“Speak up!” Peter Fenestra commanded again as the girls stared at him in blank astonishment. “Why are you trying to get into my cave?”
“Listen to that wind!” cried Penny, recovering the power of speech. She pointed toward the sky.
“A tornado!” exclaimed Fenestra in a stunned voice.
“And it’s coming this way,” added Louise. “Let us down into the cave!”
Instead of stepping aside, the man came up the stone steps. Slamming the door of the cave, he padlocked it.
“Quick! Into the house!” he ordered.
“We’ll be much safer underground,” argued Penny. “That twister easily can lift a building from its foundation.”
“Do as I say!” commanded Peter Fenestra harshly. “The cave is half filled with water. You can’t go down there.”
Deserting the girls, he ran toward the house. Mystified by the old man’s actions, Penny and Louise followed, overtaking him as he reached the porch.
“Get inside!” he ordered.