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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 333 of 410
Words from 89434 to 89733
of 110651
