’TIS THE WILL OF GOD
The hill on which they found themselves was the highest point of the
rolling plain. On it were scattered masses of ironstone. Whether there
was any kind of metal present in the soil of the hill, or whether it
was because it was the highest spot in the neighbourhood, Steve could
_not_ determine, but he later on learned that this was a favourite spot
for the lightning to strike down on.
What they saw was this--
Two horses, dead and all twisted up as if they had no bones in their
bodies, indescribably horrible to see. Entangled with one horse, a
man’s body was seen. When they lifted him up by the arms, his head
dropped backwards between the shoulders, as if his neck was composed
of only skin and soft flesh. His hat and most of his clothes were
carbonised, and his flesh, where exposed, was scorched and burnt in
crooked lines. But let us draw a curtain, ’tis God’s work; His ways are
inscrutable.
The body was conveyed, in a waggon (sent for the purpose), home.
When the body was carried into the house, the mother of the dead man
cast off all restraint and threw herself in a passion of weeping upon
the corpse, and had to be dragged away by main force from the awful
sight of the mutilated body of her son.
To cut a gruesome story short, the body was buried the following day at
midday. Steve and his companions came over from a neighbouring farm,
where they had gone the afternoon of the accident, as so many relatives
and friends had come to assist the bereaved family that they thought it
well to leave and relieve the house of the care of stranger guests.
Poor Ignatious was in a precarious condition; his life was despaired
of for some time. But he recovered in the end. But poor Tante Letta;
the shock was too much for her; she nearly followed her boy to the
grave, and was delirious for months afterwards. Oom Ignatious spanned
in his cart, on the doctor’s advice, and rode from neighbour to
neighbour for weeks, every day giving his wife change of scene and
faces. By this means, she gradually recovered a shadow of her health
and reason. But the beautiful motherly smile, which formerly dwelt
on her face, was gone for ever. She is now the tender care of little
Lettie, and is waiting patiently for the time when her God will call
for her, and take her to her beloved son. God comfort the poor old lady!