r of the hut waited, and only Buck and Blue
Grass Pete stood near the blanket-covered doorway. There was little
enough confidence in the inefficient shelter of the hut, but it was
their natural retreat and so they accepted it. Then the moment of
tension passed, and Buck, glancing swiftly round the hut, seized a
hammer and hastily secured the covering of the doorway.

"She'll be on us right smart," he observed to Pete, who assisted him
while the others looked on.

"Yes," replied Pete resignedly. "Guess we're goin' to git it good."
There was not only resignation, but indifference in his tone.

Buck glanced up at the roof, and the rest followed his gaze curiously.
He shook his head.

"It's worse than----"

But he did not finish what he had to say. A strange hissing broke from
the distance, like the sound of rushing water, and, with each passing
moment, it grew in volume until, out of the heart of it, a
deep-throated roar boomed over the hilltops.

It was a great wind-storm leaping down from the everlasting snows of
the mountains, tearing its way through the lean branches of the
forest-tops, the wide-gaping valleys, and rushing up the hillsides
with a violence that tore limbs from the parent trunks and rooted out
trees that had withstood a thousand storms. It was the deep breath of
the storm fiend launched upon a defenseless earth, carrying wreck and
destruction whithersoever its blast was turned.

"By Jing'!"

It was Montana Ike who voiced the awe crowding every heart.

But his exclamation brought the practical mind of Buck to
consideration of their needs. His eyes turned again to the roof, and
Pete voiced his thoughts.

"She'll carry away like--like a kite when it hits us," he declared.
Several more pairs of eyes were turned helplessly upward. Suddenly
Buck swung round upon the doorway.

"Here she comes," he cried. "Holy----!"

With a rush and a deafening roar the wind hit the building and set it
rocking. Buck and Pete flung themselves with arms outspread against
the ballooning blanket, and it held. Again the wind crashed against
the sides of the hut. Some one flung himself to the two men's
assistance. Then came a ripping and tearing, and the thatch hissed
away on the breath of the storm like straw caught in a whirlwind. The
men gazed stupidly up at the blackened heavens, which were now like
night. There was nothing to be done. What could they do? They were
helpless. And not even a voice could make itself