Page:Tales of a Voyager to the Arctic Ocean, vol. 3 (1826).djvu/331

 quenched by the rain, while large hailstones flew and danced about in every direction, causing his horse to start repeatedly.

“So thick and heavy was the shower, that Wolfgang lost sight of the boarwolf for a short time, though it still kept at the same distance before him. But an unusual darkness now began to add to the horrors of the storm, not like the approach of night, but a deep gloom, as if the sun were losing its light. Thunder burst in loud peals amongst the hills, and flashes of lightning at times shot along before him. Yet all these combined terrors had no effect on the mind of the huntsman; at least he laughed at them with the feelings of a man intoxicated, for the few mouthfuls he had taken had produced a state of idea almost similar to the effect caused by liquor, without impeding his capability of bodily action. A hundred times he blessed the providence of the beauty, in providing against his fatigue, and he heard the swoln waters of the boundary stream foam amidst the stony windings of its channel, without one impression of fear, or suggestion of prudence.

“The boarwolf chose the widest whirlpool over which to leap, and Wolfgang sprung boldly over the boiling vortex. He heeded not the