Nobody spoke. Nobody could speak. The air was so packedfull of sound that it seemed as if it could not possibly hold onesound more. It was like the booming of a thousand great guns at the same time; the shock, the recoil, and the rush of air across the entrance to the tank was as if artillery practice on an immense scale were going on. There was a screaming sound as if shells were hurtling through space. Now the pitch blackness of the night was a solid mass; then it was red and livid like a recent bruise; and then again, with a crackle like a discharge of a Maxim, vivid flashes of white fire split the air. Thunder rolled continuously and lightning played without stopping, in a way which is seen and heard only on a battle-field or during a tornado in the desert. It sounded as if the pent-up fury of a thousand years had suddenly been let loose upon that little collection of houses on the vast barren plain.
Down in the tank it was as dark as a tomb. The boys were close to one another, crouched against the wall, unable to move through sheer amazement. Peter stood up and looked out through the entrance, expecting every moment to hear the sound of houses being torn up from their foundations and flung down again many yards distant, mere heaps of splintered wood and twisted iron, with perhaps mangled human corpses in the wreckage. But such a sound did not come.
The tornado lasted about three minutes-that was all-and then it passed, and all those tremendous sounds became muffled in the distance as it retreated.
From Conrad Sayce"s In the Musgrave Ranges
Author.-Conrad Harvey Sayce, a Melbourne architect born in Eng-land, has written several books dealing with Central Australia-Golden Buckles, In the Musgrave Ranges, The Golden Valley, The Valley of a Thousand Deaths, and The Splendid Savage. All but the first are adventure books for boys.
General.-Where did this happen? Consult a map. What characters are mentioned? A tornado is a storm that turns in a circle. What other names are given to these circular storms? What causes them? Describe the fiercest storm you have known.
Lesson 47
HARK ! THE BELLS !
Hark ! the bells on distant cattle Waft across the range,Through the golden-tufted wattle, Music low and strange;Like the marriage peal of fairies Comes the tinkling sound,Or like chimes of sweet St. Mary"s On far English ground.
How my courser champs the snaffle,
And, with nostril spread,
Snorts, and scarcely seems to ruffle
Fern leaves with his tread;
Cool and pleasant on his haunches Blows the evening breeze,Through the overhanging branches Of the wattle trees.
Onward, to the Southern Ocean, Glides the breath of Spring, Onward, with a dreamy motion,I, too, glide and sing.
Forward, forward still we wander.
Tinted hills that lie
In the red horizon yonder, Is the goal so nigh?
Whisper, spring-wind, softly singing, Whisper in my ear;Respite and nepenthe bringing, Can the goal be near?
Laden with the dew of vespers, From the fragrant sky,In my ear the wind that whispers Seems to make reply :
" Question not, but live and labour Till yon goal be won,Helping every feeble neighbour, Seeking help from none;Life is mostly froth and bubble; Two things stand like stone-Kindness in another"s trouble, Courage in your own. "Courage, comrades! This is certain, All is for the best-There are lights behind the curtain- Gentles, let us rest.
As the smoke-rack veers to seaward
From "the ancient clay, " With its moral drifting leeward,Ends the wanderer"s lay.
Adam Lindsay Gordon
Author.-Adam Llndsay Gordon (1833-1870), born in the Azores, came to Australia in 1853 and joined the mounted police. He was elected to the South Australian Parliament in 1865. After failing in business as a keeper of a livery stable, he turned his attention to steeplechase riding.He lived poor at Brighton, Victoria, and died by his own hand. Various publishers have issued his collected poems, which are mostly about horsemen in the open.
General.-Which are the descriptive stanzas? Which are the thoughtfulstanzas? Which one sums up Gordon"s creed? Is it sufficient? Nepenthe, anything that lulls pain or sorrow, is a Greek name for an Egyptian drug, perhaps opium. With regard to the lines " Life is mostly froth and bubble; two things stand like stone, " can you get a vision of flood-waters surging round two projecting rocks?
Lesson 48
STARLIGHT
Lamplight and candle-light,
And light of friendly fires-
I love them all, but these to-night Are none of my desires.
To-night the wind goes whispering Across the salt lagoon,And a late bird on hurried wing Skims low by beach and dune.
A tall ship at anchor rides,
And, through her masts and spars, There gleams the light I want to-night,The radiance of stars-
The faint light, the far light, Of shy, elusive starlight,The shimmering and glimmering of all the wakeful stars. Lamplight for chill July,And joys of printed page, And candle-light for coquetryOf gallant, bygone age;
Camp-fires and fires of home
For jollity and mirth;
But starlight for us who roam, The dreamers of the earth.
Oh, frail and fair as gossamer, Yet strong as iron bars,Are dreams that rise beneath the eyes Of little, kindly stars-The young dreams, the rare dreams, The lovely do-and-dare dreams-They soar so high they fill the sky and touch the very stars.
Sheila McLeod
Author.-Sheila Mcleod is a living New Zealand poetess.