But an incident soon occurred that served to damp at once my spirits
and my person: a distant peal of thunder was heard; peal after peal
succeeded; the heavens were obscured, and heavy drops of rain, the
harbingers of an approaching storm, fell from the dark clouds. I
strained every nerve to reach the firing party ere the storm should
burst upon me. I reached the foot of the hill, but the firing had
ceased. I nevertheless ascended as quickly as my wearied limbs would
carry me, but on reaching the spot found no one there.

The storm now burst upon me in all its fury. Flash followed flash in
quick succession, and the rain fell in torrents, which, however, as
the few clothes that still adhered to my person were already saturated
by the previous rain, caused me but little additional inconvenience.
I descended to the lake, and by the time I reached the far end of it
the darkness had increased so much, that I could proceed no farther.
Perceiving an old encampment--a few half-decayed branches of balsam,
at the foot of a large hemlock--I took up my quarters there for the
night. The tufted branches of this tree render it a much more secure
retreat in a thunder-storm than the pine, whose pointed branches and
spiral shaped top frequently attract the electric fluid.

Towards morning the storm seemed to have expended its fury; and,
strange to say, in the midst of it I enjoyed two or three hours'
sleep. Nature had been so exhausted by protracted sufferings, that
(though the flies were driven to their covert) I believe I could have
slept upon a bed of thorns, covered with gnats and mosquitoes. As soon
as it was sufficiently clear to enable me to find my way, I quitted
my hemlock and fell on the portage path, which soon led me to another
small lake, and which I proceeded to circumambulate as usual, keeping