50 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 
When I discovered this, it seemed a disconcerting 
anti-climax, just as one can make the bravest 
man who has been under rifle-fire flinch by spin- 
ning a match swiftly past his ear. 
I have heard this sound of parrakeet’s wings, 
when the birds were alighting nearby, half a 
dozen times; but after half a hundred I shall duck 
just as spontaneously, and for a few seconds 
stand just as immobile with astonishment. From 
a volcano I expect deep and sinister sounds; 
when I watch great breakers I would marvel only 
if the accompanying roar were absent; but on a 
calm sunny August day I do not expect a noise 
which, for suddenness and startling character, 
can be compared only with a tremendous flash of 
lightning. Imagine a wonderful tapestry of 
strong ancient stuff, which had only been woven, 
never torn, and think of this suddenly ripped 
from top to bottom by some sinister, irresistible 
force. 
In the instant that the sound began, it ceased; 
there was no echo, no bell-like sustained over- 
tones; both ends were buried in silence. As it 
came to-day it was a high tearing crash which 
shattered silence as a Very light destroys dark- 
ness; and at its cessation I looked up and saw 
