A THUNDER STORM. 383 



down like a whipped dog, another rushed off with a 

 bound, while a third, a buck, stood and leaped round 

 and round in the same spot, his eyes shining like two 

 balls of fire in the darkness, and he whistling all the 

 time at such a furious rate that you could have heard 

 him half a mile. He made such a ludicrous exhibition 

 of himself that I at length laughed aloud. This seemed 

 to bring him to his senses, and giving one loud whistle, 

 he wheeled and bounded away. 



Early next morning I was wakened by a peal of 

 thunder that made the wild shores tremble. I crawled 

 out of the tent and stood and surveyed the scene. The 

 lake at my feet was black as ink and still as death, 

 while a half twilight, like an eclipse, rested on the sur- 

 rounding shores. At the west, with its farther extre- 

 mity reaching to that far-off lonely mountain, a cloud 

 black as night was lifting its dark massive pall over 

 the woods. Its corrugated edges looked like the brow 

 of wrath, while its inky bosom seemed inherent with 

 fire. Incessant flashes shot hither and thither through 

 it, as if seeking there some object on which to vent their 

 fury ; while ever and anon the whole mass would light 

 up at once, and become a sheet of flame that made the 

 darkness that succeeded still more appalling. The 



