Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 438 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A ee ee ee re wee me 8 ee Hornkoh! kept close at the heels of his active guide, climbing with him, giving never a sigh or moan of fatigue. Though the great drops of sweat rolled down his face and bade fair to drench the few remaining dry threads upon him, he said nothing, nor stopped to brush them aside. It was a tough climb under the most favorable circumstances, but doubly try- ing with the air so frightfully close and sultry. here was a grim smile on the face of Boomer Balt as he climbed on, keeping straight ahead, like one scorning to lengthen the route by pick- ing and choosing his way. He never cast a glance backward, but Henry Hornkohl knew that the eccentric old fellow was purposely test- ing his grit and endurance. His brown eyes lit up as he saw this, but that was the only change. And when Boomer Balt at length came to a pause, on the crest of the ridge, it was a calm, unconcerned face into which he gazed witha half-smile on his bearded lips. ‘**Ruther tryin’ on his legs an’ lungs, eh?” he | grinned. ‘** Did you find it so?’ with a surprised uplift- | ing of brows, but which —- gave place to an apologetic smile. ‘ nF ie eh not | quite so young as you were once, and of course __- you feel these little things more than a younger a man, Never hurry yourself on my account, , Balt. I’m in no particular hurry, and can wait ‘until you get back your wind. In fact—as we started for nowhere in particular, maybe this is 4 the place: eh?” Boomer Balt made no reply in words, but meh there was a trace of angry impatience in that shrug of his shoulders as he turned and gazed ¥ keenly, intently, far away over the plain which ‘ lay before them. | | Over their head the sky was clear and un- clouded, though the sun shone with a curious } light. But far away along the horizon the clouds were piling up in a curious, almost awe- inspiring manner. ‘Looks as though we might get a shower,” drawled Hornkohl, after a brief but thorough ' scanning of the vast expanse before them, broken only by an occasional clump of trees, a Os patch of undergrowth, a hollow or a slight mound. Boomer Balt turned toward him with a quick- ness that might well have startled an ordinar man; but Henry Hornkohl was not one of tha q sort. He Fst met that keen, searching gaze, ! a languid curiosity growing in his dark — as ‘a he engl how eager, how strongly moved the old e was, “Did I say anything out of the way, dear +; fellow?” he murmured, to be cut short by the guide, who laughed harshly as he uttered: , ‘* You play it mighty well, critter, but it won’t hold water! You ain’t nigh so eee as ye try i to make out; you know right well what aJl this 4 means! I tell you, critter, you’ve been thar!” ey ‘‘Or tharabouts—of course,” yawned Horn- __kohl, dropping down on a convenient stone, re- be moving his hat to fan his glowing countenance. “Don’t betray me, will you? Think of my guffering wife and interesting family of kids, } who would—eh ?” i Boomer Balt flung out one hand with a short, | hard laugh. i “You play it mighty well; so well that it’d be a shame fer the likes o’ me tosp’ile the fun. I ain’t goin’ to try it. You kin keep on playin’ - innercent as long as ye like, ferme. But ef I _ ain’t wide off my base, yender is crawlin’ up a a old uaintance who'll bu’st your play inter ___ sober airnest afore many more minnits—sure /” | -& “Give it up!” feebly muttered Hornkohl, after @ puzzled look all about them, ‘ Too hot for | guessing riddles that have no answer—unless in -- your ownimagination. Icansee nobody, friend or stranger. As for spirits, it’s too wretchedly hot for the ee J sort a close search would un- - earth in this select company !” Beye Boomer Balt shrugged his shoulders once _ -‘more, then stood erect with folded arms, gazing over the plain at the rising storm-clouds. Already there was a change to his practiced _ eyes. More than ever was he convinced that a “twister” was brewing in the far distance. ' And half-unconsciously there came from his | bearded lips: ‘i rc ae Heaven protect the ones it finds in its | th!” Bey pe It does begin te look rathercrawly, don’t it,” | - softly uttered his employer, with plainly grow- RS interest as he watched the curious shapes . which the clouds were assuming, ‘‘ And what a 4 strange light! Yet there is no eclipse on the docket, that I’m aware of!” a “Clipse be blowed!” grunted Boomer Balt, ae be a start at that soft speech, his cheeks ‘ae mahing a little deeper, as one will change color ale when one finds an unthought-of auditor, ‘* That's a twister!” | ‘*What people call cyclone, eh?” ejaculated | _Hornkobl, with increased interest, as he sprun to his feet. ‘‘ Glad of it! I’ve been stuffed wit wild tales of wind and storm since I came into this blessed nana and now I’ll take notes to squelch the next fellow who dares come at_me with his patent-insides exaggerations! But i) -mocking laugh. cA They all come full-grown, critter, when } .