THE STRANGE CLOUD.
Jack's call on the Peakslows was brief and unsatisfactory. He returned
to the "castle" without his compass, and looking flushed and disturbed.
"I didn't accuse Zeph of stealing," said Jack, fearful of being blamed
by Vinnie. "They were at supper; and I just said, 'Zeph, my boy, what
did you do with my compass?' He denied having touched it. I explained.
Great commotion. Mamma Peakslow looked frightened out of her wits, and
papa blazed away at me like a seventy-four-gun ship. In short, you will
have to wait for your noon-mark, Mrs. Betterson. So will Mrs. Peakslow.
I didn't tell her I was going to make her one, if Zeph hadn't stolen my
compass."
"But you don't know he stole it," said Vinnie.
"We don't know that he and Dud put rubbish in our spring," Rufe made
answer for Jack, "and yet we know it as well as we know anything we
don't know."
"I can't tell what I was thinking of," said Jack, "to leave any property
of mine unguarded, within reach of the Peakslows. Lion was up in the
woods with me before I knew it."
"Where are you going now?" Vinnie asked.
"To look for my compass in the bushes. Zeph must have hid it somewhere,
for he didn't have it when we saw him."
"Wait till after supper, and I will go with you," said Rufe. "Father is
here now."
Mr. Betterson was coming up from the stable, accompanied by Radcliff.
Rad had hastened to waylay him, and make a last appeal for the money
which he knew Jack was waiting to receive. He talked and gesticulated
earnestly; but Lord shook his head and compressed his lips with great
firmness, whereupon Rad, instead of coming to supper with the rest,
wandered sulkily away.
When Mr. Betterson had washed his hands and face, and brushed his hair,
and put on his threadbare black coat and frayed stock, the family sat
down at the table. Jack waited unwillingly, and soon excused himself,
saying he must look for his compass before dark.
"I'll attend to our truckman's little matter when I come back," he said,
and hurried away.
Link jumped up from the table and went with him; Rufe and Wad promising
to follow as soon as they were through with their supper.
Careful search was made all about the roadside bushes where the wagon
had been partially concealed when the compass was taken. Lion was also
set to hunt. But all in vain. Some faint footprints were found, but Jack
could not be sure that they were not either his own or Rufe's.
"Lion don't know what we are looking for; he's after rabbits," said
Link. "Was this all the compass you had?"
"The only surveyor's compass; and the worst of it is, 't was a borrowed
one. It belongs to Forrest Felton. He has a theodolite which we use for
fine work; and I've a little pocket-compass, given me by an old lady a
few years ago. I wouldn't have lost this for twice its value,--it's a
most exasperating trick!" Jack muttered. "And now it is suddenly growing
dark."
It was very suddenly growing very dark. A strange cloud was blackening
the sunset sky. "Did you ever see anything so funny?" said Link.
"It is like the lower half of an immense balloon, the top spreading
out," said Jack. "See that long, hanging, pear-shaped end!"
"I wonder if the folks at the house see it!" Link exclaimed, growing
excited. "It looks like an elephant's trunk! By sixty, it's growing!"
"It's moving this way," said Jack. "Fast, too! and roaring,--hear it?
There's an awful storm coming!"
"Oh!" cried Link, "see the lightning-forks! It will be here in a jiffy."
The "elephant's trunk," which had seemed to be feeling its way up the
valley, now swung toward the line of timber; the roar which accompanied
it became deafening; and suddenly the cloud, and all the air about it,
seemed filled with whirling and flying objects, like the broken boughs
and limbs of trees. It was like some living monster, vast, supernatural,
rushing through the sky, and tearing and trampling the earth with fury.
The mysterious swinging movement, the uproar, the gloom, the lightnings,
were appalling. And now Lion set up a fearful, ominous howl.
"A whirlwind!" Jack exclaimed, shrieking to make himself heard. "I must
go to my horse."
"Let's put for the house!" Link yelled.
But hardly had they reached the road when the storm was upon them.
Shortly after Jack and Link had left the table, Lord Betterson gave
Rufus a small key, and told him to bring a certain pocket-book from the
till of the family chest in the next room.
