CHAPTER XI.
A TORNADO.—BEFORE THE STORM.—THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.—AFTER THE STORM.
We had just returned to our camp in the forest. The day was intensely warm; the rays of the sun poured down upon mother-earth with fearful force; in the forest all was silent as death, for Nature herself seemed prostrated.
We were in the season of the tornadoes—the latter part of the month of March.
The light air that we had, had ceased. The horizon toward the north-east grew black; at first a black spot had appeared only a little above the horizon, then gradually rose higher and higher. The sight of this token inspired awe. The wind was blowing from the opposite direction. The white and fleecy clouds that were hanging in the atmosphere as they came near the black spot gradually stopped, and were slowly absorbed into black cloud.
I looked anxiously on. To a stranger the appearance of the sky showed that a fearful storm was coming.
The birds began to fly in the air in a frightened manner; my goats began to seek for shelter; the hens hid in the huts; the dogs also sought shelter; and the people were returning in hot haste from the plantations.
Every living thing seemed to know what was coming: even in the far distance I could hear the roar of the gorilla.
The black spot gradually rose and formed a semicircle, while now and then the distant sound of thunder came upon our ears, warning us of the approaching storm.
At last not a breath of air could be detected, and in an instant a white spot rose under the black horizon, and instantaneously scattered it into a thousand clouds. How wild and lurid the sky suddenly appeared! In less than two minutes it was one mass of blackness, the clouds fleeing with terrible velocity, driven away by the white spot, which now increased to huge dimensions. The tops of the trees began to sway rapidly, and before we knew it the fearful wind was upon us. Our little houses were unroofed, and the wind came with a violence that was quite appalling. The limbs of the trees broke down first, then the trees themselves, and as they fell each brought down half a dozen others with it, which in falling occasioned a booming sound that resounded from hill to hill. The monkeys became frightened, and their wild chattering indicated that they were filled with terror. It was indeed a wild and terrible spectacle.
Flashes of lightning were followed by terrific claps of thunder. The first clap brought me upon my feet, for I thought the lightning must have struck some of us. I was almost blinded by the flash. What a terrific report followed! It came on sudden and sharp like the firing of a cannon, and made my ears ring and ring till I thought I should be deafened.