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.