and silenced every other sound the tearing, smashing 

 hail that seemed to strip the mountain to its very bone. 



Oh ! the wanton fury of the hail ; the wild, destruc- 

 tive charge of hordes of savage cavalry ; the stamping, 

 smashing sweep along the narrow strip where all the 

 fury concentrates ; the long black trail of death and 

 desolation ! The birds and beasts, the things that 

 creep and fly, all know the portents, and all flee before 

 it, or aside. But in the darkness in the night or 

 mist the slow, the weak, the helpless, and the mothers 

 with their young for them is little hope. 



The dense packed column swept along, ruthless, 

 raging, and unheeding, overwhelming all. ... A 

 sudden failing of its strength, a little straggling tail, 

 and then the silence! 



The sun came out ; the wind died down ; light 

 veils of mist came slowly by bits of floating gossamer 

 and melted in the clear, pure air. 



The Boy stepped out once more. Miles away the 

 black column of the falling hail sped its appointed 

 course. Under his feet, where all had been so green 

 and beautiful, was battered turf, for the time trans- 

 formed into a mass of dazzling brilliants, where 

 jagged ice-stones caught the sunlight on their countless 

 facets, and threw it back in one fierce flashing glare, 

 blinding in its brilliance. 



On the glittering surface many things stood out. 



In the narrow pathway near the spring a snake 

 lay on its back, crushed and broken ; beyond it, 

 a tortoise, not yet dead, but bruised and battered 

 II 



