Page 332 - The snake's pass

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CHAPTEE XVII.
THE CATASTROPHE.
As we drew cioser to the mountain, and recognized our
whereabouts by the various landmarks, my dread seemed
to grow. The night was now well on, and there were
signs of the storm abating occasionally the wind would
;
fall off a little, and the rain beat with less dreadful
violence. In such moments some kind of light would be
seen in the sky—or, to speak more correctly, the darkness
would be less complete—and then the new squall which
followed would seem by contrast with the calm to smite
us with renewed violence. In one of these lulls we saw
for an instant the mountain rise before us, its bold out-
line being shown darkly against a sky less black. But
the vision was swept away an instant after by a squall
and a cloud of blinding rain, leaving only a dreadful
memory of some field for grim disaster. Then we went
on our way even more hopelessly ; for earth and sky,
which in that brief instant we had been able to dis-
tinguish, were now hidden under one unutterable pall of
gloom.
On we went slowly. There was now in the air a