Pagina 544 di 788

Consultation in regard to securing the fortunes of the

victors-Negotiations with Rykov-The farewell-An important

discovery-Hope.

The morning clouds, dispersed for a moment, like black birds,

kept gathering and flying towards the summit of the heavens;

hardly had the sun declined from noon when their flock had

covered half the sky with an immense mantle; the wind drove it on

faster and faster, the cloud grew more and more dense and hung

lower and lower: finally, half torn away from the sky on one

side, bending towards the earth, and spread out far and wide like

a great sail, it gathered into itself all the winds and flew over

the sky from the south to the west.