The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-08-22

i In view or this heat, Wetting would
be distinct luxury, but think, as you
4 say, there Is something else coming be-
sides. oh. Pat, here 1t is. Run, or we
shall be caught"
I, The storm gave but one weird moan,
a rustic and a shrek from over the
tree tops and then was upon them. In
a minute it was blowing with a hurri-
cane force which no human being could
j stand against.
The wind plucked the feet from under
them, and they fell TO the deckings Of
the pier, gripping with their fingers in
the gaps between the planks. A storm
i of sand and leaves and twigs beat
against their heads The crazy trestle-
work OF the pier buckled and swung
beneath their bodies.
I'VE must get shoreward,' Cambel
| yelled In his companion's ear, This
jam crack thing will go by the board
/ directly"
"Right-o!" came back the response
1cheerily enough, and together they be-
gan to warp themselves toward the
beach and the wind. plank at time.
| The girl was strong and accustomed 10
using her muscles, but skirts are poor
rig 10 play caterpillar in, and her pro-
| gress was slow even with Cambel's
help. When they had gained score OF
yards, she bade him leave her 10 make
the best Of his own way. II shall get
along all right" she cried. Go and
| tell them Tin coming"
Naturally / should" he shouted
back, with a laugh. Here, let me link
my arm inside yours. That's right.
Now We'll ferry along at twice the
pace"
But they did not get much farther.
A minute afterward, to the kick OF a
hard squall, the gray old pier tottered
and clattered and crinched. and the
wind was filed with flying boards, and
Cambel found himself with one arm
clutcbing the weed clad stump of q pile
and the other wrapped round Elsie Kill
dare. .... M
"Hurt?" he shouted, anxiously.
Not bit. Sound as a bell. Your"
'tAll right"
but where's the water? There
should be six feet here. and 1 can feel
none" ...g..E @G.r
Blown away to sea. We may thank
God the wind Is not on shore or we'd
have been drowned as hundreds OF
other poor wretches are this moment.
All! That's a shave"
A lightning Hash showed them a
huge tree plucked from It's roots and
blowing past them, squirming and
crushing about like live mad thing.
Then q heavy squared roof beam hit
their jagged pile and missed Gamblers
arm by nails breadth.
THE hotels going down!" he shout
ed. THE air will be full of this stuff
in minute, and IL we try to move we
shall be Drained before we've got a
yard. Crouch down, dear, at the bot
tom of the post"
You, too"
mo, there isn't room"
Then I shall stand"
She dragged at his sleeve and pulled
him to her side. Stay by me, here,
Pat You might get swept away, and
could bear that"
"Of course I'll stay by you, dear. I'll
never go till you turn me away" He
took now grip with his arms, pinning
her between his breast and the weed
rugged leg Of the pile. Elsie / want
to tell you something. You know I've
always liked you as a friend, but now
1t has come to more than that. Much
more-love, darling. Once my mind was
full of another woman, and thought
/ could never care for anyone else as
cared for ner, but that was years
since, thousands OF years, 1t seems now
and, Elsie, Twelve forgotten her. She
is only a name to me and your sister
Dear, If we get away from this. do
you think you could like me, too little
more than an ordinary friend?"
She put her lips to his ear. do you
think we shall come out OF 1t alive
Pat? Tell me honestly" r..
II hope So"
Honestly, Pat"
I'm afraid. darling, it's a poor
chance"
Her soft, wet cheeks nestled against
him, and strands OF her hair inter-
twined themselves with his. Pat"
she said you never knew, but loved
you all along from the first"
Then for the first time during many
years Patrick Cambel knew what 1t
was to fear death. Beforetime life had
held many torments for him, and IL
lead or water or steel chose to show
him the great secret he did not very
much care. Now 1t was all different.
He lusted to live with a fierceness
which almost drove him mad
You are trembling" the girl said
anxiously.
4 know am. You have made me
rank coward, dear"
She understood him and kissed his
mouth, but no other words passed be-
tween them.
Tie cyclone blew on, believing and
tearing, and the hend fingers OF the
wind did mischief beyond all reckon
ing. Timber which had stood hundreds
of years. ceibas and Expresses, live
caks and pines, sprawled down among
the tangled underground, mere masses
of splintered matchwood. The man
grove thickets were clogged with
stones, with grasses, with grany tan
giles of Spanish moss. Lakes were
licked from their beds and spirited
far over the creamlng waters OF the
gulf The land birds were driven like
helpless spume flakes far away to sea
and choked with the gale before they
were flung breathless from Its clutches.
The palmetto shacks OF the humber
coast dwellers vanished in dust. The
frame houses of the better to do burst
at all their angles and spread like plat
forms upon the ground.
And meanwhile the great struggling
wooden hotel on Point Sebastian dis
solved away like a sand bank I'm
flooded estuary. First the heat twisted
shingles had been stripped off, flying
away into the wind like some strange
dark fowl sent as ayant couriers OF
more fearsome things to come Then
weatherboards followed, singly and in
coveys, then gable ends and joists and
rafters, all floating and pitching in
the air as though the wind had the
density OF tossing ocean stream.
Chairs and wooden bedsteads, clothes
blown out into grotesque shapes as
though the freakish spirits OF the storm
had dOnnRd fhaFn fha 500 m flf,,o, 90 fba