The return of the waves was scarcely less disastrous than their advance. As the earth settled again, and the flood came down from the hills, it swept away much that the advance had left. The earth for a long time swayed back and forth, the waters rushing alternately in each direction. Many of the Ammi escaped only by running into the trees, some of whom even then were shaken down into the water. To add to the terror the sky became dark, the sun being entirely hid by the thick clouds of dust and smoke which issued from the crevices of the earth. Noises were repeatedly heard as of great explosions, and, following every rest from the rocking of the earth, was a shaking up by intermittent convulsions. The birds did not find even the air still enough for flight, but many fell to the ground (or water) killed by the concussion. None knew when the next burst would occur, but all looked for their death, uncertain only whether it would come by fire, water, or engulfment. Thunder seemed to come from both the earth and sky, and lightnings flashed out from the rents of the earth as well as of the clouds. The world at times appeared to be on fire, and it looked as if it would be burned up in case it should escape all the other means of destruction. The sun, the moon, and the stars seemed all to be destroyed, and no human being looked again for light except from the fire of the destruction of all things. Death was expected to follow this disaster, in which men and animals alike were to take part. In the midst of this despair, however, hope arose with the stillness that came as sudden as had the commotion. The earth seemed again to stand. The thunderings became quiet; the waters rushed back to their places; light began to appear through the smoke, and in time the sun was seen to be in his place. The distant mountain ranges again appeared in sight, but much changed. Some peaks were gone, or lay in heaps about the ranges, while new ridges arose where the plain had before stretched. A new earth seemed to greet the sky; the old horizon was gone, and a new sky-line along the mountains added grandeur as well as novelty to the changed scene. For a moment the impression prevailed that the earth was not permanent, but changeable like the sea, the forest, and the men. The globe was at this time passing through a crisis as decisive as that of the human race, preparing for our present physical geography as well as our present society; and we may be excused for turning aside, for a moment, from the convulsions of the human mind in its preparations for war, to the physical convulsions of Nature in preparing the earth itself for its future uses. CHAPTER XIX. [Illustration]