River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-12-08

humping into his throat, and made him
slow down again.
But before he had gone a quarter of
mile he began to see that he could
never reach the ravine. The wind and
dust were binding, and the horses were
growing almost uncomfortable with
fright. In the turbulent west the sky
was all blush black, and in the midst
of it he thought he could distinguish a
huge, swirling 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 a strip of IYid pallor low in the
east, like a sinister dawn.
He could never make the creek, bui
he might get far enough from the vii
lage to minimize the danger from ex
plosion. The tornado seemed several
miles away, and there were still lev
minutes of grace. Between the dark
ness and the flying dust he could NJ
longer see the stones and rough spots IL
the road, and growing reckless, he le
the panic-stricken team out little fast
er, becoming too much excited to thinl
of the present risk. He dipped into
hollow, where stream crossed the roaf
through a culVert, ratified up the sue
ceeding elevation, and pulled up shor
as he reached the top, suddenly appalled,
The whole sky appeared to be fall
ing in, like an inky-black torrent, ant
in the gloom he could make out the gI
gantic balloon-shaped cloud that swep
the earth with grinding roar, like tbs
jar of some immense mill.
He jumped down, pulled out his knife
and cut the horses loose. They fed dowT
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 could see nothing
but obscurity, and the air seemed filled
with cloud and dust For an instant
there seemed a strange lull, and then
with redoubled and deafening uproar
the cyclone struck and went over. He
was actually dragged toward the end OF
the culvert 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-
digious force, and then the darkness waa
split by brilliant flash and paralyz-
| ing conclusion. The explosion was
| less a report than a tremendous shock,
with rending and dislocation of the at
mosphere greater than that of the tor
Aado itself. Then the air seemed sud-
denly struck calm, anda rain of every sort
of wreckage showered down-shingles.
| boards, fragments of trees and pieces of
fencing.
! In his scattered wits, Matthews
thought the center of the cyclone had
gone past, and he 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
litele 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 a cold rain had
begun to fall. Matthews watched the
relics of the Whirlwind pass over Fay
cite, and they did not look capable of in
| f1icting 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
| passahle 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 unbhrt day Or two later by a
farmer a couple of miles away AS for
the wagon and the well-shooting outfit,
not so much as bolt or 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 if
the affair was brought to their notice,
he would be asked to pay for the dam
age to the road.-Youth's Companion.
GERMANS EXCEL IN BOOKS
Their Exhibit at the Worlds Fair Re-
m a rlx h1v Gredita h1e-MoS+ Tn