cloud-bank came on in black and yellow masses, and the saffron light
I recalled so well turned the living green of the forest to a sickly
pallor and the yellow river to a tinge scarce to be matched on earth.
Xavier had the tiller now, and the men were straining at the oars to send
the boat across the current towards the nearer western shore. And as my
glance took in the scale of things, the miles of bluff frowning above the
bottom, the river that seemed now like a lake of lava gently boiling, and
the wilderness of the western shore that reached beyond the ken of man, I
could not but shudder to think of the conflict of nature's forces in such
a place. A grim stillness reigned over all, broken only now and again by
a sharp command from Xavier. The men were rowing for their lives, the
sweat glistening on their red faces.

"She come," said Xavier.

I looked, not to the northeast whence the banks of cloud had risen, but
to the southwest, and it seemed as though a little speck was there
against the hurrying film of cloud. We were drawing near the forest
line, where a little creek made an indentation. I listened, and from
afar came a sound like the strumming of low notes on a guitar, and sad.
The terrified scream of a panther broke the silence of the forest, and
then the other distant note grew stronger, and stronger yet, and rose to
a high hum like unto no sound on this earth, and mingled with it now was
a lashing like water falling from a great height. We grounded, and
Xavier, seizing a great tow-rope, leaped into the shallow water and
passed the bight around a trunk. I cried out to Nick, but my voice was
drowned. He seized me and flung me under the cabin's lee, and then above
the fearful note of the storm came cracklings like gunshots of great
trees snapping at their trunk. We saw the forest wall burst out--how far
away I know not--and the air was filled as with a flock of giant birds,
and boughs crashed on the roof of the cabin and tore the water in the
darkness. How long we lay clutching each other in terror on the rocking
boat I may not say, but when the veil first lifted there was the river
like an angry sea, and limitless, the wind in its fury whipping the foam
from the crests and bearing it off into space. And presently, as we
stared, the note lowered and the wind was gone again, and there was the
water tossing foolishly, and we lay safe amidst the green wreckage of the
forest as by a miracle.

It was Nick who moved