A weight of heavy clouds pressed down upon the plain.

Even had it been day the crest of the mountains would have been invisible.
In the midst of this impenetrable obscurity, there was no response to the cries which arose from every side.

Frightened groups of men, women, and children groped their way along the black roads in wild confusion.

From every quarter came the screaming voices: "It is an earthquake!" "It is an eruption!" "Whence comes it ?" "From the Great Eyrie!" Into Morganton sped the news that stones, lava, ashes, were raining down upon the country.
Shrewd citizens of the town, however, observed that if there were an eruption the noise would have continued and increased, the flames would have appeared above the crater; or at least their lurid reflections would have penetrated the clouds.

Now, even these reflections were no longer seen.