The storm was every moment increasing, and the party were by this time anxious to obtain a shelter. They had advanced considerably up the hill. Musaood had taken care to be informed of the exact locality of the cavern, to which he led the way, the prince and his companions following. The ascent was rather steep, and, from there being no regular pathway, not easy to climb. Their anxiety to escape from the pelting of the storm enabled them to overcome all impediments. They had fastened their horses under trees in a small glen at the hill’s base, as the ascent was too steep to render the attempt on horseback practicable. After about a quarter of an hour’s toil they reached a natural recess in the mountain, within which was the entrance to a cave, no doubt the same that had been described to Musaood. The opening was low, and so narrow that not more than one person could squeeze in at a time. It was about four feet high, and scarcely more than two wide. Within the darkness was so intense, that the eye could not penetrate to the extremity. Scarcely was the party safely sheltered, when the hurricane poured down with prodigious fury. The rain fell in a confluent stream, forming little cataracts, which gushed over the slope of the hill between the rocks, adding to the rush and roar of the tempest. The entire horizon appeared every moment illumined, and the lightning streamed like a fiery deluge upon the earth. There was the least imaginable pause between the flashes. A large tree in front of the cavern was struck, the trunk severed from the root, as if cleft with an axe by an omnipotent arm, and it fell with an awful crash down the side of the mountain. The thunder rolled with scarcely an interval between the peals, and occasionally burst with such deafening crashes, that the ear could not endure the sound without a positive sensation of pain. Snakes and other reptiles were washed from their coverts, and crawled for shelter into the cavern, as if awed by the fierce convulsion of the elements. They exhibited no signs of reluctance at the propinquity of human beings, of whom they have an instinctive fear, but appeared as if they had laid aside their natural instincts under the terrors by which they were assailed. The savage cobra closed its hood and slunk into a corner of the cavern, as if glad to hide itself from the terrors of the storm. After a while, the lightning flashed less continuously; there were longer intervals between the peals of thunder; it became gradually more remote, and at length the sun glimmered through the clouds, which, rapidly dissipating before its beams, left a beautiful expanse of clear blue sky above the hill. The gloom of the cavern had now considerably abated, though nothing was distinctly perceptible at the extremity.