We were lying down about four miles off, when it began pattering just as that is doing now." And so on.
One night about nine or ten, there came two short, sharp peals of thunder, that sounded precisely like the reports of rifled field pieces.
We sprang up in a frenzy of excitement, and shouted as if our throats would split.

But the next peal went off in the usual rumble, and our excitement had to subside..