The Irish standard., 1904-12-24
humping into his throat, and made him
slow down again.

But before he had gone a quarter of
mile he began 10 see that he could
never reach the ravine. The wind and
dust We're binding, and the horses were
growing almost uncomfortable with
fright. In the turbulent west the Sky
was all a blush black, and in the midst
huge, swirlins mass OF inky darkness,
the vortex OF the whirlwind, coming
down at the speed OF an express train.
1t was growing almost as dark as even
ing. The whole Sky was darkened, ex-
cept strip of livid pallor low in the
east, like sinister dawn.
He could never make the creek, but
he might get far enough from the viii
lage to minimize the danger from ex-
plosion. The tornado seemed several
miles away, and there were still few
minutes of grace. Between the dark
ness and the flying dust he could no
longer see the stones and rough spots in
the road, and growing reckless, he let
the panicstricken team out little fast
err, becoming 100 much excited to think
of the present risk. He dipped into a
hollow, where a stream crossed theroad
through culvert, ratified up the sue
ceeding elevation, and pulled up short
as he reached the top, suddenly appalled,.
The whole Sky appeared to be fall
ing in. like an inky-black torrent, and
in the gloom he could make out the gil
gantic balloon-shaped cloud that swept
the earth with grinding roar, like the
jar of some immense mill.
He jumped down, pulled out his knife
and cut the horses loose. They fled down
the road by which they had come, and
Matthews raced after them, leaving the
loaded wagon standing on the top of
the hill.
He had no clear idea of where he was
going till he reached the culvert at the
bottom Of the hollow He dived into
the low opening Of the plank tunnel,
crawled few feet in, and lay fiat in
the mud and water.
For a few seconds he covered there,
and quaked with fright. From the
opening at the end he couii, see nothing
but obscurity, and the air seemed filled
with cloud and dust For an instant
there seemed strange lull, and then
with redoubled and deafening uproar
the cyclone struck and went over. He
was actually dragged toward the end of
the culyert by the suction.
One of the planks overhead was ripped
away and went whirling into the air.
The mud and water spouted up round
him. For one dreadful moment the
earth seemed ground under some pro-
disious force, and then the dark ness was
split by brilliant flash and a paralyz-
ing conclusion. The explosion was
less report than tremendous shock,
with a rending and dislocation of the at
mosphere greater than that of the tor
nado itself. Then the air seemed sud-
denly struck calm, anda rain of every sort
OF wreckage showered down-shngles,
boards, fragments of trees and pieces Of
fencing.
In his scattered wits, Matthews
thought the center Of the cyclone had
gone past, and Ire peeped through the
gap over his head. The swirling black
cloud was no longer in existence. 1t
appeared to have been split asunder, and
to have broken into number Of smaller
eddies that swept the fields with i'm
mense velocity, but with comparatively
little force. The great vortex was
broken, split by the explosion, as wa
terspout is broken by cannon-shot.
The tornado was blown up.
The Sky was already growing a. little
lighter in the west, and cold ram had
begun to fall. Matthews watched the
relics of the whirlwind pass over Fay
cite, and they did not look capable of in
ficting any serious damage. He
glanced back toward The hilltop. Where
the wagon had stood there was nothing
but an immense pit in the earth. 1t
would take much labor to make that road
passable again.
The storm, in fact, did nothing more
than uproot few trees in Fayette and
it subsidized after passing. No further
damage was reported from it. Matthews
found one of his horses lying dead few
rods down the road. The other was
captured unhurt a day or two later by a
farmer couple Of miles away. AS for
the wagon and the well-shooting outfit,
not so much as bolt or a splinter was
ever seen.
Matthews thought of demanding COM
pensation from the town, on the ground
of his services in wrecking the tornado
But he abandoned the idea eventually
He knew the characteristics of the coun.
try villages. and he was afraid that il
the affair was brought to their notice
he would be asked to pay for the dam.
age to the road.-Youth's Companion.