The Brookhaven leader., 1883-07-26
CAUGHT UP In A CYCLONE.

CAUGHT CP IN A ClCLONE.
1t was on Saturday, the day of the
week on which there was no school, the
Sth of August, think, but am not quite
sure, though | know it could not have
been very far from that date. For good
reasons, as you will presently see, was
not in a condition to make an entry in
my diary on that evening, nor, indeed,
for week afterward.
At any rate, it was Saturday, when
there was no school, and Harvey Rob-
inSon and myself were fishing in the IL
linois River. We had not been fishing
for some weeks, and we went prepared
To have good time. We were in a
row-boat which belonged to Harvey's
brother. and we had started out about
three o'clock in the afternoon. Besides
our fishing-rods and pound of beef for
bait, each of us had taken biscuit and
pocketful of pears to eat by the way.
1t was very warm afternoon; we were
aware of that before setting out. But
we thought there would be breeze on
the river, and we said we could take
bathc in the shade of the elms if the sun
was too hot.
Unlocking our boat we padded down
to n bend, some half a mile below, and
there, in the deep water, threw out our
hooks. But it was warmer than we had
thought, and no breeze came. At last
it really seemed as if the sun would
bake us. There was a belt of rather
dark, misty clouds away up in the
northwest, but they did not keep the
sun from reaching us.
Il wish some of those clouds would
rise little higher and cover the old
hay-maker up" Harvey said, and he
dipped up Il handful of water to wet his
head.
just then, however, fish bit at Har-
yey hook; then another took my bait,
and | hauled big fellow in. Then the
fish seemed to all wake up at once. We
caught five in less than three minutes,
and the sport grew so exciting that we
forgot how fearfully hot it was. But
suddenly we became conscious of some
thing unusual; a strange sensation
which came from the air, and of an un-
natural stiffness. The air seemed dedd
and Oppressively heavy; it fairly bore us
down, and the effect was such that it
seemed as if my head would burst. AT
any rate, my head felt very strangely.
This is queer weather." Harvey
said, drawing up his line and looking
around; and when he spoke. | noticed,
and so did he, that his voice sounded
strangely.
Lets pull back to the landing
place." | said, for thought that pOssi-
bly, an earthquake, or something of that
kind, was at hand.
"Yes, let's do that" replied Harvey
and we both took to the oars. We had
pulled no more than a dozen strokes,
when a strange noise-lke nothing |
can describe-a sort of murmur, caused
us both TO look round up the river. And
there, all up in the north and west, was
the strangest, widest sight ever saw.
The clouds were not very black, but
they seemed to be twirling round and
round, streaming up with frightful
Just awful! But where we were not
breath of air was stirring.
LISA tornado! There's a cyclone
coming!" Harvey exclaimed. 1--WE
must get ashore"
Almost before the words were spoken,
i caught sight of something out through
the trees, above the landing place, that
fairly made my hair rise.
IL WAS DldCh as lin, IOuT HUH-
dred feet high, and looked like an i'm
mense balloon painted black, with the
lower end just touching on the ground!
''For lnercy's sake, what was that?"
Harvey cried out.
We both dropped our oars and grasped
the side of the boat-for we saw that
whatever it was, it would be on us in
another minute!
The strange, murmuring sound had
increased to horrible roaring, and
above it we heard loud crashes like
thundcr-claps! 1t struck the oil-nut
trees by the boat-landing, and every
leaf and small limb seemed to fly up off
them, as if sucked into the vast, black
globe. Not leaves and branches alone;
the great whirling, roaring sphere gath
cred up everything in its course!
In that moment of its sweeping down
upon us, l saw fence-rails, cart-wheels,
calves, boards, green corn, pigs, tons of
hay and lots of sheep, all whirled round
and round together, a hundred feet up
in the air! And on each side of it
shower of all these things, living and
dead, was rained down like hail.
When the lower end of this horrible
maelstrom touched the river, the water
rose up in a white stream into the black,
dusty mass with shrill, kissing noise,
like the tearing of thousand pieces of
cloth!
All this in moment; then it struck
us-that whizzing, roaring whirlwind of
dirt, grass, corn. fence-posts, dust and
water! and up we went into the dark!
The boat, with us in it. was whirled out
of the water into the swirling air like
leaf!
remember feeling swift succession
of heavy thumps and blows, as | clung
TO the gunwale; then l was dimly con-
scious of being whirled over and over
in the air; and then, for time. knew
nothing more about it.
Tha naxt I did knnw=-thnnoh I