Consequently, I
Was About The First Person To Notice The Peculiar Unbroken Gray That
Had Replaced The Black Of A
Few minutes before, and the first, too, to
hear the ominous roar that sounded like the fall of an immense
Body of
water, and which could be distinctly heard fifteen minutes before the
storm reached us.
While I stood at the door listening and watching, I saw several people
walking about in the garrison, each one intent upon his own business
and not giving the storm a thought. Still, it seemed to me that it
would be just as well to have the house closed tight, and calling
Hulda we soon had windows and doors closed - not one minute too soon,
either, for the storm came across the mountains with hurricane speed
and struck us with such force that the thick-walled log houses fairly
trembled. With the wind came the hail at the very beginning, changing
the hot, sultry air into the coldness of icebergs. Most of the
hailstones were the size of a hen's egg, and crashed through windows
and pounded against the house, making a noise that was not only
deafening but paralyzing. The sounds of breaking glass came from every
direction and Hulda and I rushed from one room to the other, not
knowing what to do, for it was the same scene everyplace - floors
covered with broken glass and hail pouring in through the openings.
The ground upon which the officers' quarters are built is a little
sloping, therefore it had to be cut away, back of the kitchen, to make
the floor level for a large shed where ice chest and such things are
kept, and there are two or three steps at the door leading from the
shed up to the ground outside. This gradual rise continues far back to
the mountains, so by the time the hail and water reached us from above
they had become one broad, sweeping torrent, ever increasing in
volume. In one of the boards of our shed close to the steps, and just
above the ground, there happened to be a large "knot" which the
pressure of the water soon forced out, and the water and hailstones
shot through and straight across the shed as if from a fire hose,
striking the wall of the main building! The sight was most
laughable - that is, at first it was; but we soon saw that the awful
rush of water that was coming in through the broken sash and the
remarkable hose arrangement back of the kitchen was rapidly flooding
us.
So I ran to the front door, and seeing a soldier at one of he barrack
windows, I waved and waved my hand until he saw me. He understood at
once and came running over, followed by three more men, who brought
spades and other things. In a short time sods had been banked up at
every door, and then the water ceased to come in. By that time the
heaviest of the storm had passed over, and the men, who were most
willing and kind, began to shovel out the enormous quantity of
hailstones from the shed.
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