The daily morning Alaskan., 1902-05-21
. 9'N'N'N'otN'H'N'N'N'N'N'N'N !; TOHN ANDREWS :O COWARD
%. By Marvin Dana
Copyright iOOa. by & & Mcclure Company

Roundabout him in a struggling par. allelogram stood the ungainly wooden houses of a Missouri county seat Beyond lay the level brown of prairies, shot with the Ocher of rlpening grain. gray blue where 1t merged Into a hori' zon's sky of appalling bronze. His sight was blurred by dancing currents of hot air. In the shade of tho hotel porch the thermometer registered no degrees, and there yet remained two swelterlng hours before sunset.
 'Thank heaven, I've inspected the last acre and can start for New York in the morning." was his thought. In' stlnctlvely his hand touched his pocket and her letter He smiled. then frown' ed.
 "Am a cowardT'
 A paragraph in her letter had started the self inqulsitlon.
 q shall be SO glad when you are safe home again." lt ran, "even though l have no real cause for alarm. You are SO big and strong and brave, and l love you for it I could never love coward"
 Was he one3 Ycs-nol A flush not born Of the sun flooded hls face. Ills mind travelled back twenty-four hours, and he cursed his weakness, his tlmid- lty. which he had never realized until that awful storm had broken. It was when the terrific lightning, peculiar to this region. had played about him that he had suddenly found himself trembling. gasplng with horror. The memory of those moments still sicken- ed him and filled him with contemptu- ous self hate.
 The proprietor of the hotel came out and balanced on two legs of chair be- side hls guest
 ''Reckon wen have another bit of a shower tonight" he drawled amlably.
 The careless words tilled his listener with dumb anguish, half fear, half shame. Must he again endure that racklng torment-the blue glare of electricity, the deadly cracking of the bolts, the horrible realization that multiple death mocked him from every slde2
 '.I don't see any clounds," he yentur. cd.
 "You can tell weather same as you can cloth, more by feelln' than by looks. I've been forty years In these parts, an calc'late we'll have it ham mer an tongs before midnight. Lucky if a regular cyclone don't blow along with it."
 "Does lightning do much damage around herer
 Burns a lot of barns mostly; but, takln' it one time an another, we've had quite a few folks killed, bout twenty In my time. It's a nice, easy death, but don't Ike cyclones. one hit me. an that was enough. The durned thing killed off half the town lncludln' all my best friends an four mules, which was oil I was worth. Cyclones. blast 'em, always come In the night, when you can't see 'em."
 The listener drew his breath sharply.
 But how do you tell a cyclone, even ln daytime"
 "Well, Mir. Andrews. you can always tell 1t becar-e the sky looks like nothin' you've ever seen bcfore-yollow, green an ornerv. An 1T it's comln' your way you'll sec what the papers call a fun mel shaped cloud. but what looks more like a big balloon, dancln' along. When the gale raises an that balloon seems to stop bouncin'. but stands still, get tin bigger an bigger you dust for cellar. It's close"
 "Do all the places here have cyclone caveST'
 'Eycrybody in tovn art got one, but ,,cre's enough to go found. Want to sec mlneT
 Any diversion from bis mental an- gulsh and self pity was welcome to Andrews, and he followed his host to the middle of the back yard, where he saw a mound of earth. In the end nearest them wns a swinging shutter which the landlord raised. Within was space for perhaps six persons comfort ably placed by crowding compactly. Twice or even thrice that number might seek refuge for a limited time. The odor of damp earth suggested the grave. and again Andrews shuddered.
 By the time be sought his room at 10 o'clock that night Andrews had argued himself Into believing that thls new terror of storm and wind was a con stitutlonal peculiarlty for which he was not morally culpable, and exhaust cd by heat and mental strain he quick ly dropped asleep.
 He awoke with the trump of doom bursting his eardrums. The crash Of n falling thunderbolt brought him to hls feet. and he stood dazed amid the Iurld radiance of the lightning. In an ecstasy of fear he sprang to the win dow and closed it. Then he drew the shade and struck a match. Two flick cred and died In his trembling hand before he could light the lamp In Q very spasm of horror he sat huddled on his bed. He thought Of no one and nothing save himself and-death
 N.a. HmN