Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-07-22
AN AFRICAN STORM.
A THRILLING EXPERIENCE IN THE
MOUNTAINS OF CAPE COLONY.
Climbing Up the Mountain Side on . Mar
row Gauge Railrosd Track-A Flock OF

/ vuitnres-An Extraordinary sishs-A
Narrow Escape
At 4 O'Clock in the afternoon We began the
ascent Of the Hex river mountains, and al
though our freight train consisted all told Of
only six loads, two e,upties and the guard
van, it was necessary 20 take up another 10
couotive The grade IS ten. inches 1, the
rail and continuous from tie base TO the
tunnel on tbs summit Of the mountain,
and requires four hours 20 climb Pu6i
puff puff labored the tiny machines mere
toys as compared 10 your mountain Moguls,
and slowly, very slowly. W crawled up the
mountain sids over the ever curving, winding
track The day bad been tsrrihcally hot.
The broil;ng, seethinS suns rays beat down
with an uurelentinS force that caused even
our katiirs to seek shelter un5sr the waSopS
the Beers TO ty down their pipes and our
oxen to pant for air The colonies had each
soiled half dozen handkerchiefs in wip;nr
the psrspira.ion from thar heated erowx.
and taken to towels in their efforts 10 keep
their faces dry.
We were probably half way up the noun
tain side when we noticed that the sun no
longer shone on the distant peaks, though We
knew that 10 must be at least an hour high.
The specks in the sky had doubled in num-
Der and were moving in . circle The at
nsosphere should have been much cooler &C
the attitude we had nov gained, but instead
IT had grown hotter and more sitting. Our
men through fear and heat were well nigh
exhausted; even the bold Americans were
restless and began TO earnestly watch for
something 70 come down from the sky over
.the mountains up the valley or out Of the
earth, they did not know when or from
where, bu. they were experiencing that alb
sorhing. terrorizing feeling that something
+ Is going 10 happen
A WHITE MIST CREEPING.
Nearly an hour Of these uncomfortable
sensations had passed when noticed a white
mist creeping around the rugged side Of the
king peak of the range 20 our left Steadily
on it crept, DOWN gulches, over chasms and
around huge bowk1ers. until the whole
mountain was enveioped Ia thick mist, save
the extreme summit that looked like drift
ing snow. On. ON came the rolling soft,
treacherous, pure white. beautiful mist One
peak disappeared. then anncther, and stili
another was annihilated-wiped out Of exist
ence so far as we were concerned A breeze
sprang up, bringing cooler air and relieving
our sufTerings little, and in moment the
thick. Shiny, suitry cloud was upon us We
now knew th. storm was at hand and that
the flock Of asvogels knew it was coming
One Of them had seen the train and the oxen
on IL, and doubt thought, as asvogels
think. that some Of the animals would TO
killed by the terrific mountain storm, and so,
signaling to its companioua they lowered
over Us, waiting for the storm TO pasA
IL had NOW srovr 1nit< ia To ro~eh
the tunnel at the top of the grade before the
storm coaid catch Us WAS the great desire OF
all aboard the train We had only four
miles To travel TO reach it Once there We
could run near tbs further end come 10 "a
stop and wait till the storm was over, and
enjoy the protection of 100 or 81 feet Of
earth and stone above US. The engineers
and firemen of our Lttie locomotive realized
the Importance OF gaining this place Of
safety and exerted their utmos, efforts to
accomplish that end Chool chooi choo,
pulled the engines, aud slowly, very slowly
we crawied up The breeze stifened into a
wind, the wind 70 gale, the gale into
hurricane The mist had rolled down the
mountain side, up and beyond tho
eastern side OF the range. Now came the
"nigger heads" with their eyes, mouths and
ears shooting ont fiery flashes Of vivid light
ming. struggling with each other for the lead
ii guiding the storm clouds that followed
behind battling one another with their ng-
gag, forked tongues, while canyons and
mountain sides echoed and re-echoed the
boom and roar of heavens artillery Here.
there, everywhere came fash after flash In
quick succession, each fash an awful bolt
with "A report that began like the crack " a
thousand rifles and ended like the voices Of .
thousand Cannon
Az EXTRAORDINARY SIGHT
Full well We knew that no shower. but .
deiuge Of rain. would follow these black,
ragged clouds that shot cut In advance Of tho
rain clouds. so APPLY named '1ggr beads
on account OF their resemblance % a Negroes
woolly head They are highly charged with
electricity and present u the unsheiterei
Traveller thrilling realization of his perisous
position. Ssver before had | s-en 1nors than
one 'nigger bead" nj a tiTne; here were three.
and each extraordinarily charged with sbec-
tricity. Three times saw "A fash, a blazing
ball which, IN less time than 4 can tell Il,
burst, throwing out tails Of Ere IN every
direction. somewhat resembling a great sky
rocket. The report that followed was truly
terrible 10 hear and awful To feel. for 10
On, On came the storm. roaring. shrisking,
bowling, tearing It's ~ay through tho noun
taiIls, uyrooting tres s4id d.sloiginx tons Of
heavy rocks that were hurried down tho
culches, crushing every thing tefore thssn
and pounding the ground until tas whole
earth seemed 9giverias and trembling
through fear
Il Is quite impossible 20 rench the tunDei.
for the torrent is rushiuz down upon uz, and
Is, In fact. pouring down with unreieutina
fury. What II a tree Or towlder should To
thrown across the track Slower, still .iovsr
We climb up the graae-ars We rnevtBgI We
can f1el no notion nor bear the Iooonotiys
struggling on Good heavensi vsars moving
backward The rain has wet the track q
curve has brought Us facing the wind and
we are a. tho Dercy Of fa.e The wbeels
aide On the track Ike the runnSrs OF a sieigh
on the SHOW The eaxsne~rz kavs lost on
troll Of their epgiae- and faster ard faster
backward We 60 Can you picture pnsitsoa
more pe-iiou. than o1rsl Wousd ~ reach
the bottom safety, woaid 10 p,ungs over a
prscipscs down into . canyon wksr, tbs
tres:lswork has bsso washed sssyi wouid
any o< % 10 isf. 70 tel; The tale Il sAs acc4-
dent. A thou@aDd such thoughts rsnAsd
tarough nay nuisi ~ We aid faster and sax.er
down down tbs track We tad tabored %
hard to climb. The labor Of hous. vss de-
ssroyed In . few E1inusez We ssaehsd tao
bottom u tie grade visksoss osksr darn.x.
saAa t1s shaking Of fos soosn0svss @ badly
81 20 urzct tsscn tar fsrsasr sss 100 rs-
paired We r@aain~d - de bottom If rss
Era1s al sAs cat daJ. unso s~s osh~ loco