82 DAYS AND NIGHTS BY THE DESERT. 



The third peal of thunder was the most terrible 

 of all, and the lightning which accompanied it ex- 

 celled in dazzling brilliancy and number of descend- 

 ing streams of fire anything imagination could 

 picture. At one moment the zenith looked a mass 

 of flame, and from that centre radiated, like un- 

 countable spokes of a giant wheel, forked lines of 

 livid electricity. 



Of course, by this time my companions and self 

 were wet to the skin ; but neither dare take shelter 

 in our waggons, for the amount of iron in their con- 

 struction would alone have made them dangerously 

 attractive, while the long, brightly worn treck-tows, 

 almost thirty yards in length, and made fast to the 

 body of our conveyances, could not fail to possess 

 no mean power for conducting the lightning to 

 them ; and if such a contingency had happened, fed 

 with nearly thirty thousand rounds of ammunition 

 well, there would not have been much in the 

 morning to pick up worth carrying away. No, we 

 preferred taking our comfort in the open, and so 

 did our people ; not that any of us were afraid oh, 

 no ! not in the least. 



The wrath of women of tropical climes is terrible, 

 but shortlived. The violence of storms in those 

 latitudes is the same ; if you are not killed in the 

 commencement of the outburst, you will probabl) 

 live to be immolated upon a future occasion. More 

 over, when once the climax is reached in both cases 



