The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-06-26
AN AFRICAN STORM.
A THRILLING EXPERIENCE IN IHt
MOUNTAINS or CAPE COLONY.

Climbing Up the Mountain Side on Mar
,ov Gaure Railroad 1rack-A Flock IL
yuitures-An Extraordinary sight-A
Marrow Escape.
At4 o'clock in the afternoon we began the
ascent of the Hex river mountains, ana al
though our freight train consisted M toio Oh
only six loads. two empties and the GUARDS
van. IL was necessary TO take up another 10
comotive. The grade is ten inches d the
rail. and continuous from the base 10 ,he
Tunnel OH the summit of the mountain,
and requires four hours to climb ruiz
Duff puff. labored the tiny machines, mere
TOYS "a compared TO your mountain Moguis,
and slowly. very slowly. We crawled up the
mountain side over the ever curving, winding
track The day bad been terrihcaily noe'
Tho broiliDg, scething suns rays beat COW"
with on unrelentng force that caused even
our KafIirs to seek shelter under the wagons
the Beers to lay down their pipes ana our
oxen TO pant for air The colonies had each
soiled half dozen handkerchiefs in wiping
the perspiration from their heated brows,
and taken 10 towels in their efforts to 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 it must be at least an hour hlSh-
The specks in the sky had doubled in num-
her and were moving in circle. Inc al
mosphere should have been much cooler al
the altitude we had now gained, but instead
it had grown hotter and more sitting Our
we'll nlp1
exhausted: even the bold Americans were
restless and began 10 earnestly watch 1or
something TO come down from the sky, over
the mountains up the valley or out OF the
earth, they did not know when or from
where. but they were experiencing that alb
sorbinc. terrorzng feeling that something
il going to happen
WHITE MIST CREEPING
Nearly an hour Of these uncomfortable
sensations had passed when noticed white
mist creeping around the rugged side OF the
king peak of the rargc to our left. Steadily
on it crept. ,wn guches, over chasms and
around huge powders, until the whole
mountain was enveloped in 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 annother and still
another was annihilated-wiped out OF exist
ence. so far as we were concerned breeze
sprang up, bringing coo,er air and relieving
our sufferincs a little, and in moment the
thick, shiny, sutry cloud was upon US We
now knew the 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 no doubt bought as asvogels
think. that some Of the animals would be
killed by the terrific mountain storm, and so,
signaling to its companions, they lowered
over US, waiting for the storm to pass
Ii had now grown quite dark To reach
the tunnel at the top of the grade before the
storm could catch lis was the great desire OF
oil aboard the train. We had only four
miles to travel to reach it. Once there we
could run near the further end, come to
stop and wait till the storm was over, and
enjoy the protection of 100 or 200 feet of
earth and stone above u.s. The engineers
and fireinen Of our little locomotive realized
the importance OF gaining this place OF
safety and exerted their utmost efforts to
accomplish that end Chool choo chool
pulled the engines, and slowly, very slowly
we crawled up The breeze stiffened into a
wind; the wind to a gale the gale into
hurricane The mist had rolled down the
mountain side, up, over and beyond the
eastern side of the range. Now came the
"nigger heads" with their eyes, mouths and
ears shooting out fiery flashes of vivid light
ming, struggling with each other for the lead
in guiding the storm clouds that followed
behind, battling one another with their zig
gag, forked tongues, while canyons and
mountain sides echoed and re-echoed the
boom and roar OF heavens artillery. Here,
there, everywhere came flash after flash in
quick succession, each flash an awful bolt
with report that began like the crack of
thousand rifles and ended like the voices of a
thousand cannon.
AN EXTRAORDINARY SIGHT.
Full well We knew that no shower, but a
deluge Of rain, would follow these black,
ragged clouds that shot out in advance OF the
rain clouds, 50 aptly named "nigger heads"
ON account of their resemblance TO a Negroes
woolly head. They are highly charged with
electricity, and present 70 the unshetered
traveller thrilling realization of his perilous
position Never before had seen more than
one "nigger headn at time; here were three,
and each extraordinarily charged with cleo
tricity Three times | saw a flash, II blazing
ball, which, in less time than | can tell It,,
burst, throwing out tails of fire in every
direction, somewhat resembling a great sky
rocket The report that followed was truly
terrible to hear and awful to feel, for it
shook the old mountains to their very center
On, on came the storrd, roaring, shrieking,
bowling tearing its way through the noun
tains, uprooting trees aud diSlodgng tons of
heavy rocks that were hurled down the
gulches. crushing everything before them
and pounding the ground until the whole
earth seemed quivering and trembling
through fear
1t is quite impossible to reach the tunnel,
for the torrent is rushing down upon US, and
10, in fact, pouring down with unrelenting
fury. What If tree or bowlder should be
thrown across the track. Slower, still slower
we climb up the grade-are we movingi We
can feel no motion nor hear the locomotive
struggling on Good heavensl we are moving
backward The rain has wet the track, a
curve has brought US facing the wind. and
We are at the mercy Of fate. The wheels
slide on the track like the runners Of u sleigh
on the snow. The engineers have lost con
troll Of their engines, and faster and faster
backward we 60 Can you picture a position
more perilous than oursl Would We reach