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At last with all this chaos of water and dust, of straw, leaves,

branches, and torn-up sod, the winds smote on the forest and

roared through the depths of the thicket like bears.

And now the rain poured as from a sieve, in great, swift drops;

then the thunder roared and the drops united; now like straight

strings they bound the sky to the earth with long tresses, now,

as from buckets, they poured down in great masses. Now the sky

and the earth were quite hidden; the night, and the storm more

black than night, shrouded them. At times the horizon cracked

from side to side, and the angel of the storm, like an immense

sun, showed his glittering face; and again, wrapped in a shroud,

he fled into the sky and the doors of the clouds crashed together

with a thunder-clap. Again the gale increased and the driving

rain, and the dense, thick, almost impenetrable darkness. Again

the drops murmured more gently, the thunder for a moment

subsided; again it awoke and roared and water once more gushed

forth. At last all became calm; one heard only the soughing of

the trees around the house and the patter of the rain.