* a : sa a ame sre te thie is only a baby cyclone!” with a short, “ = sd Oklahoma Nick. they do come,” retorted Boomer 7 with grim | curtness, ‘‘ When you see one, you'll never itch to be in the same State with another, now I tell e! ** You, too?’ murmured Hornkohl, with a re- roachful look, as he moved back and resumed is seat on the moss-grown bowlder. Yet he could not mere his eyes long away from the storm-cloud beyond. There was a strange fascination which even his skepticism could not conquer; a peculiar attraction in the wild scene that kept his gaze riveted on the rapidly grow- ing, shifting mass of destructiveness, ‘* Beg pardon, critter,” nodded Boomer Balt, grinning sardonically as he nodded over his shoulder, never once removing his gaze from the clouds. ‘ Fergot that you wasn’t a tenderfoot, fer a minnit, abit, ye know. Got so used to stuffin’ them pore critters with wind—second- han’, ye know—that I spoke without thinkin’,” “86 I thought.” ‘* Bein’ acclimated, you ain’t noways oneasy, in course,” resumed the white-haired guide, with smooth volubility, yet with a peculiar air of only half realizing what his lips uttered. ‘ Bin through a dozen, I reckon? Bin rolled up an’ flattened out reg’lar twicet a year, shouldn’t wonder? Feel lost ef ye was to gothrougha season *thout hevin’ one or two Kansas zephyrs callin’ to ye down the air-hole of a cylone cave? Fergot that ye used to live in the Windy State, afore Maurice North— Did you say anythin’, pard?” Boomer Balt turned swiftly, his eyes all aglow as they rested intently on the handsome face of the lawyer from the East. One could almost swear he expected to make somes important dis- covery in that face from his peculiar manner; but if so, he was doomed to disappointment. ‘‘T never resided in Kansas, and only lived there long enough to cross it from north to south,” was the quiet response. ‘‘ You can fig- ure that out, since you bore me company. Real- ly, that is growing interesting!” a bright light leaping into his dark eyes as a sudden change came over the stcrm-clouds, ‘‘Old Boreas is putting up his umbrella, as though afraid of get- ting wet!” The same peculiar phenomena that first arous- ed the fears of the Wright family, now enchain- ed the attention of the two men on the rock- ridge. The fatal signal—the flattened balloon— was making its appearance, though still so far away. ‘*(jod pity the pore critters that comes under that shade!” muttered the guide, his voice grow- ing husky, his bronzed cheeks paling. ‘I can see no signs of human life between us and the cloud.” ‘* It’s miles and miles furder then human eye kin measure, keen as them in the head o’ yemay be, critter!” impatiently cried Balt with a frown, as he shook his head like one commanding silence. ‘‘Ef your clapper must be runnin’, better be prayin’ that them you’re seekin’ ain’t in the path o’ that monster. Ef they be—God protect them!” This ejaculation was so different from aught which he had ever heard from the lips of his usually jolly, reckless guide, that Henry Horn- koh] was strongly impressed with the impending peril; more than he would have been by the most fluent description mortal lips could have given him of the terrific power those rolling clouds contained. In silence he watched the progress of the change, growing intensely interested, despite the strange sense of awe which was stealing over him, as the ‘‘ twister” became more and more distinctly defined. Their point of observation could not have been better chosen. They bad a fair, unob- structed view of the frightful phenomena; of the rapidly shifting clouds, of the lurid serpents which shot back and forth in a network of writhings, of the unfolding masses of greenish clouds. The eyes could note each change, but what n can paint them distinctly enough for the basen eye to see? ‘* It’s full growed an’ a-boomin’, now!” mut- tered Boomer Balt, with along-drawn breath as his tall figure grew more erect, and shook itself as though to cast off a stupefying spell. ‘* Ef it comes this way, we'll hev a mighty tight pinch of it our own selves!” ‘‘And coming it is!” cried Hornkobl, with eyes riveted on the terribly fascinating mass of death and destruction. ‘If itstrikes us fairly— what then?” A short, hard laugh from those white-bearded lips—a laugh that under the circumstances sounded almost impious. ‘‘?