?" I said, as I glanced round and noted
that the sombre reflection from the walls of the chasm gave the faces of
my companions a ghastly and peculiar look.

"A storm, my lad," he said quietly. "Look how discoloured the water
seems. There has been a storm somewhere up in the mountains, I suppose,
and now it is coming here."

"Well, we are in shelter," I said, "and better off than our enemies."

"What difference does that make?" grumbled Jack Penny in ill-used tones.
"They can't get wet through, for they don't wear hardly any clothes.
But, I say, ain't it time we had our breakfast? I've given up my
night's rest, but I must have something to eat."

"Quick! look out, my lads! look out!" cried the doctor, as there was a
loud yelling noise from the savages, whom we could plainly see now
coming along the narrow path, while almost simultaneously there was a
vivid flash of lightning that seemed to blind us for the time, and then
a deafening roar of thunder, followed so closely by others that it was
like one rolling, incessant peal.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

HOW HIGH THE WATER CAME.

The coming of the storm checked the furious onslaught of our black
enemies, but it was only for the moment. Setting thunder, lightning,
and the deluging rain at defiance, they came rushing on, shouting and
yelling furiously, and we were about to draw trigger, reluctantly
enough, but in sheer desperation, when a volley of arrows checked them
for a time, while, resuming what seemed to be a favourite means of
warring upon his enemies, Jimmy commenced hurling masses of stone at the
coming foes.

Checked as they were, though, it was only for a while; and we were
compelled to fire again and again, with fresh assailants taking the
places of those who fell. The thunder pealed so that the reports of our
pieces seemed feeble, more like the crack of a cart-whip, and their
flashes were as sparks compared with the blinding lightning, which
darted and quivered in the gorge, at times seeming to lick the walls, at
others plunging into the rushing, seething stream, into which the rain
poured i