VI 
THE WIND AND THE RAIN 
75 
to appreciate the joke. The horse was a handsome 
one and good, though at times he was rather 
stubborn. 
From Watsonville we left the Muldiva road and 
branched off on to another, where we came into a land 
of ant-hills. There was an ominous stillness in the air 
as we drove along, and a bank of heavy, black clouds 
hung low on the horizon, then came a low murmuring 
sound which grew to a roar, and the wind came howl- 
ing and shrieking through the trees. We were 
enveloped in a shower of sticks, leaves, and dust : such 
a whirlwind of leaping, rattling and crashing sounds. 
No wonder the horses stopped short, and we clung 
with might and main to the seats and held on to our 
flapping garments which threatened to whirl us also in 
mid-air. The trees bent their boughs to the gale, roll- 
ing and tossing their limbs against one another, and 
now the distant growling of the thunder changed to an 
ear-cracking cannonade : peal after peal rolled in rapid 
succession, and the blue glare of the lightning flashed 
with blinding flame through the dense black clouds — 
and down came the rain ! Such a waterspout ! We 
hid ourselves as best we could under waterproof rugs 
and every available covering, and the water swished 
and splashed into a thousand miniature channels. 
Along our doubtful amphibious track the pitiless storm 
raged for hours, and it was a weary plough for the 
horses through the mud and lake-like water. 
“ This looks bad for the river,” Joe said ; and when 
we did reach it, it was running a “banker.” Jackey 
tried to measure the depth of the crossing on one of 
the horses, but he could not stand against the strong 
current, and it was impossible to attempt to cross 
before the water went down. It was useless to return 
to Watsonville at that hour, so we had to make up 
