Not a breath stirred the air, which moment by moment grew more

oppressive, presaging a coming storm. Darrell was suddenly filled with a

strange unrest--a presentiment of some impending catastrophe. For a

while he walked restlessly up and down the narrow plateau; then, seating

himself in front of the cabin, he bowed his head upon his hands,

shutting out all sight and thought of the present, for his mind seemed

teeming with vague, shadowy forms of the past. Duke came near and laid

his head against his master's shoulder, and the twilight deepened around

them both.

Far up the neighboring mountain a mighty engine loomed out from the

gathering darkness--a fiery-headed monster--and with its long train of

coaches crawled serpent-like around the rocky height, then vanished as

it came. The clouds which had been roving indolently across the western

horizon suddenly formed in line and moved steadily--a solid

battalion--upward towards the zenith, while from the east another

phalanx, black and threatening, advanced with low, wrathful mutterings.

Unmindful of the approaching storm Darrell sat, silent and motionless,

till a sudden peal of thunder--the first note of the impending

battle--roused him from his revery. Springing to his feet he watched the

rapidly advancing armies marshalling their forces upon the

battle-ground. Another roll of thunder, and the conflict began. Up and

down the mountain passes the winds rushed wildly, shrieking like demons.

Around the lofty summits the lightnings played like the burnished swords

of giants in mortal combat, while peal after peal resounded through the

vast spaces, reverberated from peak to peak, echoed and re-echoed, till

the rocks themselves seemed to tremble.

With quickening pulse and bated breath Darrell watched the

storm,--fascinated, entranced,--while emotions he could neither

understand nor control surged through his breast. More and more fiercely

the battle waged; more swift and brilliant grew the sword-play, while

the roar of heaven's artillery grew louder and louder. His spirit rose

with the strife, filling him with a strange sense of exaltation.

Suddenly the universe seemed wrapped in flame, there was a deafening

crash as though the eternal hills were being rent asunder, and

then--oblivion!

When that instant of blinding light and deafening sound had passed John

Darrell lay prostrate, unconscious on the rocks.




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