THE TROTTING-I10RSE OF AMERICA 150 



gleams of dim, yellow light, the sun sank into great banks 

 of clouds. They mounted higher and higher, and seemed 

 to lie like a load upon the weary earth. The heat was 

 intense ; and not a breath of air was stirring to break the 

 ominous repose. With the last flicker of day, the swift 

 scud began to fly overhead, and the solid-seeming clouds to 

 tower up and come on like moving mountains. It was dark 

 when we got into our sulkies ; and, soon after the start, the 

 storm burst upon us with a fury that I have never since 

 seen equalled. The wind blew a hurricane, and the pelting 

 rain fell in torrents, as though the sluices of the skies had 

 opened all at once. Nothing could have overpowered the 

 mighty rush of the wind and the furious splash of the rain 

 but the dread, tremendous rattle of the thunder. It seemed 

 to be discharged right over our heads, and only a few yards 

 above us. Nothing could have penetrated the thick, pro- 

 found gloom of that darkness but the painful blue blaze 

 of the forked lightning. I could not see, in the short inter- 

 vals between the flashes, the faintest trace of the horse 

 before me ; and then, in the twinkling of an eye, as though 

 the darkness was torn away like a veil by the hand of the 

 Almighty, the whole course, the surrounding country, to 

 the minutest and most distant thing, would be revealed. 

 The spires of the churches and houses of Newark, eight 

 miles off, we could see more plainly than in broad daylight ; 

 and we noticed, that, as the horses faced the howling 

 elements, their ears lay back flat upon their necks. Be- 

 tween these flashes of piercing, all-pervading light and the 

 succeeding claps of thunder, the suspense and strain upon 

 the mind was terrible. We 'knew that it was coming so as 

 to shake the very pillars of the earth we rode on; and, 

 until it had rattled over our heads, we were silent. Then, 

 in the blank darkness, as we went on side by side, we would 

 exchange cautions. Neither could see the other, nor hear 

 the wheels nor the stride of the horses, by reason of the 

 wind and rain. 



