It was therefore a disagreeable reminder of the actual
situation when Joe said aloud:
"There! the rain's going to pour down harder than ever;
and this time it will be the deluge itself, if we're to
judge by yon cloud that's coming up!"
"What! another cloud?" asked Ferguson.
"Yes, and a famous one," replied Kennedy.
"I never saw the like of it," added Joe.
"I breathe freely again!" said the doctor, laying down
his spy-glass. "That's not a cloud!"
"Not a cloud?" queried Joe, with surprise.
"No; it is a swarm."
"Eh?"
"A swarm of grasshoppers!"
"That? Grasshoppers!"
"Myriads of grasshoppers, that are going to sweep over
this country like a water-spout; and woe to it! for, should
these insects alight, it will be laid waste."
"That would be a sight worth beholding!"
"Wait a little, Joe. In ten minutes that cloud will
have arrived where we are, and you can then judge by the
aid of your own eyes."
The doctor was right. The cloud, thick, opaque, and
several miles in extent, came on with a deafening noise,
casting its immense shadow over the fields. It was composed
of numberless legions of that species of grasshopper
called crickets. About a hundred paces from the
balloon, they settled down upon a tract full of foliage and
verdure.
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