men are the least astonished, since
they know what it means. At the first portentous sign Cully is heard
crying out,--

"A hurricane!--A norther!"

Wat Wilder has observed it at the same time, and confirms the
prognostic. This is before any of the others have noticed aught
peculiar in the aspect of the sky, and when there is just the selvedge
of a cloud seen above the cliff.

All Texans understand the significance of the word "norther"--a storm or
tornado, usually preceded by a hot, stifling atmosphere, with drifting
dust, accompanied by sheet or forked lightning and claps of terrific
thunder, followed by wind and rain, sometimes hail or sleet, as if the
sluices of heaven were drawn open, ending in a continued blast of more
regular direction, but chill as though coming direct from the Arctic
regions.

In less than ten minutes after its first sign, the tempest is around
them. Down into the valley pours the dust, swept from the surface of
the upper plain, along with it the leaves and stalks of the wild
wormwood, with other weeds of the desert. Simultaneously the wind, at
first in low sighs, like the sound of a distant sea; then roaring
against the rocks, and swooping down among the trees, whose branches go
crashing before its blast. Then succeed lightning, thunder, and rain--
the last falling, not in drops, but in sheets, as if spilled from a
spout.

For shelter the Rangers rush inside the ranche, leaving their horses to
take care of themselves. The latter stand cowering under the trees,
neighing with affright--the mules among them giving vent to their
plaintive hinney. There are dogs, too, that howl and bark, with other
sounds that come from farther off--from the wild denizens of the
wilderness; cries of the cougar in contralto, wolf-barkings in
mezzo-soprano, screaming of eagles in shrill treble, snorting of bears
in basso, and hooting of scared owls in lugubrious tone, to be likened
only to the wailing of agonised spirits in Purgatory.

Crowded within the hut, so thickly as to have scarce standing room, the
Rangers wait for the calming of the tempest. They submit with greater
resignation, knowing it will not long continue. It is far from being
their first experience of a "norther."

The only thought that troubles them is the delay--being hindered from
setting forth on the pursuit. True, the party to be pursued will be
stayed by the same obstruction. The soldiers will have to halt during
the contin