A MIDNIGHT MARCH. I5t 
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 
sométhing 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 
