"Martain Rattler" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ballantyne R.M)

trunk of a small tree, which trembled under the shock, and sent a shower of ripe
nuts of a large size down upon the sailor's head. Startled as he was, he sprang
backward with a wild cry; then half-ashamed of his groundless fears, he
collected the wood he had cut, threw it hastily on his shoulder, and went with a
quick step out of the woods. In doing so, he put his foot upon the head of a
small snake, which wriggled up round his ankle and leg. If there was anything on
earth that Barney abhorred and dreaded, it was a snake. No sooner did he feel
its cold form writhing under his foot than he uttered a tremendous yell of
terror, dropped his bundle of sticks, and fled precipitately to the beach, where
he did not halt till he found himself knee-deep in the sea.
"Och, Martin, boy," gasped the affrighted sailor, "it's my belafe that all the
evil spirits on arth live in yonder wood, indeed I do."
"Nonsense, Barney!" said Martin, laughing; "there are no such things as ghosts;
at any rate I'm resolved to face them, for if we don't get some sticks the fire
will go out and leave us very comfortless. Come; I'll go up with you."
"Put on yer shoes, then, avic, for the sarpints are no ghosts anyhow, and I'm
tould they're pisonous sometimes."
They soon found the bundle of dry sticks that Barney had thrown down, and,
returning with it to the beach, they speedily kindled a roaring fire which made
them feel quite cheerful. True, they had nothing to eat; but having had a good
dinner on board the barque late that afternoon they were not much in want of
food. While they sat thus on the sand of the sea-shore, spreading their hands
before the blaze and talking over their strange position, a low rumbling of
distant thunder was heard. Barney's countenance instantly fell.
"What's the matter, Barney?" enquired Martin, as he observed his companion gaze
anxiously up at the sky.
"Och, it's comin', sure enough."
"And what though it does come?" returned Martin. "We can creep under one of
these thick bushes till the shower is past."
"Did ye iver see a thunder-storm in the tropics?" enquired Barney.
"No, never," replied Martin.
"Then, if ye don't want to feel and see it both at wance, come with me as quick
as iver ye can."
Barney started up as he spoke, stuck his cutlass and pistol into his belt, and
set off towards the woods at a sharp run, followed closely by his wondering
companion.
Their haste was by no means unnecessary. Great black clouds rushed up towards
the zenith from all points of the compass, and just as they reached the woods,
darkness, so thick that it might almost be felt, overspread the scene. Then
there was a flash of lightning so vivid that it seemed as if a bright day had
been created and extinguished in a moment leaving the darkness ten times more
oppressive. It was followed instantaneously by a crash and a prolonged rattle,
that sounded as if a universe of solid world were rushing into contact overhead
and bursting into atoms. The flash was so far useful to the fugitives that it
enabled them to observe a many-stemmed tree with dense and heavy foliage, under
which they darted. They were just in time, and had scarcely seated themselves
among its branches when the rain came down in a way not only that Martin had
never seen, but that he had never conceived possible. It fell, as it were, in
broad, heavy sheets, and its sound was a loud continuous roar.
The wind soon after burst upon the forest and added to the hideous shriek of