It blazed high for a few minutes, and then the girl cried out. She had
got upon her feet, though forced to keep her head bent. He thought that
she was pointing out to him the thing that had happened; but in a moment
he perceived that her eyes were fixed upon some object beyond the mound
that had been struck. It was, however, only when the next flash came
that he saw out there the figure of a man--he recognised him: it was
Pritchard.
He stood bareheaded with his sackcloth garment clinging to him--the
lightning was reflected from it as if it had been made of steel, for the
water was streaming down its folds--on the summit of the rocks that were
piled together on the slope of the bank not twenty yards away. He was
gesticulating, but his bare arms were above his head.
So much Wesley saw in the single glimpse that was allowed to him. After
the flash the darkness swallowed him up once more; but even before the
next flash came he was visible, though faintly, by the light of the
blazing tree, for the trunk had not fallen directly between where he
was standing and the shelter. The red light flickered over his body, and
showed his attitude--his hands were now clasped over his head, and he
was facing the quarter whence the storm was coming. Then there fell
another torrent of rain and hail, and he was hidden by that watery sheet
for some minutes. Suddenly, as before, the rain ceased, and there was
another interval of clearness, that showed him standing with his arms
extended. And when the thunder peal rolled away his voice was heard
calling out passionately, though his words were indistinct; they were
smothered in the noise of the thousand torrents of the Tor.
In a moment Wesley had pushed himself through the opening of his shelter
and hurried to his side. He caught him by the arm.
“Come!” he cried. “Have you not read, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God'? Man! is this a time to seek destruction?”
The man turned upon him.
“It has come--it has come--the great and terrible Day, and I am its
prophet!” he shouted. “You did not believe me. I was mocked more than
any prophet; but it has come. All has been fulfilled, except calling
to the rocks and the mountains. No voice has called to them but mine.
I have called to the rocks to cover me and the hills to hide, but none
else. But you will join me--you will add your voice to mine that the
Scriptures may be fulfilled, John Wesley. Call upon them as I do. Fall
upon us, O rocks--cover us, O hills!”
He stretched out his arms once more and bowed his head on every side,
shouting out his words, amid the blaze of the lightning and the rattle
of the thunder.
“Wretch!” cried Wesley, but then he checked himself. He had now no doubt
that the man had become a maniac. “My poor friend--brother--let me be
your guide at this time. Let us talk over the matter together. There is
a place of safety at hand.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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