As It Was, The English Lad Did
Not Feel Comfortably At Having Had It So Near Him, And Directly
Over His Head.
In a few minutes it disappeared, and showed itself
again on the fore top-gallant yard; and after playing about for
some time, disappeared again; when the man on the forecastle
pointed to it upon the flying-jib-boom-end.
But our attention
was drawn from watching this, by the falling of some drops of
rain and by a perceptible increase of the darkness, which seemed
suddenly to add a new shade of blackness to the night. In a few
minutes, low, grumbling thunder was heard, and some random flashes
of lightning came from the south-west. Every sail was taken in
but the topsails, still, no squall appeared to be coming. A few
puffs lifted the topsails, but they fell again to the mast, and all
was as still as ever. A moment more, and a terrific flash and peal
broke simultaneously upon us, and a cloud appeared to open directly
over our heads and let down the water in one body, like a falling
ocean. We stood motionless, and almost stupefied; yet nothing had
been struck. Peal after peal rattled over our heads, with a sound
which seemed actually to stop the breath in the body, and the
"speedy gleams" kept the whole ocean in a glare of light.
The violent fall of rain lasted but a few minutes, and was
succeeded by occasional drops and showers; but the lightning
continued incessant for several hours, breaking the midnight
darkness with irregular and blinding flashes.
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