was
awful.

Another flash, and while it was quivering in the air the thunder came
with one sudden instantaneous crash as if some magazine of powder had
been exploded, while after the first burst the peal rolled round and
round and slowly died away, as if it were passing along vast metallic
corridors to be emptied far away in space.

As Mark sat listening to the dying away of the thunder and watching for
the next flash, comparing the noise with that which he heard from the
jungle, and wondering why the one should be looked upon as a matter of
course while the other caused the most acute horror, he became aware of
a strange hissing sound, apparently at a great distance, but evidently
coming on rapidly. The sound increased till, from a hiss it became a
rush, then by rapid degrees a tremendous roar, and then, as if in an
instant the hurricane was upon them, the rain came down in sheets, the
sound swept by the rocks, and as the lightning flashed Mark became aware
of the fact that the air looked thick and dense and as if filled by the
spray from off the sea.

But the storm swept over from behind, so that though the water poured
down from all round the rock beneath which they were sheltered none was
driven in.

To sleep was out of the question had the watcher felt disposed, for he
was bound to confess that it was impossible for help to come to him in
the midst of such a terrific deluge. Meanwhile as the rain came down in
a veritable water-spout, hissing angrily as if a myriad of serpents were
in the air, the lightning flashed and the thunder roared so incessantly
that it became almost a continual peal.

At the best of times, and in company, the storm would have been attended
by feelings of awe; but now, comparatively speaking, alone in that
solitude with the deafening din and the terrible weird glare of the
lightning flashing through the rain, Mark could not help for the second
time that day a strange feeling of dread come upon him with chilling
force.

Just when the storm was at its worst there was a soft whining sound on
his right, and as he sat up and listened in that direction a cold nose
touched his hand, and Bruff thrust his head into his master's lap,
uttering a low snuffling sound indicative of content.

Almost at the same moment, as the thunder paused for a moment, came a
whimpering chattering from his left, and a little thin hand caught hold
of him.

"Why, Jack, old fellow, frightened?" he said, as he p