.

A MEETING.
No one can be more wise than destiny.
The short equatorial twilight was drawing to an end, and all Nature stood in silence, while Night crept up to claim the land where her reign is more autocratic than elsewhere on earth.

There is a black night above the trees, and a blacker beneath.

In an hour it would be dark, and, in the meantime, the lowering clouds were tinged with a pink glow that filtered through from above.

There was rain coming, and probably thunder.