Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-12-13

to eat and drink l was late in coming
up and, before | went into the garden,
l saw that the horizon to the north car
ried a faint dun colored feather. But
no one would have thanked me for spoil
lnG 50 weu managed an entertainment
as hi pi:'lic-aui Il dust storm, more
or less, does no grea harm.
We gat h"red bv the tank. Som" one
had brought out a bamj hich is Il
most senti nen al instru,ne lt-and three
or four of lis ,ang. You must not laugh
a: this. Our amusementS in out of the
way stations are very few indeed Then
we talked i'll groups on together. lying
under the tre = with the sun baked roses
dropping tn If petals on our feet until
supp"r was ready. 1t was Il beau-
tifu - cod and as iced rs you
COZ ,e stayed long over it,
ha flt that the air was growing
hotter and ho t.r, but nobody seemed to
notice it until the moon went out AMI a
burning hot wind began Iashiny the
orange trees with sound like the noise
of the sea. Before we knew wher' we
We're the dust storm was on us and ev-
erythng was roaring, whirling darkness.
The supper table was blown bodily into
the tank We were afraid of staying
anvw here near the old tomb for fear it
might he blown down. SO we felt our
way to the orange trees where the horses
were picketed and waited for the storm
to Llow over Then the little light that
was left vanished and YOU could not see
your hand before your face.
The air was heavy with dust and sand
from the he'd of the river that filled
boots and pockets and drifted down
necks and coated eyebrows and mus
taches. 1t was one of the worst dust
storms OF the year. We We're all hId-
died together close to the trembling
horses, with the Thunder Gathering over
head and the lightnirg squirting like
water from sluice. ali ways at once.
There was no danger, of course, unless
the horses broke loose
was standing VT nay head down
ward and my han /, over my mouth,
hearing the trees tlr .;ljn; each other
] could not see who v as next me till the
flashes came. Then fou"d that | was
Miss Cuplpiyh. because she had paIri
round her helmet and the younger hal
not. All tn" electricity in the air had
gone into my body and | was quivering
and tingiing from head to foot exactly
as a corn shoots and tingles before rain
1t was gran storm. The wind seemed
to be picking up the earth and pitching
it to the leeward in great heaps; and the
heat beat up from the ground like the
heat of the Day of Judgment.
The storm luIled slightly af.er the first
half hour and heard a desparing little
voice close to my ear, saying TO itself,
quietly and softly, as if some lost soul
were flying about with the wind: "Oh!
my God!" Then the younger Mss Cop
leigh stumbled into my arms, saying:
"Where is my horse? Get my horse.
want to go home Take me home.
thought that the lightning and the
black darkness had frightened her; so [
said there was no danger, but she must
wait till tine storm blew ever. She an
swered: 1T is not that! 1t is not that!
l want to go home! Oh, take me away
from here!
| said that she could not go till the
light came; but | felt her brush past me
and 90 away. 1t was too dark to see
where. Then the whole sky was split
omen with one tremendous flash, as if
the end of the world were coming, and
all the women Shrieked.
Almost directly after this | felt a
mans hand on my shoulder and heard
Saumarez believing in my ear. Through
the rafting of the trees and bowling of
tine wind l did not catch his words at
once At last | heard him say: "Ive
proposed to the wrong one! What sh1
| dog" Saumarez had no occasion to
make this confid nee to me. | was
never friend OF his, nor am | now; but
fancy neither of us were ourselves just
then. He was shaking as he stood with
excitement, and l was feeling queer all
over with the electricity. | could not
think of any thing to say except, More
fool for you proposing in a dust storm.
But I did not see how that would i'm
prove the mistake.
Then he shouted: "Where's Edith
Edith Copleigh?" Edith was the
younger sister. / answered out of my
astonishment: "What do you want with
herr" Would you believe it, for the next
two hours he and | We're shouting at
each other like maniacs-he vowing that
it was the younger sister he had meant
to propose to all along, and | telling him
till my throat was hoarse that he must
have made a mistake! l can't account
for this except, again. by the fact that
we We're neither of us ourselves. Every
thing seemed to me like a lad dream
from tine stamping of the horses in the
darkness to Saumarez telling me the
story of his loving Edith Copleigh from
the first. He was still clawing my
shoulder and begging me to tell him
where Edith Copleigh was, when an
other lull came and brought light with
it, and we saw the dust cloud forming
on the plain in front of us. So we knew
the worst was over. The moon wa' low
down, and there was just tn glim ner
of the false dawn that mes about an
hour before the real one. Bat the | ght
was very faint, and the dun cloud roared
ike a bull
wondered where Edith CDpleigh had
gone; and as | was wonderi! g saw three
things together: First Maui C,pleigh's
face come smiling out of the dark less
and move toward Sau .areZ, who was
standing by me- | heard tn e ri whs-
per, George, and slide her arm through
the arm that was not Gazing my
shoulder, and l saw that look on her
face which only comes once or twice in
lifeLime-whel Il woman Is perfectly