“Yes,” she said, “that often happens, but more often does it happen
that if one is caught in a clearing, the air that runs away picks him
up and carries him along to drop him from a great height upon the
hard ground. The trees bend before they break, and those who watch
are warned, and they escape destruction if they are quick. When the
wind that runs seizes one, there is no escape.”
“It seems to me,” I said, “that it would have been safer if Ga-va-go
had led us into one of those sheltered ravines,” and I indicated a
gorge in the hillside at our right.
“No,” she said, “Ga-va-go is wise. He led us to the safest spot. We
are sheltered from the air that runs away, and perhaps a little from
the light that devours, nor can the waters that drown, reach us here,
for presently they will fill that ravine full.”
Nor was she wrong. Rushing down from the hillside, the water poured
in torrents into the ravine, and presently, though it must have been
twenty or thirty feet deep, it was filled almost to overflowing.
Whoever had sought refuge there, would have been drowned and washed
away to the big ocean far below. It was evident that Ga-va-go had not
been actuated solely by blind terror, though I came to know that he
must have felt terror, for these terrible electrical storms alone can
engender it in the breasts of these fearless and ferocious people.
The storm must have lasted for a considerable time; how long, of
course, I do not know, but some idea of its duration may be gained by
the fact that I became hungry and ate of the fruit of the trees,
which sheltered us, at least six times, and slept twice. We were
soaked to the skin and very cold, for the rain evidently came from a
great altitude. During the entire storm, the No-vans scarcely moved
from their positions beneath the trees, with their backs toward the
storm, where they stood with lowered heads like cattle. We
experienced twelve detonations of the ground-shaking thunder, and
witnessed six manifestations of the light that devours. Trees had
fallen all about us, and as far as we could see, the grasses lay flat
and matted upon the ground. They told me that storms of the severity
of this were infrequent, though rain and wind, accompanied by
electrical manifestations, might be expected at any season of the
year—I use that expression from habit, for one can scarcely say that
there are any well-marked seasonal changes within the Moon that could
indicate corresponding divisions of time as upon the Earth. From what
I was able to gather from observation and from questioning the Va-
gas, lunar vegetation reproduces itself entirely independent of any
seasonal restrictions, the frequency and temperature of the rains
having, seemingly, the greatest influence in the matter. A period of
drought and cold rains retards growth and germination, while frequent
warm rains have an opposite effect, the result being that you find
vegetation of the same variety in all stages of development, growing
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