LOOX-SHUUTINC, IN A THUNDER-STOKM. i(j5 



ineiit in tlie air, then die away. Then, nigh at hand, 

 a rushing sound, as the 1 )rooni-like top of some 

 mighty pine swept through the air, would Ml 

 upon the ear, followed Ijy the crash of broken 

 boughs and the heavy tliump of the huge trunk 

 as it smote the eartli. Then, far away, half 

 smothered between the mountains, would rise 

 again the dull roar, and we knew another mon- 

 arch of the woods had yielded its life at au 

 unknown sunnnons. 



I am free to confess, that John's remark as tc 

 the effect of such a phenomenon upon one, waa 

 then and there fully verified by myself. I know 

 nothing more mysteriously solemn than this sound 

 of falling trees coming up from the forest, ■ — falling, 

 so far as you can see, without cause. What unseen 

 hand smites them ? What pressure, unfelt l)y man, 

 pushes their vast trunks oxev ? Is it to the Spirit 

 of the coming Storm they l)ow, prostrating them- 

 selves in anticipation of his chariot's approach ? Is 

 there some subtle and hostile chemistry in the air 

 wdiich penetrates their fibres, weakening them to 

 their fall ? Or do these aged patriarchs of the 

 wood, with fearful prophecy, foresee their houi 

 of doom, and, in the breathless lull ere the tem- 

 pest breaks, yield like an ancient Koman to their 

 fate? 



" Perchance," I said to John, " He who noteth 

 the falling of a sparrow and marketh the boundary 



5* 