"We will have our friend's eighty dollars ready for him, against his
return," Lord said; and, counting out the money, he placed it under the
pocket-book, beside his plate.
Rufe and Wad were now ready to go and help Jack search for his compass;
but a discussion which had been going on at intervals, ever since the
draft came, was now renewed, and they stopped to take part in it.
"If I am going to get out to Divine service again, I _must_ have a silk
dress," said Caroline. "And, Mr. Betterson, _you_ need a new suit; and
you know--we all know--nothing becomes you but broadcloth, and the
finest broadcloth. What do you think, Lavinia dear?"
"I am sure broadcloth is becoming to him," Vinnie replied quietly. "And
I should like to see you come out in silk. And Cecie and Lilian need new
things. But--how much of the two hundred and fifty dollars is left, Mr.
Betterson?"
"Deducting Radcliff's share, one hundred and twenty odd dollars," said
Lord, touching the pocket-book by his plate.
"One hundred and twenty dollars will go but a little way, in a family
where so many things are absolutely needed!" said Vinnie. "It seems to
me I should want to get this room and your room plastered, the first
thing,--merely for comfort, in the cold weather that is coming."
"And carpeted, Lavinia dear," simpered Caroline.
"And if the house is ever to be painted," spoke up Rufe, "it must be
done soon. It won't be worth painting if it is neglected much longer."
"And we need so many things in the kitchen!" said Lill. "Vinnie knows
it, but she won't say anything."
"And lots of things on the farm," said Wad. "If Rufe and I are going to
do anything, we must have conveniences. The idea of having such a house
as this, and nothing but a miserable log-barn and stable!"
"We can't build a new barn for a hundred and twenty dollars," said Mr.
Betterson. "And we can't buy farming tools, and kitchen utensils, and
carpets, and silk, and broadcloth, and tea and sugar, and clothing for
the children, and paint and plaster the house, all with so limited a
sum. The question then arises, just _what_ shall we do with the money?"
"O dear! just a little money like that is only an aggravation!" Caroline
sighed, discouraged. "And I had hoped some of it would be left for
Lavinia dear; she deserves it if anybody does."
"O, never mind me," Vinnie replied. "However, if I might suggest--"
But the family had been so long deciding this question, that Fortune
seemed now to take it out of their hands, and decide it for them.
It suddenly grew dark, and an outcry from the boys interrupted Vinnie.
The tornado was coming.
All rose, save Cecie,--who remained seated where she had been placed at
the table,--and pressed to the door and windows.
The baby wakened in the next room, and began to cry, and Caroline went
to take it up. The boys rushed out of the house. Vinnie turned pale and
asked, "Where are they? Jack and Link!"
"As well off as they would be here probably," replied Lord Betterson.
"Shut doors and windows fast. That horse should have been taken care
of."
"Jack wouldn't let us put him up. I'll do it now," cried Rufe.
But he had hardly begun to undo the halter, when he saw the utter
impossibility of getting the horse to the stable before the storm would
be upon them. So, to prevent Snowfoot from breaking away and dashing the
buggy to pieces, he determined to leave him tied to the tree, and stand
by his head, until the first whirl or rush should have passed. This he
attempted to do; and patted and encouraged the snorting, terrified
animal, till he was himself flung by the first buffet of the hurricane
back against the pillar of the porch, where he clung.
"Oh! what is that?" screamed Lill, watching with Vinnie from the window.
[Illustration: THE TORNADO COMING.]
Some huge, unwieldy object had risen and rolled for an instant in the
dim air, over Peakslow's house, then disappeared as suddenly.
At the same time Jack and Link appeared, half running, half blown by the
tempest up the road. Vinnie watched them from the window, and saw the
enormous sloping pillar of dust and leaves, and torn boughs, whirling
above their heads, and overwhelming everything in its roaring cloud.
The last she remembered was Jack and Link darting by the corner of the
house, and Snowfoot tugging at his halter. Then a strange electric
thrill shot through her, the house shook with a great crash, and all was
dark.