A THUNDER-STORM. 263 
down as if the flood-gates of heaven had been opened, ac- 
companied by the loudest thunder and most dazzling light- 
ning. There is nothing that more powerfully impresses 
man with the omnipotent power of the Creator, or with his 
own utter insignificance, than being placed alone, unpro- 
tected from the warring elements, listening to the dismem- 
berment of limbs from the parent tree-trunks by the fury 
of the blast, or the scathing power of the electric fluid. All 
my efforts to keep a good fire were futile—sleep was out of 
the question—while the incessant attacks of the mosquitoes 
made me restless and irritable. No sick man or storm- 
tossed mariner ever more ardently longed for break of day. 
The night appeared endless, and doubts of whether the sun 
had not been delayed in his course, or taken his departure 
to gladden with his rays the inhabitants of other planets, 
intruded themselves. At last, faint lines of light glimmered 
in the east, foretelling the departure of darkness, and with 
greater satisfaction than I ever previously experienced, I 
rose from my wet and uncomfortable resting-place. To 
seek my lost route was my first endeavor, and for more 
than an hour I wandered without success. At last, when 
almost yielding to despair, I struck the margin of the lake 
I had been shooting on the evening before; and what a 
beautiful, enthralling scene lay before me! The placid wa- 
ter only rippled where the wild duck sported, or the vora- 
cious fish pursued to the surface their destined prey; while 
the shadow of each tree that grew near the margin was so 
distinctly reflected that the minutest limb or twig could be 
traced with perfect precision. 
I stood entranced, and so great was my admiration, that 
nothing could have induced me to disturb the harmony 
of the picture by destroying the life, or disturbing the re- 
treat, of the beautiful creatures which formed its promi- 
nent features. To the left were several deer and fawns, 
