A tormento generally begins with dust; then wind, then rain; the two
last fight furiously till the rain comes down solid, with now and
then blasts of wind through it. One usually sees them coming and
shuts everything that will shut. Huts are sent flying sometimes. I've
seen the roof of a house taken off, and a man get to a house on his
hands and knees. Oh, yes; she blows; and the rain! In one a man, his
peon, and woman, start out to get three favorite horses picketted
two hundred yards away. Man tells the woman to go back; but once
outside one can hardly see or hear, though people are close together.
Lightning all around and thunder that seems to shake the ground. There
is a white glare that feels hot and a crash of thunder and the peon
(Pascassio) called "my woman's dead! my woman's dead."
[Illustration: "To Die! To Sleep--Perchance to Dream!"]