Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1910-02-10
JOHN ANDREWS
THE COWARD,
The Way He Acted When the
Fearful Cyclone Came.
BY MARVIN DANA.


seat. Beyond lay the level brown of
prairies, shot with the ocher of ripen-
ing grain. gray blue where it merged
into horizons sky of appalling
bronze Ills sight was blurred by
dancing currents Of hot air In the
shade of the hotel porch the thermom-
eter registered 10 degrees, and there
yet remained two sweltering hours
before sunset.
Thank heaven. I've inspected the
HAST acre and can start for New York
in the morning." was his thought. In
stinctively his hand touched his peck
ct and her letter. lie smiled. then
frowned.
"Am | q cOWardw
A paragraph in her letter had start.
ed the self inqusition.
81 shall be so glad when you are
safe home again." it ran, ''even
though have no real cause for
alarm. You are so big and strong and
brave and ] love you for it. could
never love Il coward"
Was he one? Yes-no! A flush not
born of the sun flooded his face. His
mind travelled back twenty -four hours.
and he cursed his weakness. his timid
ity, which he had never realized until
that awful storm had broken. 1t was
when the terrific lightning peculiar to
this region had played about him that
he had suddenly found himself trem-
bling, gasping with horror. The men,
DRY Of those moments still sickened
him and filed him with contemptuous
self hate.
The proprietor Of the hotel came out
and balanced on two legs Of a chair
beside his guest.
"Reckon we'll have another bit of
shower tonight" he drawled amiably.
The careless words filled his listener
with dumb anguish, half fear. half
shame. Must he again endure that
F3 cking torment-the blue glare OF
electricity, the deadly cracking Of the
n,olts, the horrible realization that
Cnnltple death Knocked him from every
side?
Il don't see any Clouds" he VEN
cured.
"lOu can tell weather same as you
can cloth, more by feelin than by
Rocks I've been forty years in these
parts an | calcla We'll have 1t ham,
mer an toAgs before midnight. Lucky
if regular cyclone don't blow along
with il"
Does lightning co much damage
around here:''
"Eurns Il lot Of barns mostly; but.
takin' it one time an another. we've
had quite few folks killed, bout
twenty in my time. It's nice, easy
death, but l don't like cyclones. One
hit me, an that was enough. The
burned thing killed off half the town.
incudin' all my best friends an four
mules, which was all l was worth.
Cyclones, blast EN-. always come in
the night, when you can't see EN-"
The listener drew his breath sharply.
Gut how do you tell cyclone, even
in daytimc?"
"Wci, NJ. Andrews, you can always
tell it because the sky looks like moth
in you've ever seen before-yellow,
green an olnery. An if it's comm
your wa, you'll see what the papers
call a funnel shaped cloud, but what
looks more like a big balloon, dancin'
along. When the gale raises an that
balloon seems to stop bOuncin', but
stands still, gettin' bigger an bigger.
you dust for cellar. It's close"
"Do all the places here have cyclone
caves?'
Everybody in town amt got one,
but there's enough to go round. Want
to see miner
Any diversion from his mental an
guish and self pity was welcome to
Andrews. and he followed his host to
the middle of the back yard. where he
saw mound of earth. In the end
nearest them was a swinging shutter.
which the landlord raised. Within was
space for perhaps six persons COM
fortably placed by crowding compact
ly. Twice or even thrice that number
might seek refuge for limited time
The odor of damp earth suggested the
grave, and again Andrews shuddered
By the time he sought his room at 10
O'Clock that night Andrews had argued
himself into believing that this new
terror Of storm and wind was con-
stitutional popularity for which he
was not morally culpable, and. ex-
hausted by heat and mental strain, lie
quickly dropped asleep.
He awOke with the trump Of doom
bursting his eardrums. The crash of
4 falling thunderbolt brought him to
his feet, ana he stood dazed amid the
lurid radiance of the lightning. In an
ecstasy of fear he sprang to the Win
dow and closed it. Then he drew the
shade and struck a match. Two flick
eered and died in his trembling hand
before he could light the lamp. In a
very spasm of horror he sat huddled
on his bed. He thought of no one and
nothing save himself and-death!
But there remained another note yet
TO be sounded in the gamut of his ter
ror. Suddenly the hotel commenced to
shake and reel under the assaults of
the wind With cringing dismay he
recalled the landlords warning against
cyclones in the night. At any moment
one wL1 burst upon him, resistless,