Ah, had it been the final Judgment Day, how many of us would have had
our houses in order for the coming of the angel of the Lord?
Nick Ribsam sprang out of the carriage, helped Nellie to alight, and
went into the store of Mr. Martin, where James Bradley was found
awaiting him. The money was handed over, a receipt taken, the horse
fed, during which Nellie attended to the errand on which she was sent,
and, an hour later, the mare was given water, and brother and sister
started homeward, little dreaming of what awaited them.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE BURNING FOREST.
"It is growing darker all the time."
"So it seems; I never saw anything like it."
"Maybe it is really night, Nick, and we have lost our reckoning. Isn't
there any way by which the world might swing out of its--what do you
call it?"
"Orbit, I suppose, you mean; there may be such a way, but from what I
have studied, when it does do that there will be more of a disturbance
than simple darkness like this."
These words were exchanged between brother and sister after they had
penetrated the woods a considerable distance on their return home. It
had become like night around them, except that, as has been shown, the
gloom was of that peculiar lurid nature which can hardly be described,
and can never be forgotten by those who saw it.
Even Nick Ribsam was impressed. It could not have been otherwise, for
any one would have been lacking in natural sensibility had he failed to
be awed by the singular sight.
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