The Red Cloud chief., 1881-06-23

a sound like the rush and roar and
creams of a million locomotives
aeafened them. Dick Hope in
sti~nctively turned and clasped his
young wife in his arms. lie did not
see II mare; he saw nothing but
MS wne's face. aud something in it
struck terror TO his heart. His own
was as ashy gray mt that moment as his
young wife's when she turned her last
appealing look upon him and moved her
iiPs. His one prayer was that they
might die together. II seemed to them
then that all the sound in the air and
earth was condensed, gathered into one
awful shrek. Earth and sky were OBJ
liberated. Dick Hope felt himself lifted
up and flung like a flake through the
air.
When he recovered his senses he was
lying where he had prayed to be-in
the river bottom, with his wife close be-
side him. The awful storm did not
divide them. The tornado, like a rag
ing beast. had simply taken them up in
It's teeth. so 10 speak, tOssedthem aside.
and pursued its path. Where they were
lying the water was SO shoal that it
scarcely covered them.
Dick sat up and spoke to his wife. but
she did not answer. Then he put one
hand up involuntarily, in a weak, help
less way. There was blood on his face;
he could not see; his eyes were full Of
sand. He struck himself in despair.
and, again grasping his wife. said in 4
hoarse voice, ''You are not dead, Mary?"
Whether il was the water from the
river he dashcdinto his face or the gush
of tears that came into his eyes. Dick
does not know to this day. but suddenly
his eyes became clear, and he could see
his wife lying with her n next him
and the water washing her long hair
over her breast. He lifted her up. He
felt her hands, her cheeks. Then sud
denly he summoned all his remaining
strength for one supreme effort, and
dragged rather than carried her up to
the dry shelving beach under the bluff.
Mary Hope slowly opened her eyes and
looked ut her husband. Then she put
her hands slowly up to her face and COW
cred it.
Dick saw the tears coursing down
her cheeks. "DoH't.- don't, Mary"
he said.
81 can'thelpit. am not crying with
pain or grief; it's because you are liy-
ing-because we are both spared"
Dicks strength returned TO him. He
stood up and looked about him. Until
that moment he did not know that he
was cOatless and without vest or shirt:
he was naked. He pressed his eyes
with his hands and looked down on him.
self like n Weakening out of a dream.
He looked at his wife, still sitting with
her face covered with her hands:
MARY, we are almost naked. There is
nothing on me, and your dress is in rib
bons." He looked up and down the
river in n helpless way. still pressing a
hand TO his head: II don't any
sign Of-the-buggy or horse" Then
he cast his glance at the bluff back of
them. "COme, let us 60 up on the
bank"
He had 10 carry her.
lit is the horrible fright, dear Dick.
I'll soOn get over it," she said when he
set her down gently on the level ground.
MARY, look over there. DO you
see anything? My eyes are so full of
sand, so sore, that | can't make it out
quite. Everything looks blurred"
She did not answer him. 1t was not
because her eyes were not clear. AS
she looked wondcringly, her hand, that
had never rclinquishei her husbands
from the moment he seated her on the
prairie, elapsed his convulsivcly. Then
she uttered n loud cry.
IL expected As much" said Dick,
speaking more TO himself than TO his
wife. '.Nothing-nothing man ever
made could stand before that storm"
"Oh, Dick" she exclaimed, sobbing-
ly, "therc is nothing left of the town
not n house. | can only see 4 heap
here and thcrc-sOmething like fallen
chimneys, and smoke and fire"
That's the end Of Pringle's Flat,
Mary"
He looked back over the prairie
back To the fringe of trees that skirtcd
n portion of the road near the base of
Dams Rock but n little while since. He
could not recognize the place he had
had disappeared; they had been swept
from the face of the eirth. Then he
shaded hiseyes with his hand and looked
across TO where Pringle's Flat had stood
in all the pride Of u new Western town.
Dick Hope suddenly knelt by his wife's
side, still holding herhand. saying. LET
us pray"
Among all those who witnessed the
awe-inspiring tornado that swept Prin-
gle's Flat until no N stone stood upon
another. killing, manning all living
creatures i'm its path, none have such
vivid recollcctions as Dick Hope and
his wife. When they refer to their ex-
p~ericncc ON that terrible day, they speak
in a low tone, reverently. rs though
standing in the presence of the dead
Darid Lowry, IN Lippincotfs Magazinc.