And then, even while the sun still shone through the cloud-rift, came something which made this flight of bird and beast as nothing, for swift death seemed certain for us. From the south came such a roar of waters as never could have been heard before or since, a roar which did not cease and but grew louder and more full of dreadful menace every moment. Then we saw! Looming almost mountain high, raging white at its top, a mountainous wave reaching across the whole valley and appearing certain to engulf us! It came toweringly and roaringly. It broke upon the mountainside with such stunning thunder as I may not describe, and swept upward, carrying back with its terrific force even some of the rocks the earthquake had cast downward. Then, after a few moments, the waters receded somewhat, but not greatly, for another vast wave loomed in the far distance. And then, as suddenly as it had come, the opening in the sky was closed, and we were again in darkness. But no longer about us was the sound of fleeing things. We had sped upward when we saw the coming of the monster wave, but it did not quite reach, even with its surging wash, the spot where we had been, for we were well up the mountain, and now we returned and gathered together all we had and carried it a long way higher. Then came the thundering of wave after wave against the mountainside, but none so terrifying as the first, and, finally, these ceased and we concluded they were done; there was only the roaring and washing of a turbulent sea upon the steep and rocky shore. Leaving a few men on guard to rouse us if need be we lay down and tried to sleep. Rain fell in torrents, but to us, hardened as we were, that was nothing. It was what had come with the dreadful day that had shaken all of us. Fearless or dull and stupid must have been the man among us who slept well that night! Morning came, but with it little of the light of day, though, as our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, we could make out objects indistinctly. The rain continued to fall in a torrent, and this made seeing things still more difficult. All was nearly still on land; there was no sound save that of the lashing waters of the new sea and the splashing of the rain. I stumbled down to the shore, as commanded by Old Horn, and looked about me as well as I could. There was little to see or learn except that the waters had risen steadily during the night. There were bodies of drowned creatures left by the first great wave, lying about here and there, and that was all. The day passed in dread discomfort.