| | 1 | Author: | Caruthers
William Alexander
1802-1846 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Cavaliers of Virginia, Or, the Recluse of Jamestown  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The lightning streamed athwart the heavens
in quick and vivid flashes. One peal of thunder
after another echoed from cliff to cliff, while a
driving storm of rain, wind and hail, made the
face of nature black and dismal. There was something
frightfully congenial in this uproar of the
contending elements with the storm raging in Bacon's
heart, as he rushed from the scene of the
catastrophe we have just witnessed. The darkness
which succeeded the lurid and sulphureous
flashes was not more complete and unfathomable
than the black despair of his own soul.
These vivid contrasts of light and gloom were
the only stimulants of which he was susceptible,
and they were welcomed as the light of his path!
By their guidance he wildly rushed to his stable,
saddled, led forth, and mounted his noble charger,
his own head still uncovered. For once the gallant
animal felt himself uncontrolled master of his
movements, fleet as the wind his nimble heels
measured the narrow limits of the island. A sudden
glare of intense light served for an instant to
reveal both to horse and rider that they stood upon
the brink of the river, and a single indication of the
rider's will was followed by a plunge into the
troubled waves. Nobly and majestically he rose
and sank with the swelling surges. His master
sat erect in the saddle and felt his benumbed faculties
revived, as he communed with the storm.
The raging elements appeared to sympathize with
the tumult of his own bosom. He laughed in horrid
unison with the gambols of the lightning, and
yelled with savage delight as the muttering thunder
rolled over his head. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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