In fact,
the human figures, as they ran hurriedly to and fro, resembled those
images which present themselves to the imagination in some frightful
dream. Nay, the very cattle in the fields could be seen, in those
flashing glimpses, huddled up together in some sheltered corner, and
cowering with terror at this awful uproar of the elements. It is a very
strange, but still a well-known fact, that neither man nor beast wishes
to be alone during a thunder-storm. Contiguity to one's fellow creatures
seems, by some unaccountable instinct, to lessen the apprehension of
danger to one individual when it is likely to be shared by many,
a feeling which makes the coward in the field of battle fight as
courageously as the man who is naturally brave.
The tempest had not yet diminished any of its power; so far from that,
it seemed as if a night-battle of artillery was going on, and raging
still with more violence in the clouds. Thatch, doors of houses, glass,
and almost everything light that the winds could seize upon, were flying
in different directions through the air; and as Kennedy now staggered
along the main road, he had to pass through a grove of oaks, beeches,
and immense ash trees that stretched on each side for a considerable
distance.
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