It thundered too a little now and then in the same
direction, but this was an every--day occurrence in Jamaica at this
season, and as I had only seven miles to go, off I started in a gig of
mine host's, with my portmanteau well secured under a tarpawlin, in
defiance of all threatening appearances, crowding sail, and urging the
noble roan that had me in tow close upon thirteen knots. I had not gone
above three miles, however, when the sky in a moment changed from the
intense glare of a tropical noontide to the deepest gloom, as if a bad
angel had suddenly overshadowed us, and interposed his dark wings between
us and the blessed sun; indeed, so instantaneous was the effect, that it
reminded me of the withdrawing of the foot--lights in a theatre. The road
now wound round the base of a precipitous spur from the Liguanea
Mountains, which, instead of melting onto the level country by gradual
decreasing undulations, shot boldly out nearly a mile from the main range,
and so abruptly, that it seemed mortised into the plain, like a rugged
promontory running into a frozen lake. On looking up along the ridge of
this prong, I saw the lowering mass of black clouds gradually spread out,
and detach themselves from the summits of the loftier mountains, to which
they had clung the whole morning, and begin to roll slowly down the hill,
seeming to touch the tree tops, while along their lower edges hung a
fringe of dark vapour, or rather shreds of cloud in rapid motion, that
shifted about, and shot out and shortened like streamers.
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