60 MARTIN RATTLER.

worlds were rushing into contact overhead and burst-
ing into atoms. The flash was so far useful to the
fugitives that it enabled them to observe a many-
stemmed tree with dense and heavy foliage, under
which they darted. They were just in time, and had
scarcely seated themselves among its branches when
the rain came down in a way not only that Martin
had never seen, but that he had never conceived of
before. It fell, as it were, in broad heavy sheets, and
its sound was a loud, continuous roar.

The wind soon after burst upon the forest and
added to the hideous shriek of elements. The trees
bent before it; the rain was whirled and dashed
about in water-spouts; and huge limbs were rent
from some of the larger trees with a crash like
thunder, and swept far away into the forest. The
very earth trembled and seemed terrified at the dread-
ful conflict going on above. It seemed to the two
friends as if the end of the world were come; and
they could do nothing but cower among the branches
of the tree and watch the storm in silence, while
they felt, in a way they had never before experienced,
how utterly helpless they were and unable to foresee
or avert the many dangers by which they were
surrounded, and how absolutely dependent they were
on God for protection.