DISASTER THREATENS
"Who's that scurrying down the road toward Pringleton?" demanded
Blodger in the lull before the tornado struck Sunnyside.
They all saw the man hurrying along the county road with the tails of
his coat over his head. Jim Larry, the boy, shrieked:
"I believe that is Ad Banks. What's he doing around here? I thought he
was working over at Loomisville."
Nobody gave the running figure much attention. The phenomenon of the
coming tornado quite filled their minds.
The whine of the wind rose to a demoniac shriek. Hiram turned to shout
to his companions and a sudden gust seemed to take his breath so
completely that he could not utter a sound.
He staggered, crouching, and seized Orrin Post who was actually being
swept down the yard by the force of the gust. Jim Larry had scuttled to
cover. Blodger stood in the doorway of the shack yelling something that
Hiram could not understand.
The trees across the road and up the hillside bent and writhed as
though seeking to uproot themselves. Into the air sprang a shed on the
Pringle place, and when it had crossed the road and was about ten feet
above the ground it fairly exploded as though a bomb had been set off
inside of it.
Then the tornado struck Sunnyside--struck the place in all its fury.
There was not much rain, but what there was, blown by this terrible
gale, cut like a knife. Loose boards began to fly over the yard.
Everything the wind could get under seemed to shoot right up into the
air. There was a cloud of light litter sucked up into the churning
black mass that was flying over the farm.
Hiram and Orrin had managed to get into the lee of the shed. The wind
thundered against it, shaking the structure as though to tear it loose
from its foundations. But being low it did not offer the resistance
of a higher structure, and perhaps was as safe from disaster as any
building about the farm.
"Unless we got into the cellar," Orrin managed to make Hiram hear.
"Seems as though this wind would scoop us right out of a cellar,"
shouted Hiram. "Hey! Look there!"
He pointed to the corner of the barn where the silo stood. The round
tank positively shook under the recurrent blows of the wind!
"She's going!" yelled Orrin in dismay. "She's going!"
"Like fun she is!" returned the other young fellow. "Those bands and
cables should have been put on. But as the tank's empty and there is
nothing to hold her down, she'll shift on her foundation if we don't do
something."
"We can't help it, Strong," objected Orrin.
"We can try," returned Hiram forcefully. "You get Blodger and Jim. I'm
going over there. There are two sets of fastenings for the cables on
the barn and the barn won't blow down--that's a sure thing."
"I don't know that it is a sure thing," grumbled Orrin. "You'll take
your life in your hands if you go out there."
But Hiram had already started. The wind did not come steadily, and he
ran stooping between gusts to the silo. The wire cables, cut as he knew
to proper length and wound on a spool, lay with some other material
against the barn foundations.
Of course, Hiram knew they could not put on the iron bands; but if they
could pass a couple of the length of cable around the silo and fasten
them to the barn Hiram was sure it would aid in keeping the tank on its
foundation.
He looked back across the yard and saw Orrin propel the frightened Jim
out of the doorway of the shack; and he had to fairly drag Blodger out
as well. Both the old man and the boy knew these tornadoes too well to
desire to be out-of-doors.
Hiram was endeavoring to unwind the first cable alone when the others
reached him. He had fastened the end of the twisted wire through one
of the rings in the side of the barn about eight feet from the ground.
They unwound the entire length of this first cable, struggling against
the wind, and carrying the end around the silo.
Here the fastening ring was too high to be reached without the aid of
a ladder. The carpenters had left their various ladders behind the
new house. Hiram spied them, and, shouting to Orrin to come with him,
started against the wind for that place.
They had actually to tack like a boat in a heavy seaway to reach the
ladders. And coming back, each bearing an end of the ladder selected,
they were blown to the ground half a dozen times.
This was the most awful gale Hiram, at least, had ever been out in.
And for the four of them to raise the light ladder was one of the most
serious tasks one could imagine.
Meanwhile the silo was weaving back and forth in a threatening manner.
Hiram had selected a ladder long enough to enable him to reach the
upper ring intended for the second cable. Two of his helpers had to
hold the ladder steady, however, while the other handed him the end
of the wire cable. It took more than half an hour of hard fighting to
secure both ends of the two wire ropes.
[Illustration: Two of his helpers had to hold the ladder steady while
the other handed him the end of the wire cable.]
The silo rocked back and forth, the vibrations seeming, of course,
much greater than they really were. But the cables--or good
workmanship--held it in place. The four got back to the living shack
and cowered therein in darkness for another two hours before the wind
really ceased blowing. The rain had stopped long since, and beyond the
hurrying shreds of cloud the moon and stars appeared.
Drenched as everything had been by the first tempest, the ground was
now fast becoming dry. The water drained away quickly from the knoll on
which the Sunnyside buildings stood.
As soon as the danger from the big wind was over, however, Hiram had
thought for another thing. He lit a lantern and said to Orrin:
"Come on down the road and take a look."
"Who for? That Ad Banks? If he's drowned in the ditch I wouldn't much
care."
"I'd forgotten all about him," confessed Hiram. "But come on. I want to
look at something."
Curiously Orrin followed him while the old man and the boy sought their
bunks. The rain had washed and rutted the road deeply. The ditches were
carrying the surplus water off, however.
At the first cross-drain through the recently planted corn and pea
field Hiram flashed the light of his lantern into the ditch. A stream
of water the size of his leg was spurting from the opening.
"Cracky! Look at that!" ejaculated Orrin. "Why, Strong, _the darned
thing works_!"
"Of course it works. Didn't I tell you it would?" replied the young
farm manager.
They went on along the road, and at every such opening the yellow flood
poured forth. That particular twenty acres of Sunnyside Farm would
never be sour or lumpy to work as long as Hiram's simple underdraining
scheme continued to work so successfully as it was now doing.
They were about to turn to go back to the house when Orrin clutched
Hiram by the arm and pointed toward Yancey Battick's place.
"What's the matter down there do you suppose?" he asked, with anxiety.
There was a sudden glow against the sky, seemingly rising from behind
Battick's buildings. Then a long streamer of flame bannered into the
air above the treetops.
"It's a fire! Something's burning!" declared Hiram.
The two lads set off on a hard run down the road toward the old Pringle
homestead which Yancey Battick occupied.