As these thoughts rushed through my mind, a peal of thunder, louder than any we had heard, burst directly over us. Steam House trembled throughout, and seemed to rise on its springs. I expected it to be overturned.
At the same time a strong odor filled the room—the penetrating smell of nitrous vapors.
“A thunderbolt has fallen!” said McNeil.
“Storr! Kalouth! Parazard!” shouted Banks.
The three men came running into our apartment, while the engineer stepped out on the balcony.
“There!—look there!” he cried. An enormous banyan had been struck ten paces off, on the left of the road.
We could see everything distinctly by the glare of incessant lightning. The immense trunk had fallen across the neighboring trees, its sturdy saplings no longer able to sustain it. The whole length of its ba
