The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-10-02
COLORADO.
Girls Caught on the Plains by an
Approaching Tornado.
Escaping the Lightning and the Tempest
Experiences in Gulch-How 1t
Appeared When the Storm
Was Over.

= We had been nearly two months at the
ranch, ard the weeks had been an al
most unvarying round of delight for us
both. Nearly all the daylight hours we
were out of doors, watching the phases
OF life so new to us. Often at night
we went out to little enlinence where
we could see the sheep come home to
their corral. What q solid phalanx of
wool they looked, and what twinkling
little sticks their legs were, Poncho had
recovered, and was gravely at work
every day. / used to think the dogs
face wore an air of tenderness as well
as anxiety when he was conducting a
detachment of sheep with lambs. OF
course, that was o mere fancy, but Val
verde bore me out in the notion. To
his mind POncho was capable of any.
thing. Heswould not be surprised if
some day the dog had suddenly adj
dressed him in the English of the plains.
1t was q quarter to three o'clock of a
mild, cloudless afternoon when my sis
ter, Nan, and myself started to return
from a ranch six miles away. We had
ridden over there to dinner, and came
gayly cantering homeward. the sun
bright, and for once but very little
wind blowing. According to my ex-.
perience, the West, with its great
plains, is the place to become acquaint-
CT with wind. Hardly day passes but
the air sweeps over the vast stretches
in a way that is annoying until one
gets accustomed to it. 1t roars through
the canyons, sucking hoarsely along the
gorges. 1t is one of the mighty as
poets OF the country, and to me the
least pleasant of anything had known
thus far. But this day, rs have said,
it was calm, The sage only moved
gently as we rode toward it, and we
seemed to hear the notes of birds borne
to us from an immense distance. A
great many curlews were circlino about.
and the prairie dogs sat up in front of
Their houses, looking at us with pert
and inquiring gaze,
There's something in the cry of the
birds that do not like" said Nan.
There's tone of forebodino in it. and
it is not m appropriate tone for SO
magnihcent day" But she laughed
at her own words rs she spoke them.
a gray wolf leaped across our path at
some distance, stopped an instant and
eyed us, then fled away rapidly, Again
Nan turned uneasily in her saddle and
looked about her. As she shook the
lines on her ponys neck she exclaimed:
81 am certainly under spell. Do YOU
know, girls, that | actually thought
that gray wolf had something to tell us.
II we could only underestimate
After these remarks, Nan seemed to
forget her fears, and we all became
cheerful, as was fitting for horsewomen
in Colorado. As look back upon that
afternoon, the ride, the bright sunlight,
and the experience which followed, all
seem, although painfully vivid, as if
they had happened in life of mine in
some other world; can never associate
them with myself in this existence.
We were riding toward the northeast.
having been to a ranch lying toward
the Vega Pass, though a number of
miles this side of it That feeling which
the birds had awakened had proved
very transient My sister suddenly
asked in a tone of interest, untinged by
fear, If we had noticed the cloud in the
southwest and was it customary for
Colorado skies to exhibit such
freaks? Upon that we all turned
us about, and as Nan, with a
quick cry, pulled up her horse, we
also stopped our ponies and gazed.
Speaking for myself, l only felt then a
Keen interest without alarm, at the
sight before me. Until | looked at nv
cousins face | did not think of fear A
great way of, it appeared to me, was
told aiterward it must have been about
ten miles distant when we first saw it.
was cloud absolutely black. For the
first time | knew what the phrase s.inkv
hlackness" meant. Neither before nor
since have l ever seen a cloud OF that
co or. 1t was roughly cone shaped. the
point toward the earth But even its
shape and color were not the most ter
rib.e things about it. The mass was
boiling. No other word applies to
the mceSSant rapid changes in its text
IRE, which all the time preserved its
blackneSs; and through it there were
constant flashes of lightning. But we
heard no thunder then. | shall never
forget the whiteness that came to Mans
face Without knowing that I saw.
them, yet remembered afterward that
her fingers We're clutched painfully
about the bride, and that she reeled
slightly in her saddle.
'1,et me think" she said, in low
voice l did not speak, but my sister,
who did not see Mans face, said, in a
commonplace voice:
rs not that rather belligerent
specimen of cloudP'' ~
Nan did not apparently hear her; she
SAT silent for perhaps half minute,
then she turned to us and said quickly:
Il hope you can ride fast We can't
get homeiwhat good five couldP There
is narrow gulch about mile and a
half from here. It's the only place /
know"