*Pends on the sort 0’ record we've left ahind us, Coldhorn! You ain’t gittin’ skeered this quick?” There was a thinly disguised sneer in bis tones, but Henry Hornkohl gave that no thought, Just then. For once in his life he was willing to admit this fright. Never again would he be skeptical when marvelous tales of wind storms were uttered in his hearing. Though as yet only a faint roaring sound came to their 4 and he could see but a swirling wave of dirt an grass and rocks to denote the frightful power of the wind~demon, he was converted. ‘ % ‘ Ps ‘3 rr. " 7. ee: et SA Te ee Fed << -_ J ait ot ae “You can have my share—I'm going to hunt a hole!” he spluttered, turning and dashing down the steep hill up which they had toiled so arduously a few minutes before. ‘*Do as I do!” cried Boomer Balt, leaping past the lawyer, active as the younger man was, “Tt’ll hit furder up, but may come down the ridge. Ef it does—say your prayers now, fer you hain’t got much time to waste!” In jerks the words came, not as printed here. In jerks, as though forced out by those mighty strides that carried the guide swiftly to the littie hollow, or rather valley, at the risk ef breaking his neck, Close behind him came Henry Hornkobl, and only for the strong support lent him by the guide, the lawyer wou e have dashed with dangerous force againt a mighty rock that stood at the base of the hill. ‘“We’ve got a minnit or two pard,” cried Boomer Balt, his voice almost drowned by the fierce blast that swept howlingly in advance of the storm proper. ‘Keep cool, or you’re gone fer keeps!’ He was rae hurriedly about them, as well as his dirt-filled eyes would permit, search- ing for a favorable covert where they might hope to escape death by the twister. ** Mebbe it’ll jump over when it hits the hill. lt does do it, sometimes. Ef it don’t—waal, you'll hev a tall story to tell ef you come out of it with life!” ‘‘ Under this rock—no wind could move it!” eagerly cried Hornkohl, breaking away from the guide’s grasp and crouching down close under the lee of the monster mass of rock against which he had so nearly dashed in his descent. ‘‘All right!” panted Balt, as he imitated the action. ‘‘ Ef it jumps over, we're allright. Ef it draps down here, this is as good a way to die as any other,” ‘* But no wind can stir such an enormous mass as this!” gasped Hornkohl, his eyes gleamin wildly, his face pale as its coating of dust woul admit. ‘‘A twister kin move anythin’ it tackles, pard!” Another swirl of wind, less violent than tle first, put an end to all speech, and covering their faces with their soft felt hats, the two imperiled men lay close under the mighty rock, shivering with the indescribable terror which comes upon the strongest and bravest under such circum- stances. A brief whirl of wind—then an appalling si- lence about them, though afar off they could hear the frightful roaring of the twister. They seemed suddenly plunged into a vacuum, where every breath of air had been exhausted. And ot the same time some horrible power seemed pressing them against the ground with a force that bade fair to crush them to a boneless pulpf The unutterable horror of those moments§ Moments when measured by the ordinary stan- dard of time, but ages in experience! Then—the whole world seemed filled with howling, shrieking, screaming demons of de- struction! Involuntarily Henry Hornkohl lifted his hat: from his face and glared out from his covert. To see the heavens above them {filled with madly ropa clouds. With trunks of trees. and great bowlders, tumbling and whirling end for end, splintering to bits as the wind demons grasped them, breaking to gravel as though be- ing melted in the maw of a volcano! aw the horrible tongue of the twister whirl- ing about, yet dropping lower and lower—saw this, then cowered closer to the earth with a gasping prayer for os i 1en—tke uproar fairly deafened them. The frightful weight that crushed them down grew more and more immense. The breath was driven out of their tortured lungs. A million red-hot needles seemed piercing their skins. Death itself seemed far preferable to another second of such horrible torture. And yet nota breath of air seeme1 to touch them, as yet. Though in the very center of the cyclone, not even a corner of their garments. fluttered. Though the tongue of death hovered over them, its wide circles rapidly contracting, with the mighty rock for a center, they were still spared. Then—they felt as though being driven far down into the earth—as though that mass of rock was being turned over upon them. They strove to shriek aloud in their agony of mind and body, but in vain. A ten-fold roar—a frightful plucking at their bodies as if a thousand demons were tearing them limb from limb! Then— CHAPTER III. THE MAD FREAKS OF A ‘“‘ TWISTER.” WirtH a whirling, dizzy brain Henry Horn- koh! stared about him, rapidly batting bis eyes to clear his vision, gingerly moving, doubtfully breathing, as one who doubts his powers in either direction. All about him seemed joining in a giddy, reckless dance, whirling and swaying, noddin and bowing, while the once solid earth beneat him was acting with an abominable lack of de- corum, see-sawing to and fro for a breath, then Eomicboo!