The Falls City tribune., 1909-03-12
CHAP k.
The Hurricane Blast.


with a crashing uproar that brought
Der 10 her fee with a shrek. Her
giant tree creaked and strained under
the impact OF the terrific hurricane
blasts that came bowling through the
cleft like Il rot of shrieking iiends,
The peals of thunder merged into one
continuous roar, beneath which the
solid lodges of rocks Jared and quiv-
cred. The sky was a pail OF black
clouds, meshed with a dazzling net
work of forked lightning.
The girl stood %motionless, stunned
by the uproar. appalled, by the binding
glare of the thunderbolts, yet even
more fearful of the figure which every
flash showed her still lurking beneath
the door. A eust-borne bough struck
with nnmhing force against her up
raised arm. But she took no heed. She
was W of the swirl of rain and
sticks and leaves that was driving in
through the open entrance.
On a sudden the door shook free
from its props and whirled violently
around on its balance bar. There was
a shrek that pierced above the shrill-
ing of the cyclone-a single human
shrek.
The girl sprang across the cave.
The heavy door swished up before her
and down again. it's lower edge all but
grazing her face. For a moment it
stopped in a vertical position and
hung |quivering, like a beast about to
leap upon its prey. Too excited to
comprehend the danger of the act, the
girl sprang forward and shot one of
the thick bars into its socket.
\ fierce gust leaped against the ont
er face of the door and thrust In upon
II, striving to burst it bodily from it's
bearings. The top and the free side
Of the bottom bowed in. But the
branches were still green and tough,
the bamboo like whalebone and the
shrunken creepers held the frame to-
gether as though the joints were
dashed with wire rope. Failing to
smash in the elastic structure or to
snap the crossbar il We're as IL the
blast Hung ITSELF alternately against
the top and bottom in Il fierce attempt
10 again whirl the frame about. The
white glare streaming in through the
intcrstices showed the girl her oppor-
tunity She grasped another bar and
shot ii into its socket as the lower
parl Of the door gave back with the
shifting of the pressure to the top. II
was then a simple matter 10 slide the
remaining bars into the deep-sunk
holes. Within half "A minute she had
made the door fast from the first bar
10 the sixth.
\ heavy spray was beating in upon
her through the chinks Of the frame
work. She drew back and sought
shelter in a niche at the side. Mar
row as was the slit above the top of
the door, it let in a torrent of wafer,
which spouted clear across and
against the far wall Of the cave. II
gushed down upon her bed and vas
already flooding the cav floor.
She piled higher. the cocoanuts
stored in her niche, and perched her
self upon the heap 10 keep above the
water. But eeYn in her shelteIHd cor
ner the eddying wind showerel her
with spray. She waded across for her
skin-coyered s%unshade, and returned
10 huddle beneath it, in the still mis-
cry and terror of a hunted animal that
has crept wounded into a hole.
During the first hurricane there had
been companions i whom she could
look for help and comfort, and she
had been to a degree unaware of the
greatness of the danger. But in the
few short weeks since she had caught
more than one glimpse Of PrimeYal
Nature-she of the bloody fang, blind,
remorseless, %insensate. destroying,
ever destroying.
True, this was on solid land, while
before there had been the peril Of the
sea. But now the girl was alone. ont
side the straining walls Of her refuge.
the hurricane yelled and shrieked and
roared-a hcadless, formless monster,
furious to burst in upon her, To Y
throw her stanch old tree giant. that
in his fall his shattered trunk might
crush and mangle her. Or at any in
slant a ~thunder-bolt might rend open
The great tower of living wood, and
hnrl her blackened body into the pool
on the ave floor.
Once she fancied that she heard
Blake shouting outside the door; but
when she screamed a shrill response,
the blast Knocked her with echoing
shrieks, and she dared not venture to
free The door. If it were Blake, he
did not shout again. After a time she
began to think that the sound had
been no more than a freak of the
shifting wind. Yet the thought of him
out in the full fury of the cyclone
served to turn her thoughts from her
own danger. She prayed aloud for his
safety, beseeehing God that he be
spared. She sought to pray even for
Winthrope. But the vision OF that
beastly face rose up before her, and
she could not-then.
Presently she became aware of a
change in the storm. The terrific
pustS blew with vet greater violence