NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAIN COTTAGE. 123 



was in turn succeeded by a variety of sounds, as the 

 blast drew nearer, and whistled or cracked among the 

 rocks or banks in the vicinity of the cottage. And 

 lastly, came a furious rush, as it careered madly past 

 our little cabin, catching up the gravel and stones, 

 which rattled violently against the door and window, 

 threatening to tear away the roof over our heads, and 

 making the very walls themselves vibrate around us, 

 though they were fully three feet in thickness. How 

 stones and mortar could hold together, under so 

 fearful and incessant a cannonade, 'twere hard to tell ; 

 but though sorely tried, our stout little castle did 

 nevertheless succeed in keeping its own; and one 

 after another the consecutive blasts slunk away with 

 a sullen murmur of disappointment, after venting their 

 fury, and discharging their artillery upon its walls in 

 vain. 



At length, shortly after midnight, we fancied that the 

 uproar was slightly abated ; presently there was a 

 sensible diminution ; and while we were waiting, and 

 hoping for its total subsidence, sleep with downy pinion 

 brooded over us, and we became unconscious. 



***** 



While, wrapt in slumber, we were dreaming of the 

 forest and its antlered occupants, a great change was 

 taking place around us. The wind fell, and, as is 

 frequently the case, was succeeded by rain ; not indeed 

 a gentle shower, nor yet a short but brisk one, but a 

 steady regular downfall, heavy enough to saturate 

 almost anything. The roof of the cottage, at no time 

 of the best, had not been bettered by the storm of the 

 last few hours ; and I was first brought to a conscious- 

 ness of what was going on around me, by a something 

 pattering on my head at short intervals, and trickling 

 slowly and chillingly down my neck. This was the 



