The Van Buren press., 1904-12-10

humping into his throat, and made him
slow down again.
But before he had gone quarter OF
a mile he began TO see that he could
never reach the rayine. The wind and
dust were binding. and the horses were
growing almost uncomfortable with
fright. In the turbulent west the shy
was all blush black, and in the midst
Of it he thought he could distinguish
huge, swirling mass of inky darkness,
the vortex OF the whirlwind, coming
down al the speed of an express Tram.
Ii was growing almost as dark as even
ing. The whole sky was darkened, eA-
cept a strip of liyid pallor low IN the
east, like a sinister dawn.
He could never make the creek, Du'
he might get far enough from the VII
lage to minimize the danger from ex-
plosion. The tornado seemed seVerai
miles away, and there were still ie"
minutes of grace. Between the dark
ness and the flying dust he coGid no
longer see the stones and rough spots IN
the road, and growing reckless, ne let
the panic-stricken team out little fast-
er, becoming too much excited to thlnk
of the present risk. He dipped into
hollow, where stream crossed the roap
through a 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 inkyblack torrent, and
in the gloom he could make out the gl-
gantic balloon-shaped cloud that swept
the earth with grinding roar, like the
jar of some immense mill.
He jumped down, pulled out his knlle
and cut the horses loose. They fed 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 diyed into
the low opening Of the plank tunnel,
crawled a 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 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-
digous force, and then the darkness was
split by brilliant flash and a paralyz-
ing concussion. The explosion was
less a report than a tremendous shock,
with a rending and disocation Of the at
mosphere greater than that Of the tor
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 a 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 a wa
terspout is broken by a cannon-shot.
The tornado was blown up.
The sky was already growing a little
! lighter in the west, and a cold rain had
begun 10 fall Matthews watched the
relics of the whrlwind pass over Fay
ette, and they did not look capable of in
hicting any serious damage. He
glanced back toward the hilltop. Where
the wagon had stood there was nothing
but an immense pit in the earth. It
would AXE much labor to make that road
passabe again.
The storm, in fact. did nothing more
than uproot a few trees in Fayette and
it subsided 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 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 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 Youths Companion,
/