Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 2.djvu/137

Rh  Never did mightier man or horse Stem a tempestuous torrent's course,"

they felt; and when he addressed them with the eloquence of a soldier's heart, it seemed as if the cheers that followed must have shaken the "Halls." Nature, however, appeared to view the situation differently. The mountains above Padierna wrinkled their foreheads with still deeper furrows, or knit them with still darker scowls. Dense black clouds, preceded by gleaming heralds, rushed suddenly across the sky. Lightning flashed in sheets. Thunders rolled until the earth seemed to tremble. Torrents of rain deluged the ground; and in a little while, almost like something heavy and solid, night swiftly and prematurely descended.