And then the thunder roared , and the lightning flashed , and leapt across Vendale and back again , from cloud to cloud , and cliff to cliff , till the very rocks in the stream seemed to shake : and Tom looked up at it through the water , and thought it the finest thing he ever saw in his life . But out of the water he dared not put his head ; for the rain came down by bucketsful , and the hail hammered like shot on the stream , and churned it into foam ; and soon the stream rose , and rushed down , higher and higher , and fouler and fouler , full of beetles , and sticks ; and straws , and worms , and addle-eggs , and wood-lice , and leeches , and odds and ends , and omnium-gatherums , and this , that , and the other , enough to fill nine museums . Tom could hardly stand against the stream , and hid behind a rock . But the trout did not ; for out they rushed from among the stones , and began gobbling the beetles and leeches in the most greedy and quarrelsome way , and swimming about with great worms hanging out of their mouths , tugging and kicking to get them away from each other . And now , by the flashes of the lightning , Tom saw a new sight -- all the bottom of the stream alive with great eels , turning and twisting along , all down stream and away . They had been hiding for weeks past in the cracks of the rocks , and in burrows in the mud ; and Tom had hardly ever seen them , except now and then at night : but now they were all out , and went hurrying past him so fiercely and wildly that he was quite frightened . And as they hurried past he could hear them say to each other , `` We must run , we must run . What a jolly thunderstorm ! Down to the sea , down to the sea ! '' And then the otter came by with all her brood , twining and sweeping along as fast as the eels themselves ; and she spied Tom as she came by , and said `` Now is your time , eft , if you want to see the world . Come along , children , never mind those nasty eels : we shall breakfast on salmon to-morrow . Down to the sea , down to the sea ! '' Then came a flash brighter than all the rest , and by the light of it -- in the thousandth part of a second they were gone again -- but he had seen them , he was certain of it -- Three beautiful little white girls , with their arms twined round each other 's necks , floating down the torrent , as they sang , `` Down to the sea , down to the sea ! '' `` Oh stay ! Wait for me ! '' cried Tom ; but they were gone : yet he could hear their voices clear and sweet through the roar of thunder and water and wind , singing as they died away , `` Down to the sea ! '' `` Down to the sea ? '' said Tom ; `` everything is going to the sea , and I will go too . Good-bye , trout . '' But the trout were so busy gobbling worms that they never turned to answer him ; so that Tom was spared the pain of bidding them farewell .
And now , down the rushing stream , guided by the bright flashes of the storm ; past tall birch-fringed rocks , which shone out one moment as clear as day , and the next were dark as night ; past dark hovers under swirling banks , from which great trout rushed out on XXXXX , thinking him to be good to eat , and turned back sulkily , for the fairies sent them home again with a tremendous scolding , for daring to meddle with a water-baby ; on through narrow strids and roaring cataracts , where Tom was deafened and blinded for a moment by the rushing waters ; along deep reaches , where the white water - lilies tossed and flapped beneath the wind and hail ; past sleeping villages ; under dark bridge-arches , and away and away to the sea .
Tom Vendale addle-eggs bucketsful leeches lightning omnium-gatherums second thunderstorm weeks