Instinctively the girl turned her pony's head from the trail, and, following the cliff, reached the sheltered nook, just as the storm burst in all its wild fury.
The rain came down in torrents; the forest roared; and against the black sky, in an almost continuous glare of lightning, the big trees tugged and strained in their wild wrestle with the wind; while peal after peal of thunder, rolling, crashing, reverberating through the hills, added to the uproar.
It was over in a little while.

The wind passed; the thunder rumbled and growled in the distance; and the rain fell gently; but the sky was still lighted by the red glare.

Though it was so dark that Sammy could see the trees and rocks only by the lightning's flash, she was not frightened.

She knew that Brownie would find the way easily, and, as for the wetting, she would soon be laughing at that with her friends at the Postoffice.
But, as the girl was on the point of moving, a voice said, "It's a mighty good thing for us this old ledge happened to be here, ain't it ?" It was a man's voice, and another replied, "Right you are.
And it's a good thing, too, that this blow came early in the evening." The speakers were between Sammy and the trail.

They had evidently sought shelter from the storm a few seconds after the girl had gained her position.