A MIDNIGHT MARCH. 151 



thunderous sound that waked the echoes of the entire 

 region, accompanied by a shock as of a slight earth- 

 quake ; then all was still as death. Startled, I seized 

 Meyong by the arm, and inquired the cause of that 

 noise. He replied, with a shrug, that it was "a tree 

 felled by God," and crossed himself devoutly. 



A tree felled by God ! A monarch old and weather- 

 beaten, that had outlived centuries of storm and hurri- 

 cane, only to fall in the dead of night, when the breeze 

 stirring would not have wakened a bird ! Is there not 

 something grandly awful in this ? something that 

 causes a thrill of awe and makes one regard with 

 veneration the great Being who created all these won- 

 ders, which are to us so great, to Him so small? It 

 fell so close that, as it went crashing through the trees 

 with the force of a thunderbolt, the wind created by 

 its fall fanned our torches into brighter blaze. 



With indignant and frightened howls our curs broke 

 away from Coryet and disappeared in the darkness, 

 carrying with them our hopes of capturing the wild 

 hogs of the forest. Scarcely had I recovered from 

 this shock when there came borne upon the still night 

 air, the faint puffing of steam, like the sobs of an en- 

 gine in from a long run. It grew louder and louder 

 as we advanced ; and as neither of my boys knew the 

 cause of it, and the old man spoke nothing but Carib, 

 to us as Hebrew, we were forced to march on in igno- 

 rance, myself in doubt, the boys in trepidation, mut- 

 tering prayers to the Virgin. At last our guide halted 

 right on the banks of a deep ravine and threw a great 

 stone into the depths below us, from which howled 

 and sputtered escaping steam. Immediately upon the 

 throwing of the stone there was an increased force 



