it seemed as if a night-battle of artillery was going on, and raging
still with more violence in the clouds. Thatch, doors of houses, glass,
and almost everything light that the winds could seize upon, were flying
in different directions through the air; and as Kennedy now staggered
along the main road, he had to pass through a grove of oaks, beeches,
and immense ash trees that stretched on each side for a considerable
distance. The noises here were new to him, and on that account the more
frightful. The groanings of the huge trees, and the shrieking of their
huge branches as they were crushed against each other, sounded in
his ears like the supernatural voices of demons, exulting at their
participation in the terrors of the storm. His impression now was that
some guilty sorcerer had raised the author of evil, and being unable to
lay him, the latter was careering in vengeance over the earth until he
should be appeased by the life of some devoted victim--for such, when a
storm more than usually destructive and powerful arises, is the general
superstition of the people--at least it was so among the ignorant in our
early youth.

In all thunder-storms there appears to be a regular gradation--a
beginning, a middle, and an end. They commence first with a noise
resembling the crackling of a file of musketry where the fire runs along
the line, man after man; then they increase, and go on deepening their
terrors until one stunning and tremendous burst takes place, which is
the acme of the tempest. After this its power gradually diminishes
in the same way as it increased--the peals become less loud and less
frequent, the lightning feebler and less brilliant, until at length it
seems to take another course, and after a few exhausted volleys it dies
away with a hoarse grumble in the distance.

Still it thundered and thundered terribly; nor had the sweep of