Susie clenched her hands so that she might not
faint.
All at once she started, for the old man's voice was cut by a sudden gust
of wind. A moment before, the utter silence had been almost intolerable,
and now a storm seemed to have fallen upon them. The trees all around
them rocked in the wind; they heard the branches creak; and they heard
the hissing of the leaves. They were in the midst of a hurricane. And
they felt the earth sway as it resisted the straining roots of great
trees, which seemed to be dragged up by the force of the furious gale.
Whistling and roaring, the wind stormed all about them, and the doctor,
raising his voice, tried in vain to command it. But the strangest thing
of all was that, where they stood, there was no sign of the raging blast.
The air immediately about them was as still as it had been before, and
not a hair on Susie's head was moved. And it was terrible to hear the
tumult, and yet to be in a calm that was almost unnatural.
On a sudden, Dr Porhoet raised his voice, and with a sternness they had
never heard in it before, cried out in that unknown language.
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