"Like fun she is!" returned the other young fellow. "Those bands and cables should have been put on. But as the tank's empty and there is nothing to hold her down, she'll shift on her foundation if we don't do something."
"We can't help it, Strong," objected Orrin.
"We can try," returned Hiram forcefully. "You get Blodger and Jim. I'm going over there. There are two sets of fastenings for the cables on the barn and the barn won't blow down—that's a sure thing."
"I don't know that it is a sure thing," grumbled Orrin. "You'll take your life in your hands if you go out there."
But Hiram had already started. The wind did not come steadily, and he ran stooping between gusts to the silo. The wire cables, cut as he knew to proper length and wound on a spool, lay with some other material against the barn foundations.
Of course, Hiram knew they could not put on the iron bands; but if they could pass a couple of the length of cable around the silo and fasten them to the barn Hiram was sure it would aid in keeping the tank on its foundation.
He looked back across the yard and saw Orrin propel the frightened Jim out of the doorway of the shack; and he had to fairly drag Blodger out as well. Both the old man and the boy knew these tornadoes too well to desire to be out-of-doors.
Hiram was endeavoring to unwind the first cable alone when the others reached him. He had fastened the end of the twisted wire through one of the rings in the side of the barn about eight feet from the ground. They unwound the entire length of this first cable, struggling against the wind, and carrying the end around the silo.
Here the fastening ring was too high to be reached without the aid of a ladder. The carpenters had left their various ladders behind the new house. Hiram spied them, and, shouting to Orrin to come with him, started against the wind for that place.
They had actually to tack like a boat in a heavy seaway to reach the ladders. And coming back, each bearing an end of the ladder selected, they were blown to the ground half a dozen times.