200 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 



Meanwhile the rain had stopped, the clouds had broken up, 

 and scorching sunbeams, the precursors of an approaching 

 storm, were shining down on forests dripping with the long con- 

 tinued rain. Our clothes, which were quite soaked through, 

 now slowly dried; and, tired with our many hours of shooting, 

 we plodded on through the woods to the carts, for it seemed 

 useless to return to the colony, which we had so thoroughly 

 ransacked, and the inhabitants of which had now become so 

 restless. 



At the carts I found my brother-in-law, who had brought 

 back a fine bag of two magnificent Imperial Eagles from the 

 other part of the forest ; and, after taking a hasty lunch of 

 bread, we got into the traps and drove to the Sacer wood, 

 following the road by which we had come in the morning as 

 far as the outer houses of Kovil. 



In the avenues of acacias already mentioned we found 

 Crows, Magpies, Kestrels, Larks, and numbers of Yellow 

 Hammers and Tree-Sparrows ; Turtle-Doves, too, were sitting 

 about the fields, and some of them flew past so close that I 

 easily brought down a couple right and left from the cart. 



Towards the afternoon the sun was still more scorching ; 

 heavy storm-clouds towered up in all directions, and distant 

 thunder announced the approach of bad weather, and as we 

 were driving past Kovil the first large drops of rain fell, and 

 three heavy storms burst above us with a terrific noise. 



Seldom have I seen such a tempest, for the violent gusts 

 of wind bent the trees, thunderclap followed thunderclap, 

 lightning flashed vividly in all directions, and soon came 

 a torrent of rain like a waterspout. We were wet to the skin 

 again in a few minutes, and though this involuntary bath was 

 by no means pleasant, we nevertheless enjoyed the magnifi- 

 cent spectacle of the storm as it passed away over the vast 

 plains in low layers of cloud. 



Despite the unfavourable weather, we held on our way, and, 



