"Nothing, I hope. It may go clear of us. Listen--carefully. Come apart from the crowd; my ears are not as keen as they used to be. Do you hear any sound in that direction?" "Nothing--except buzz-buzz, as if a hive of bees were swarming." "I'm glad of it; it mayn't be so bad as I feared. I'm not acquainted with the things, except through common report. Where's Mr. Truett? He had field-glasses slung from his shoulder this morning. Here, you boys!" the Doctor shouted to several youngsters who were playing leap-frog near by, "scatter--find Mr. Truett--the man who bossed the big ditch, and ask him to come here--right away!" "Doctor!" exclaimed Grace. "Do tell me what you fear." "Tell me first about that noise. Is it any louder?" "Yes. It sounds now like a distant railway train. What does it mean?" "It means a cyclone. How bad a one, we can't tell until it has passed. If it keeps its present course, it will pass north of the crowd, but I am afraid it will strike the town." By this time many of the people had noticed the great cloud in the west, and soon the entire assemblage heard a deep, continuous roar. Then men, women, and children began to run, for the cloud increased in blackness and noise at a terrifying rate, but the Doctor shouted:-- "Stay where you are! Get to the windward of the platform, and wagons and horses! Pass the word around--quick! Ah, Mr. Truett! What do you see?" "All sorts of things," said Truett, from behind his field-glasses. "Lightning--and tree boughs--and corn-stalks--and boards--and something that looks like a roof. Also, oceans of rain. We're in for a soaking unless we hurry back to town." "The soaking's the safer," said the Doctor, adjusting the proffered glasses to his own eyes. "Ah, 'tis as I feared: it is tearing its way through the town. There goes the court-house roof--and the church steeple." Abruptly returning the glasses, the Doctor shouted as the great cloud passed rapidly to the northward and rain fell suddenly in torrents:-- "Men--only men--hurry to town, and keep close to me when you get there." Then he found his horse and buggy and led a wild throng of wagons, horsemen, and footmen, behind whom, despite the Doctor's warning, came the remaining components of the procession, and up to heaven went an appalling chorus of screams, prayers, and curses, for the word "cyclone"--the word most dreaded in the West since the Indian outbreaks ended--had passed through the crowd.