These puffs of smoke and (strange to say) the sound of the firing produced the chief beauty of the spectacle.

“ Puff! ”⁠—suddenly a round compact cloud of smoke was seen merging from violet into gray and milky white, and “ boom! ” came the report a second later.

“ Puff! puff! ”⁠—and two clouds arose pushing one another and blending together; and “ boom, boom! ” came the sounds confirming what the eye had seen.