Kootenai County Republican. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1899-1903, 1902-04-18
!: TOHN ANDREWS
~ COWARD
-. BY Marvin Dana
Copyright, 1902. BY
s. .. Mcclure Company

houses Of Missouri county seat.
Revond lay the level brown Of prairies,
shot with the ocher OF ripening grain.
Kray blue where II merged into hori-
sons sky of appalling bronze. His
sight was blurred by dancing currents
of hot mir. In the shade OF the hotel
porch the thermometer registered 40
degrees. and there yet remained two
sweitering hours before sunset.
"Thank heaven, I've inspected the
last acre and can start for New York
IN the morning" was his thought. IN
stlnctively his hand touched his pocket
and her letter. He smiled, then frown-
ed.
IAN n cowardY'
A paragraph In her letter had started
the self inauisition.
Il shall be SO glad when you are safe
home again." 1t ran, "evcn though l
have no real cause for alarm. You are
so big and strong and brave, and
love you for It. l could never love
coward"
Was he one? Yes-no! A flush not
born OF the sun flooded his face. His
mind Travelled back twentyfour hours
and he cursed his weakness, his timld-
ity, which nc had never realized until
that awful storm had broken. 1t was
when the terrific lightning, peculiar
to this region, had played about him
that he had suddenly found himself
trembling. gasping with horror. The
memory Of those moments still sicken-
4. I,i al ,fnvo a.
GUS self hate.
The proprietor OF the hotel came out
and balanced OH two legs of chair be-
side his guest
"Reckon we'll have another bit Of
shower tonight" he drawled amiably.
The careless words filed his listener
! with dumb anguish, half fear, half
shame. Must he again endure that
racking torment-the blue glare Of
electricity, the deadly cracking Of the
bolts, the horrible realization that
multiple death Knocked him from every
side?
II don't see any clounds,' he ventur
ed
"You can tell weather same as you
can cloth, more by feelin' than by
looks. I've been forty years In these
parts, an l calc'late we'll have it ham,
mer an tongs before midnight. Lucky
II regular cyclone don't blow along
with It,"
Does lightning do much damage
around here!"
"Burns a lot of barns mostly; but,
takin' 1t one time an another, we've
had quite few folks killed, bout
twenty In my time. It's nice, easy
death. but I don't like cyclones. One
hit me, an that was enough. The
burned thing killed Off half the town,
includin' all my best friends an four
mules, which was all l 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 cyclone, even
In daytime"
well, Mr.. Andrews. you can always
tell 1t because the sky looks like nothin'
you've ever seen before--yellow, green
an ornery. An If it's comm your way
you'll see what the papers call a fun
mel shaped cloud. but what looks more
like big balloon. dancin' along. When
the gale raises an that balloon seems
to stop bouncin', but stands still. get
tin bigger an bigger. you dust for a
cellar. It's close''
do oil the places here have cyclone
caves"
Everybody In town amt got one
but there's enough to go round. Want
, to see mine?"
Any diversion from his mental an
gnish and self pity was welcome te
Andrews. and he followed his host te
the middle of the back yard, where he
saw mound Of earth. In the end
nearest them was 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 limited time
The odor of damp earth suggested the
grave. and again Andrews shuddered.
by the time he sought his room at II
o'clock that night Andrews had arguet
J himself into believing that this new
, terror of storm and wind was con
stitutlonal popularity for which h,
was not morally culpable. and exhaust
ed by heat and mental strain he quick
~ dropped asleep.
He awoke with the trump of doom
bursting his eardrums. The crash o
falling thunderbolt brought him Il
. his feet. and he stood dazed amid tn,
, lurid radiance of the lightning. In al
i ecstasy OF fear he sprang to the win
! dow and closed II. Then he drew tn,
shade and struck match. Two flick
cred aud died in his trembling han,
before he could light the lamp In
very spasm Of horror he sat huddle,
ON his bed. He thought of no one an,
! nothing save himself and-death.
But there remained another note We
: to be sounded in the gamut of his ter
! ror. Suddenly the hotel commenced t,
. shake and reel under the assaults o
the wind. With cringing disuiay h,
' rpca lletl tho 10nltor,i'S WARMING ayafnS