pinnacles, like uplifted daggers, piercing with sharp glitter the
density of the low-hanging haze, from which large drops of
moisture began presently to ooze rather than fall. Gradually the
wind increased, and soon with sudden fierce gusts shook the pine-
trees into shuddering anxiety,--the red slit in the sky closed,
and a gleam of forked lightning leaped athwart the driving
darkness. An appalling crash of thunder followed almost
instantaneously, its deep boom vibrating in sullenly grand echoes
on all sides of the Pass, and then--with a swirling, hissing rush
of rain--the unbound hurricane burst forth alive and furious. On,
on! splitting huge boughs and flinging them aside like straws,
swelling the rivers into riotous floods that swept hither and
thither, carrying with them masses of rock and stone and tons of
loosened snow--on, on! with pitiless force and destructive haste,
the tempest rolled, thundered, and shrieked its way through
Dariel. As the night darkened and the clamor of the conflicting
elements grew more sustained and violent, a sudden sweet sound
floated softly through the turbulent air--the slow, measured
tolling of a bell. To and fro, to and fro, the silvery chime swung
with mild distinctness--it was the vesper-bell ringing in the
Monastery of Lars far up among the crags crowning the ravine.
There the wind roared and blustered its loudest; it whirled round
and round the quaint castellated building, battering the gates and
moving their heavy iron hinges to a most dolorous groaning; it
flung rattling hailstones at the narrow windows, and raged and
howled at every corner and through every crevice; while snaky
twists of lightning played threateningly over the tall iron Cross
that surmounted the roof, as though bent on striking it down and
splitting open the firm old walls it guarded. All was war and
tumult without:--but within, a tranquil peace prevailed, enhanced