midnight
`` Wait until it is over , '' said the other boys , `` and then we will tell you whether it is ` glorious ' or not . '' `` Hold on ! '' shouted Mr Ross . For , in almost an instant , a dark as like as midnight was on them , broken only by a vivid flash of lightning , while the very ground seemed to shake under the awful thunder . Then the storm in all its fury was upon them . How they escaped seemed a miracle . Great trees all around them were bent and twisted and broken , and went down in scores , until the air seemed full of the falling trunks and branches .