saddles, covered with
a blanket I usually carried under it, and made the Kaffir do the same
with the other. The deep gloom and heavy clouds that had advanced from
the horizon over our heads, and sped along as if by express, caused
darkness in a few minutes. The slight gusts of wind, wild and
unmeaning, rustled the leaves about in an unnatural sort of way, while
little whirlwinds seemed to search out every small track of sand, and
raise it in revolving clouds. The birds flew for shelter in the kloof,
and flitted about from tree to tree, as though anxious and alarmed at
the signs of the coming storm. The horses would not eat the grass that
was almost tickling their noses, but, with one ear forward and the other
back, showed by their restlessness a sense of the approach of the demon
of storm. The storm approached _too_--like a demon. From the deep
black horizon vivid flashes of lightning dashed with uncounted rapidity,
the answering thunder not being in distinct and separate claps, but in
one sullen roar; nearer and nearer it came with giant strides, while
where I sat, all was still quiet, save the slight complaining sound of
an occasional whirlwind among the trees. I could mark the course of the
storm, as it came nearer, as easily as that of a troop of horse. First,
the dust in dense clouds, with leaves and grass, etc., was driven
furiously along; then came the rain (it ought to have had some other
name, it was no more like the thing called rain in England than the
Atlantic is like a pond), its force laid every thing flat before it--the
lightning following with blinding brilliancy. This storm was like a
whole host of common thunderstorms in a fury. The kloof that I was in
offered me no shelter against these torrents, and I was wet to the skin
in about one minute, the water running out of my clothes. I was obliged
to shut my eyes and cover them with my hand, to stop the pain caused by
the dazzling of the pale blue sparks, which flew from one side of the
horizon to the other, and from the heavens to the earth, with messages
that no man could read. The whole thing was like the encounter of a
vast host, one fleeing, the other pursuing--it came and was gone in half
an hour. The moon then appeared with its beautiful silvery light, the
furious hurricane having passed on its course to the vast plains and
mountains of the mysterious interior. Every insect who possessed "a
shrill small horn" now began piping it in rejoi