The blackness was increasing fast, and we sought the shelter offered by a thick pine wood to escape the pelting rain; which rushed down in a torrent, every drop larger than a pistol bullet. As it would have been unsoldier-like to remain in the calesso while our escort were exposed to the storm, I passed the time under the trees rolled up in my military cloak, after securing the carriage doors to protect Bianca and her attendant; who drew their veils close to shut out the flashes of vivid lightning which every instant illumined the darkest dingles of the forest. A terrible noise, such as I had never heard before, rumbled in the earth and air. I looked to the sbirro; he was crossing himself and muttering an ave, while a sour presbyterian smile curled the lips of Gask, who leaned on his pike beside him. The chasseur, or decurione, ordered the horses to be unharnessed from the carriage; and I had soon reason to thank him sincerely for his forethought. We saw the flames of distant Etna casting a light across the western sky; but in every other direction the heavens were involved in gloom or dark grey twilight. The whole atmosphere, however, soon began to assume an aspect so fiery, that over Seminara the dense clouds seemed as if rolling in flames; and we beheld the tall _façade_ of the Greek abbey, the dark mountains and the arches of a ruined aqueduct between them, standing in bold outline and strong relief on the red and luminous background. The scene was wild and magnificent; but the drenching rain, and the roaring wind, which shook the strongest pines like ostrich feathers, and almost blew us away with the branches, leaves, and stones which it swept over the waste, the sulphureous state of the atmosphere, and the ground trembling beneath our feet, made us feel, altogether, too uncomfortable to enjoy the splendid aspect of the heavens and earth agitated by such a storm. It was truly Calabrian! Our horses snorted and pranced, their manes bristled, their prominent eyes shot fire; and it required all our efforts to calm them, and keep them from breaking the bridle-reins which we had buckled to trees. Suddenly a most appalling clap of thunder burst over our heads, like the broadside of a fleet. A lofty and precipitous cliff of volcanic rock, which reared up its rugged front not far from us, heaved and reeled like some mighty animal convulsed with agony: shaken to the base by some tremendous subterranean throe, it rocked visibly, and the foliage on its summit was tossed like raven plumage on a hearse by the motion.