The
thunder [in Nebraska] seemed almost incessant, and the lightning
was so brilliant, you could read by its flashes…. Our
tents were blown down as were the covers of our prairie schooners
and in less than five minutes we were as drowned rats. Unless
you have been through it, you have no idea of the confusion
resulting from a storm on the plains, with the oxen bellowing,
the children crying and the men shouting…with everything
as light as day and thenext second as black as the depth of
a pit.
