She had not been able to comprehend her maid's behavior, but now Palmyre had darted upon her an appealing look.
The warrior stopped as if a javelin had flashed over his head and stuck in the wall.
"Bras-Coupe must wait till I give him his wife." He sank, with hidden face, slowly to the floor.
"Bras-Coupe hears the voice of zombis; the voice is sweet, but the words are very strong; from the same sugar-cane comes _sirop_ and _tafia_; Bras-Coupe says to zombis, 'Bras-Coupe will wait; but if the _dotchians_ deceive Bras-Coupe--" he rose to his feet with his eyes closed and his great black fist lifted over his head--"Bras-Coupe will call Voudou-Magnan!" The crowd retreated and the storm fell like a burst of infernal applause.

A whiff like fifty witches flouted up the canvas curtain of the gallery and a fierce black cloud, drawing the moon under its cloak, belched forth a stream of fire that seemed to flood the ground; a peal of thunder followed as if the sky had fallen in, the house quivered, the great oaks groaned, and every lesser thing bowed down before the awful blast.

Every lip held its breath for a minute--or an hour, no one knew--there was a sudden lull of the wind, and the floods came down.
Have you heard it thunder and rain in those Louisiana lowlands?
Every clap seems to crack the world.

It has rained a moment; you peer through the black pane--your house is an island, all the land is sea.
However, the supper was spread in the hall and in due time the guests were filled.

Then a supper was spread in the big hall in the basement, below stairs, the sons and daughters of Ham came down like the fowls of the air upon a rice-field, and Bras-Coupe, throwing his heels about with the joyous carelessness of a smutted Mercury, for the first time in his life tasted the blood of the grape.