an--Tim, Tim,--speak, and tell me if you are alive."

"Shure, it's alive I am," answered Tim, "though almost kilt, by a big
bough which came down just now on my back."

I saw him, by another flash of lightning which just then darted from the
sky, creeping out from beneath a huge branch, which had happily formed
an arch over him. I was thankful, too, to hear my uncle's voice.

"Stay where you are, Tim," cried the doctor, "and we'll join you.
Providence has formed a hut for us, and into that hut we will creep, as
we shall be safer there than elsewhere."

We followed his advice, and were joined by Jumbo, who followed his
master under the shelter; and the huge bough effectually guarded us from
the numerous other branches which came hurtling through the air.

As we could now hear each other's voices, my uncle expressed his fears
about the champan. I told him that I had seen her safe during one of
the flashes of lightning, and that I hoped she was still secured to the
bank.

Hour after hour, it seemed, went by; the wind howling, the thunder
roaring, the lightning flashing through the air, darting amid the trees,
and running in fiery lines along the ground with a brightness which so
dazzled my eyes, that for the next moment I felt as if struck by
blindness, leaving the forest dark as Erebus--though I could still see
the trees waving backwards and forwards against the sky.

How thankful I felt when at length the thunder rolled away, the
lightning ceased, and the wind almost immediately afterwards fell, till
it became perfectly calm. In a short time the fire-flies darted out
from their hiding-places, and filled the air with their soft light; but
we were not inclined to contemplate their beauty just then, or to attend
to anything else except endeavouring to make ourselves tolerably snug
for the remainder of the night.

We had escaped a great danger, moreover, of which we at first had not
thought. Our fire had gone out before the tempest broke on us, or the
flames might have set the grass and dry shrubs around on fire; and
though the forest itself was too green to burn, it might have rendered
the spot untenable.

Groping about, we found the sail sticking in the bushes; and dragging it
over the bough which protected us, we again secured it. In the
meantime, Tim had been engaged in relighting the fire, for which the
storm had supplied us with an abundance of fuel.

On hailing the champan, we were answered by the padr