Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-04-05

You can almost feel something like a
shudder in the trees. up which the wild
grapevines are climbing in sue pro-
fusion. There is no change down in
the ValleN-no shadow of danger has
crept into the open door of the school
house to give warning.
Down beyond the lake a cloud sud-
denly appears in the blue afternoon
sky. 1t seems at first as though one
Of the treetops had suddenly beer
thrust upward. but it rapidly enlarges.
Once before YOU saw a similar cloud.
IL the recollection makes you chill.
Its center is a blue black. Its edges
are frayed and ragged and tangled. AS
you gaze a. it your breath is coming
faster and your pulse is ~thlobbing. 1t
ward to write the word Death in
letters to fire across the face of the
clouds.
Beware! Beware!" You look down
into the valley M cry out. but it is
in vain; your voice is lost before it
men sleep on. Young men whistle as
they work. With that blue sky over
head and that glad sunshine bathing
the earth, even the Doom of a great
cannon would not startle the men or
the great beasts. 1t is coTaingi Scarcely
a minute has passed sincc you saw the
cloud. 1t seemed hanging like a bal
loon il the still sky at first. Now it is
moving, whirling about like a great
wheel. Advancing up the valley. There
is distant moaning nearer-nearer-
and now death himself bounds c.er the
tr%ee-tops, hiding in the lakes and swir-
ling into the valley with a ma Shrek
to sound the alarm. 1t is over before
you can count 20. A cannon ball
could hardly have kept pace with it.
And now you look down into the valley
again. It is still a valley shut in by
III. r,,rra1 ~ nuoS "hioh hoNo 1ofio1
the wrath of heaven for centuries, but
what of the houses-trees-thnse who
slept and those who walked! Wreck.
ruin and Death! There are a few
wounded-there are a few dead. Not a
house, tree OF fence are left standing.
graves in h little cemetery have been
rent and carried afar.
The plague or fire or sword would
have wrought less destruction. The
wrath Of the cyclone is the wrath Of
the Creator!
Our ship lay hove to in a gale of
wind in the Indian ocean. 1t was n
of the clearest skies overhead you ever
saw. The eye could not detect the
smallest speck Of a cloud. and the sun
shine was glorious. But how the wind
did blow. And what an awful sea it
seen on land with not even a small ISL
land in it's path for 1000 long miles. 1t
was lot a hurricane, but a steady gale
screaming. shrieking and rushing to
the west, at the rate of 200 miles an
hour-perhaps faster than that.
We had hove the ship to at mid
night. She was new and stanch, and
her captain was a veteran of the sea.
but when daylight came to give US a
view Of the ocean no man dared say
our craft would live 10 minutes. Men
who had sailed the seas for 20 years
felt the qualms Of sea sickness as we
pitched about.
The seas were something terrible. AS
The came down upon us from the east
out from that vast ocean stretching
away unbroken to the south Of Aus
tralia-they lowered up 40 feet high.
One who watched felt that h great
wall of water must break ove the bows
and founder h ship by dead weight.
but as we continued to al with fast
beating hearts her bows suddenly lifted
up and she appeared to climb RICH up
the wave at an angle as steep as any
house roof. Reaching the crest, she
paused for a moment. rolled to star
board, and back. and then sliding down.;
dowY.. until your heart stood still for
fear it al all over.
It was 10 o'clock in the morning. We
had life lines stretched fore and aft.
but none OF the men were moving
about. They were gathered in groups
wherever they could find shelter from
the bowling gale and driving spray, but
ready for n coll: I was looking
ahead when l suddenly caught sight of
q small object on the crest Of an ap-