Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-10-18

called on to comfort weeping woman.
The next minute might he their last.
or that he was fully conscious. Even
before the girls reached his side he felt
n curious lifting movement of the
whole frame Of the lantern. Steel and
glass alike We're yielding to the sus-
tained violence of the wind pressure.
Well were they nodded, by men whose
conscience need harbor no reproach of
dishonest craftsmanship. They were
being tested now almost beyond en-
durance.
Some natures would have found relief
In prayer. Gladly would Constance
and Enid have sunk on their knees and
besought the Master of the winds to
spare them and those at sea. But
Brand, believing that a catastrophe
was imminent, decided that in order
to save the girls lives he must neither
alarm them nor lose an unnecessary
instant.
To desert the light-that was mpos-
sible personally. If given the least
warning he would spring toward the
iron rail that curved by the side of the
!
chance; otherwise he would 60 with
the lamp. There was no other alterna-
tive; the girls must leave him at once.
The laugh with which he greeted
their appearance gave him time to
scheme.
81 ought to scold you. but I won't"
re cried. Are you plucky enough to
spScop1 IN tho kitchau and p,okp thrnp
nice cups of cocoa?
Just think what it cost him to speak
In this bantering way, careless of
words, though each additional syllable
might mean death to all three.
His request had the exact effect he
calculated. For once Constance was
deceived and looked her surprise.
Enid, more volatile. smiled through
her tears. SO it was not quite as bad
as they imagined, this gale. Their ia
Their could never be so matter Of fact
p the face of real peril to all of them.
Cocoa. Fancy man giving his
thoughts to cocoa while they were ex
pecting the lighthouse to be hurled into
the English channel!
He turned again to manipulate the
brass screws.
"Now, do not stand there shivering"
he said, but harden your hearts and
20. Use the oil stove. BY the time 1t
Is ready
'Shivering. indeed"
Constance, of the viking breed. would
let him see that he had no monopoly Of
the family motto, "Audeo." She, too.
could dare.
Down you 90, Enid" she cried.
"He shall have his cocoa, poor man."
He looked over his shoulder and
caught his daughter glanclng at him
from the we'll of the stairs.
bad night he shouted checrfully,
and he cheated her quick intelligence a
second time.
They We're gone. Perchance it was
his last sight of them in this life. Three
times the stalwart framework creaked,
Once 1t moved so perceptibly that the
curtain rings jinGled. Then he remem-
bered the words Of Isaiah
For thou hast been a strength TO the
poor. strength to the needy in his dis
trcss, a refuge from the storm. shad-
|
the terrible ones is as a storm against
the wall
The blast of the terrible ones. What
a vivid pen picture of the awcsome
forces Of nature. How long would this
! tornado continue? Already it must
have strewed Its path with havoc ut
sea and on land His physical senses
I al ~ tt,rn al TA
seemed to acquire abnormal powers Of
sight and hearing. He could see the
trees bending before the wrathful
wind, hear the crashing tiles and brick
work as houses were demolished and
people hurled to death. But there was
no ecstasy of soul, no mental altitude.
In quick reaction came the fanciful
cheered his shlpmates during n ter
rife gale with the trite remark:
II pity the poor folk ashore on n
night like this"
What n curious tumble of emotions
1ostled in his brain. \ step from the
sublime TO the ridiculous, Not even a
step. They were ineXtricably inter
woven, the wool ANA the warp of
things. He recalled the odd expression
of an officer who had passed unscathed
through the inferno of Spion kop.
II had no sense of fear said he,
"but my teeth began to ache
Brand. Il student, even Of himself,
discovered that his dominant sensation
vas one of curiosity.
IF it has to be-" said his nervous
system, ''let it come quickly" He felt
like man lying on the operating table
waiting for the chloroform,
Suddenly the bright flame OF the
lamp lessened. The use that was his
second nature caused him to raise the
wicks and admit more draft, Even
while his deft fingers arranged the
complex burner his ear caught a
change in the external din. The shrek
of the wind dropped to thundcrous
Erowl. This was n gale. not tempest
God be praised, the crisis had passed!
The hurricane had lasted thirty-hvt
minutes. A similar tornado sutficed tC
wreck one-half OF the city of St Louis
This one, as he learned afterward
swept around the south of Ireland
created tidal wave which did great
damage to the Sicily isles and the
headlands of the south coast yet spent
itself somewhere in the North sea