The light was fading fast; the fury of the storm, whose preliminary
blasts were shaking the dwelling, was coming as if an ally with the
galloping Union ranks and threatening the equally impetuous onset of
the Confederates. In the very van of the Southern force a vivid
flash of lightning revealed Mad Whately, with a sabre of flame. For
once he made a heroic figure. His mother saw him and shrieked
despairingly, but her voice was lost in the wild uproar of thunder,
yells and shouts of the combatants, the shock of steel and crash of
firearms. Then torrents of rain, which had approached like a black
curtain extending from heaven to earth, hid the awful scene of
conflict. It vanished like a dream, and would have seemed but a
nightmare had not the ominous sounds continued.
Mr. Baron broke the spell which had fallen upon him, dragged his
sister and niece within the door, and bolted it with difficulty
against the spray-laden gusts.
CHAPTER XXII
CHUNK'S QUEST
If there had been sufficient light the battle might have continued
in spite of the tropical downpour, but darkness became so intense
that friend and foe were alike disguised from each other.
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