THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 3O9 
The luminous bands revolved swiftly, like the 
spokes of a great wheel of light, across the 
heavens; the streamers hurried back and forth 
with swift, tremulous motion from the ends of 
the arches to the centre, and now and then a 
great wave of crimson would surge up from 
the north and fairly deluge the whole sky with 
color, tinging the white, snowy earth far and 
wide with its rosy reflection. But as the words 
of the prophecy, “ And the heavens shall be 
turned into blood,” formed themselves on my 
lips, the crimson suddenly vanished, and a light¬ 
ning-flash of vivid orange startled us with its 
wide, all-pervading glare, which extended even 
to the southern horizon, as if the whole volume 
of the atmosphere had suddenly taken fire. I 
even held my breath a moment, as I listened 
for the tremendous crash of thunder which it 
seemed to me must follow this sudden burst of 
vivid light; but in heaven or earth there was 
no sound to break the calm silence of night, 
save the hastily-muttered prayers of the fright¬ 
ened native at my side as he crossed himself 
and kneeled down before the visible majesty of 
God. I could not imagine any possible addi¬ 
tion which even the Almighty power could 
