146 FARMING IT 



Suddenly a faint and prolonged roll of thunder 

 is heard, dying away gradually. Then the silence 

 is profound, for every cricket has ceased its filing. 

 Then a quick flash, so indistinct that it is well- 

 nigh invisible and seems but a quick vibration of 

 the atmosphere. 



A long wait, and again a profound rumble punc- 

 tuated with deep and resounding thumps, like a 

 cannon ball rolled down the attic-stairs, slowly 

 dies away ; yet the sun blazes fiercely and the 

 leaves of the trees hang pulseless, the birds are 

 silent, and the air dense and motionless. 



Again a flash, and this time a vivid one, and 

 after a shorter interval a thunderous roll of mus- 

 ketry. Suddenly it grows dark, a greenish, glim- 

 mering, purplish light, then a brilliant jagged 

 flash tears across the blackness, followed by a 

 wrenching, rattling peal of thunder, but not a 

 drop of rain falls. 



Then with a roar and a cloud of dust the wind 

 is upon us. The trees bend and writhe and lash 

 the air like giant snakes. There is a blinding, 

 vivid flash, a rattling roar of thunder, and then 

 the rain comes. First, in huge spats that splash 

 in the dust with large irregular blotches ; then a 

 driving torrent that fills the gutters to raging 

 streams, makes foaming sprays of the conduc- 

 tors, and lays the grass as flat as if a scythe had 

 passed over it. 



