"What's the matter?" Hiram shouted, and all of them darted out of the door.
The moment the old man, Blodger by name, looked over the shoulder of the hill he threw up his hands and shrieked:
"It's coming! Tornado! The wind'll change and come from the north—right from the North Pole—in a minute. There!"
For an instant it was calm and the rain ceased. Then, with a whistle and roar and the sudden writhing of the branches in the wood, the tornado came. It might be only a "baby," but to Hiram's mind the funnel of black cloud sweeping down upon Sunnyside seemed a full-grown wind-storm indeed.
CHAPTER XIX
DISASTER THREATENS
"Who's that scurrying down the road toward Pringleton?" demanded Blodger in the lull before the tornado struck Sunnyside.
They all saw the man hurrying along the county road with the tails of his coat over his head. Jim Larry, the boy, shrieked:
"I believe that is Ad Banks. What's he doing around here? I thought he was working over at Loomisville."
Nobody gave the running figure much attention. The phenomenon of the coming tornado quite filled their minds.