190 A THUNDER 6TOKM EST THE FOEE6T. 



discovering us as we rowed carelessly along, went whistling 

 and snorting away into the forest. As we approached the 

 lake, dark clouds gathered in the West ; great ugly looking 

 thunderheads came rolling up from behind the hills higher 

 and higher ; perfect stillness was all around us ; the leaves 

 were moveless on the trees, and the voices of the birds were 

 hushed. 



" Squire," said Martin to me " I'm thinkin' we'd better go 

 ashore and put up our tents ; there's a mighty big storm 

 over the hill, and he'll be down this way before many 

 minutes.* 



And we rowed to a high point at a small distance, 

 covered with spruce and fir trees, and put up our tents on 

 the lee side of it, so as to be sheltered from the wind as well 

 as the rain. This was the work of only ten minutes ; but 

 before we had finished, the deep voice of the thunder came 

 rolling over the forest, and we could see the storm rising 

 over the hills, ha a long black line, all across the Western 

 sky. The lightning darted down towards the earth/ or 

 across from cloud to cloud, and the thunder boomed and 

 rolled along the heavens, its deep rumble shaking the 

 ground like an earthquake. Presently, the hills were hid- 

 den from our view, we heard the rush of the storm in the 

 forest on the other side of the river, then the splash of the 

 big drops on the water, and then the wind and the rain were 

 upon us. For a few minutes, I thought our tents would have 

 been lifted bodily from the ground, but the skill of our 

 pioneer had provided against the blast, and they remained 



