THE LAKi: VILLAGE 



203 



expression in the soinul at all; it was all terrrihle, and 

 the worst thing in it, which he docs not mention, was 

 a continuous note, a single loud metallic sound, per- 

 sisting through all tiic shrieking, crashing, and roaring, 

 like the hum of a threshing-machine so loud and sharp 

 that it seemed to pierce the l^rain like a steel weapon. 

 It was this unbroken sound which was hardest to endure 

 and would, I imagined, send me out of my senses al- 

 together if I stayed too long in the belfry. 



