The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-17
THE EVENING STORY
Taken by storm.
(By Alice White.)

made fun of him
When she was only sixteen-Ralph
little more-she had caught her foot
In railroad bridge and he had run
bravely to her rescue and released her.
Then, when he had her safely in the
siding, with the great yawning trestle
below them and the engine rocking
passed them, he had forgotten to re-
lease his hold of her. She had become
angry at the smiling of the engineer,
and had jerked herself away i'm
patiently, without so much as a word
of thanks.
Then there was the runaway horse
and the mixing of reins and dash
boards. Ralph was the first to come
she told of a pain in her arm he hur-
ried away for the doctor. Afterward
he sat by her while her arm was heal
ing and read from the book that in
Even then Bertha smiled when
Ralph's name was mentioned.
Always he was at her side when she
encountered trouble of any kind, but
she seemed not to notice him. A casual
nod of thanks and an indifferent smile
was all she ever gave him.
Years after that last incident the
cyclone came. Bertha had shaken her
head to two young men before that
event. She had been away to school
and had visited summer resorts and
had been at the seaside and the winter
hotels in the South.
These men were eligible, too, as men
60 But somehow there seemed to be
something lacking. 1t made little diff
ference where the incompatibility was.
Bertha gave her answer and her moth
er was surprised when the ultimatum
to the second one was given.
Il do not wish to influence you,
make mistake. There is something to
recommend the latter. He is wealthy
as well as good looking"
f'But 1 do not feel toward him as
should. Someway there is something
wrong with me and 1 cannot tell what.
I know he is wealthy and all that and
drives good horses and has servants to
answer every beck and call. 1t would
ciety and all that sort of thing. Only
the giving up of my ideals-it would
be too much. I could not"
The mother sighed as she gazed on
the closed door. what can she want2''
she asked of the silence. cor whom ?''
Time answered the mother. But it
was two years later.
Bertha breathed the air of the wes-
tern prairie in the early spring and
saw the fields grow green and then
pink and white, while the wind came
over the hills with the freshness of a
new summer ntheir wings. Alone,
the roads that led to the town, where
her brother was in business.
One day in May, when the fields
were blue with blossoms, she rode
slowly toward the hotel. On the hill
beyond were the spires and roofs of
the city and across her path was a
railroad with its glittering ribbon of
steel winding into the distance.
But there was a peculiar cloud in
the southwest, twisting and winding
into the sky. Bertha met a farmer.
When he had passed there was sound
of horses hoofs in the dusty road. The
a y- hOx still dc
and bees were silent. The cloud grew
darker and pushed neared the ground.
Faster and faster and blacker and
bIacker came the impending storm.
Bertha measured the distance to the
town with her eye and glanced over
her shoulder at the threatening cloud.
Try her best she could not reach the
houses before the rain came. She urg-
ed her pony into a canter. She rode
past hedges and fields that were open
to the whole world. Birds flew close
to the ground and darted into the hol-
low beyond. Bits of dust danced in
the road and whipped away into moth
ingness. Stems of grass that had with
stood the SHOWS of winter loosened
themselves from the fence and rolled
past. Once a stray paper Numbered
along. Yet the girl could feel little if
any wind.
Suddenly the sky grew dark and the
sun, which had been shining regard
less of the things going on below, was
shut out. The snakelike cloud shot
into the sky above and all was dark.
In the distance was the roaring of a
cataract. And nearer it came, filling
the universe with fear. The dust of
the road swept back and there was a
contrary current in the air Even the
pony stopped and turned about. Meth
err did he mind the whip which fell on
his flank but backed and turned
about until he faced the cloud in the
distance and then stubbornly stood
there Bertha dismounted and tossed
~ rf fT7a
wire fence and whipped her own skirts
as she gazed with fright at the cloud
the cloud twisting and roaring and the
lightning flashing from the middle of
its dark folds.
Bertha was alone.
The course of the cloud changed
and it seemed to hurry across the val
lev that stretched away between the
girl and the houses and spires. A cloud
of dust followed and the Toaring-al- |
most unbearable-of the thunder. In
front was farmhouse in the path of |
the cloud. Bertha claSped her hands |
as she saw the inmates hurry like wild
ouails into the orchard; saw the barns
and the stacks melt, as it were, in the |
blast, and where they had stood there
was naught of them when the cloud !
passed on. But the house was there !
and in the mist of dust the family |
came from the trees of the orchard.
Then the wind reached Bertha and |
the grass bent to the ground and seem |
ed to hide under the sod below The |
pony bent his neck and closed his eyes. |
The cloud fastened toward the girl /
and she stepped back to await the |
crash of the e1ements-stepped into /
the path and was caught by a friendly |
hand.
Ralph Moore was there.
Why, Bertha could not inquire, for |
the roar of the cyclone was too loud |
and the play of the lightning and |
thunder too sharp. She understood |
when he motioned to a hollow beyond |
a hill, and like a deer she ran to |