Presently the
large drops of rain fell peltering on the leaves; then the first heavy dash
of the fitful storm came down, and presently extinguished the fire, which,
by this time, was pretty well scattered over the ground. Walter and Ellen,
still locked in a close embrace, were rescued from the jaws of the
devouring element, and restored to a state of life more painful to
contemplate than the prospect of ending existence in each others' arms,
even at the stake.
But He who had interposed to save them, was now speaking through the storm
in a voice which made the guilty Durant tremble with conscious-smitten
fear. Flash followed flash in quick succession, and the jarring thunder,
loud and terrible, broke, peal after peal, on the ear! Then the howling
wind, like ten thousand furies, came crashing and roaring through the
forest, bearing whole trees on its driving wings, while others bent low
before the blasting swoop of its leveling might!
Cowering like a condemned criminal, the dark-deeded villain crept toward a
shelter, dragging with him his captives. Suddenly a dazzling flood of
light, blinding and bewildering, enveloped the whole party, and, at the
same instant, an earth-shaking, sky-rending burst of sound stunned them all
to prostration. It was some seconds before any one recovered.
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