A GLOOMY SUNSET. 



407 



expedition I spoke of Beach and Woods, the then sole 

 occupants of this lake, with its scalloped shore sixty 

 miles in length.) We did not expect to get there till 

 bed-time, but there being every appearance of a star- 

 lit night, this was a matter of small consequence. But 

 " the plans of mice and men oft gang aglee." Ours 

 certainly did in this instance, for before we had half 

 crossed the lake, whose golden surface was just dimpled 

 by the summer breeze, I saw in the west a thunder- 

 cloud slowly pushing itself over the forest-clad moun- 

 tain. I pointed it out to the guides, and just then the 

 far-off sound of thunder passed through the shuddering 

 air, and travelled slowly, sullenly across the heavens. 

 The sun was just at its edge, and lighted up for a 

 moment its dense, corrugated edges with a furnace-like 

 glow,. making, by contrast, the inky surface below seem 

 blackness itself. The bright orb that had travelled all 

 day long over the cloudless heavens, had a look of de- 

 spair as it turned its face for the last time on the smiling 

 earth ere it disappeared behind this angry, surging mass. 

 The next instant night fell on the lake, and its troubled 

 waters spread black as the cloud that shoved swiftly 

 over it. We looked anxiously at each other, and then 

 at the distant clearing that began to grow dim and in- 



