While we were occupied with these preparations, the thunder rolled almost uninterruptedly, and the incessant flashes kept the tall trees brilliantly illumined. From the north we heard a sound like a distant waterfall, and the turmoil soon rose to the mournful howling of the tempest which is only to be heard in these regions. I was well acquainted with the approaching spirit of the storm, for I had often met it; hence I went up to Czar, put on his head-gear and threw the bridle over my shoulder, giving Kreger a hint to do the same with Lizzy. But he had quite lost his head, and ran first to his heap of traps and then to the mule, when the storm burst over our heads in all its fury, and made the primæval trees crack in their very roots. It swept the earth and carried away with it an avalanche of dust, leaves, and branches; our fire stretched out long tongues of flame over the ground, and sent its sparks whirling through the coal-black night into the gloomy wood. The groans of the hurricane were blended with the deafening peals of thunder, which at every second made the earth tremble under our feet, and I had the greatest difficulty in making Kreger understand that he should come to me. I had selected a young white oak, whose branches were interlaced with creepers, to shelter myself and Czar, and had got out of the way of two lofty planes which were singing their death plaint. The fury of the storm still increased; blast followed blast crash followed crash; the crowns of the two planes bent more and more, and with a shock resembling an earthquake, they suddenly fell across our fire, which scattered in all directions like a bursting shell, and hurled logs and brands over our heads. Czar started back, and in his terror would have broken half-a-dozen lassos, had I not been prepared for this, and followed him with the bridle, while Lizzy dragged my companion, who would not loose the lasso, for a long distance through the grass.