"In answer to the inquiries made at the tavern where I hired my horse, I was told that the camp was on the bank of the stream, and could be easily seen from the channel through which I was to pass. The sun was about one hour high when I entered the woods; but I had not proceeded half way through when the heavens suddenly became overcast, which admonished me that I was about to experience one of those terrible thunder-tempests which sometimes occur at the close of a sultry September day, and are remarkable for the copious torrents of rain which fall in the vicinity of lakes and rivers, surrounded by the wilderness. I felt some solicitude to reach the river before it became dark, but the roughness of the road prevented me from going faster than a walking pace, and, ere I had accomplished the journey through the forest, the rain poured down in torrents. The thunder of heaven's artillery was tremendous, and the shooting chains of fire hissed through the tops of the trees like darting fiery serpents, here and there spending their force upon the lofty spire of some gigantic Pine, splitting and shivering its trunk into thousands of pieces, and strewing them far away upon the ground. Night, hastened by the gathering tempest, wrapped the whole scene in profound darkness; thus, amid the deafening peals of thunder, the darting forks of lightning which shot around me in every direction, and torrents of rain, my horse groped his way silently along, bearing me upon his back. At length, through much danger, I reached the channel of the river, to encounter new dangers and difficulties.