th, nor all its sorrows.

A clap of thunder at the moment broke from the dense cloud above them,
and then, in quick succession, like the pealing of artillery, came
several more, while the forked lightning shot to and fro, and at last,
as if the very earth was riven to its centre, a low booming sound was
heard amid the clouds; the darkness grew thicker, and a crash followed
that shook the ground beneath them, and splashed the wild waves on every
side. The spray sprung madly up, while the roaring of the stream grew
louder; the clouds swept past, and the tall Pulpit rock was gone! Struck
by lightning, it had rolled from its centre, and fallen across the
river, the gushing waters of which poured over it in floods, and fell in
white sheets of foam and spray beyond it.

"God is near us, my child," said the old man with fervour; "let us
onward."

Her streaming eyes turned on him one look of affection--the emblem of a
heart's love--and she prepared to follow.

To return was now impossible, the river had already extended the whole
way across the valley in the rear; the only chance of safety lay in
front.

"Keep by my side, dearest," said the father, as he rode first into the
stream, and tried to head the terrified animal against the current.

"I am near you, father, fear not for me," said she firmly, her hold
heart nerved to the danger.

For some seconds the affrighted horses seemed rooted to the earth, and
stood amid the boiling current as if spell-bound; a fragment of a tree,
however, in its course, struck the flank of the leading horse, and
he sprung madly forward, followed by the other. Now, breasting the
stream--now, sinking to the mane beneath it, the noble beasts struggled
fiercely on till near the spot, where the Pulpit-rock had left a space
between it and the opposite bank, and here, a vast volume of water now
poured along unchecked by any barrier.

"To my side--near me, dearest--near me," cried the father, as his horse
dashed into the seething flood and sunk above the crest beneath it.

"I cannot, father--I cannot," screamed the affrighted girl, as with a
bound of terror her horse sprang back from the chasm, and refused to
follow. The old man heard not the words--the current had swept him far
down into the stream, amid the rent branches and the rolling rocks--"My
child, my child," the only accents heard above the raging din.

Twice did the heroic girl try to face the current, but in vain--the
horse plunged