70 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



away towards the further shore and prettily dotted 

 over with long, winding islands. These islands were 

 the summits of the larger sand banks. This sudden 

 rise of the river was not due to any fall of rain, but 

 to the melting of the snows in the higher Himalaya. 

 This melting of the snows is generally shortly after 

 followed by the arrival of the rains. 



But a fortnight passed, and no rains arrived. We 

 had many tantalizing disappointments. The river sub- 

 sided as suddenly as it had risen. It rose again more 

 slightly and again subsided. Several times clouds 

 gathered ; the heavens were overcast ; a storm seemed 

 imminent : but just when our expectations were at 

 the highest the clouds mounted high in air and dis- 

 persed, and we had again the blue sky and the blazing 

 sunshine. At length our disappointments terminated : 

 the rains arrived. 



It was about ten o'clock in the morning. It happened, 

 as on the occasion of the dust storm, to be a holiday. 

 I was sitting in the drawing-room, when the servants 

 came running in to tell me that a storm was approach- 

 ing. I went at once out into the verandah, the one 

 which faced towards the river, for, while it is the west 

 wind which brings the storms of dust, these storms of 

 rain advance always from the east. 



On reaching the verandah I saw a low bank of 

 intensely black cloud stretching all along the eastern 

 horizon. It rose rapidly, so rapidly that in a minute 

 or so, as it seemed, it had overspread the entire firma- 

 ment. For a brief space there was intense stillness ; 

 then came a rushing wind, a flash of lightning, and the 



