She hurried toward the cottage, and found that the little pitchman had returned.
"I'm afraid we'll have a storm to-night," said he. "The moon isn't up yet and doesn't rise till late, and that's a sign of bad weather."
He went out again, in order to drive in the cows. The boy had gone after the goats, which had strayed off for some distance.
CHAPTER XV.
"How the wind blows!" exclaimed Gundel, quite of out breath. It had required all her strength to close the door. "What a storm! There never was such a gust before. Why, the wind's just as hot as if it were blown out of an oven."
She got up quickly and, filling a cup with water, emptied it on the fire that burned on the hearth.
"What are you doing?" cried Irma.
"We mustn't have a fire now," replied Gundel, and, after that, they sat there in the dark room, almost stifled by the smoke, for the storm raged so wildly that they dared not open a window.
"If father were only home," said Gundel; "I hope, for God's sake, he'll get home safe!"
Her last words were drowned by a sudden peal of thunder that reverberated from the mountains, with a crash as if the whole world were being destroyed. And now the wind raged and stormed more violently than before. The firmly built hut seemed to totter, the roof trembled, and one of the great boulders with which it had been secured fell to the ground.