266 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
for we were now getting above the trees — the 
meaning of the deepening blackness and the 
weird light. A storm was upon us,— such a 
storm as explained the superstitions of Indians 
about these mountain summits, and their re- 
fusal toclimb them. Thesky was all obscured, 
—not densely black, as with a thunder-cloud, 
but lighter than the already dark ravine; yet 
there were flashes of lightning in it, and mur- 
murings of thunder. Its chief terror appeared 
to lie not in darkness but in motion. All im- 
mediately around us was absolutely still, yet on 
the side of the ravine toward the Tip-Top 
House there was in the woods a roar that I can 
only describe as ferocious ; it seemed as if the 
force which made that sound could sweep from 
the ravine below us the whole forest that 
clothed it, and count the work a trifle. Mean- 
time, upon the mountain crest the mass of pale 
cloud was accumulating, and suddenly, as with 
one word of command, it was unloosed. We 
saw a detached body of cloud, that seemed to 
obey an order of its own and have its own sepa- 
rate work to do, come sweeping down into the 
ravine beside us—not toward us—with a 
sense of power and direction that no wings of 
eagles could symbolize, and an effect of swift- 
ness such as no swallow’s flight, no rush of rail- 
way train, could represent. I knew that it was 
