began to zigzag across the black cloud masses, and the whistling of the
wind deepened to a steady ominous growl. Tent ropes creaked under the
strain of the heavy blasts; trees writhed and twisted, and the rain came
in gusts, swift, spiteful, and icy cold. In the dining-room Mrs. Royall
awoke from a light doze and piled fresh logs on the fire. Anne and
Laura, whom she had kept with her in case their help might be needed,
peered anxiously out of the windows.

"Can't see a thing but black night except when the flashes come," Anne
said, "but this uproar is bound to awaken the girls."

"And some of them are sure to be frightened," added Mrs. Royall.

"It is enough to frighten them--all this tumult," Laura said. "I wish we
could get them all in here."

"I'd have kept them all here and made a big field bed on the floor if I
had thought we were going to have such a storm as this," Mrs. Royall
said anxiously. "If it doesn't lessen soon, I shall take a lantern and
go the round of the tents to see if all is right."

As she spoke there came a loud rattling peal of thunder, followed
immediately by a blinding flash of lightning that zigzagged across the
sky, making the dense darkness yet blacker by contrast.

It was then that Mary Hastings, sitting up in bed, caught a glimpse, in
the glare of the lightning, of Annie Pearson's white terrified face in
the next cot.

"O Mary, I'm sc--scared to d--death!" Annie whimpered, her teeth
chattering with cold and terror.

"We are all right if only our tent doesn't blow over," returned Mary,
and her steady voice quieted Annie for the moment. "If it does, we must
make a dive for the dining-room. Got your raincoats and rubbers handy,
girls?"

"I'm putting mine on," Olga's voice was as cool and undisturbed as
Mary's. She turned towards the next cot and added, "Elizabeth, you've no
raincoat. Wrap yourself in your rubber blanket if the tent goes."

"Ye--es," returned Elizabeth, with a little frightened gasp.

Under the bedclothes Annie Pearson was sobbing and moaning, "O, I wish I
was home! I wish I was home!"

Mary Hastings spoke sternly. "Annie Pearson, if you don't stop that
whimpering I'll shake you!"

Annie subsided into sniffling silence. Outside there was a lull, and
after a moment, Mary added hopefully, "There, I guess the worst is over,
and we're all right."

While the words were yet on her lips, the storm leaped up like a giant
refreshed. Rain came down in a deluge, beatin