Part 34 (1/2)
True, this was on solid land, while before there had been the peril of the sea. But now the girl was alone. Outside the straining walls of her refuge, the hurricane yelled and shrieked and roared,--a headless, formless monster, furious to burst in upon her, to overthrow her stanch old tree giant, that in his fall his shattered trunk might crush and mangle her. Or at any instant a thunder-bolt might rend open the great tower of living wood, and hurl her blackened body into the pool on the cave floor.
Once she fancied that she heard Blake shouting outside the door; but when she screamed a shrill response, the blast mocked her with echoing shrieks, and she dared not venture to free the door. If it were Blake, he did not shout again. After a time she began to think that the sound had been no more than a freak of the s.h.i.+fting wind. Yet the thought of him out in the full fury of the cyclone served to turn her thoughts from her own danger. She prayed aloud for his safety, beseeching her G.o.d that he be spared. She sought to pray even for Winthrope. But the vision of that beastly face rose up before her, and she could not--then.
Presently she became aware of a change in the storm. The terrific gusts blew with yet greater violence, the thunder crashed heavier, the lightning filled the air with a flame of dazzling white light. But the rain no longer gushed across on the spot where her bed had been.
It was entering at a different angle, and its force was broken by the bend in the thick wall of the entrance. After a time the deluge dashed aslant the entrance, gus.h.i.+ng down the door in a cataract of foam.
Another interval, and the driving downpour no longer struck even the edge of the opening. The wind was veering rapidly as the cyclone centre moved past on one side. The area of the hurricane was little more than thrice that of a tornado, and it was advancing along its course at great speed. An hour more, and the outermost rim of the huge whirl was pa.s.sing over the cleft.
Quickly the hurricane gusts fell away to a gale; the gale became a breeze; the breeze lulled and died away, stifled by the torrential rain.
Within the baobab all was again dark and silent. Utterly exhausted, the girl had sunk back against the friendly wall of the tree, and fallen asleep.
She was wakened by a hoa.r.s.e call: ”Miss Jenny! Miss Jenny, answer me!
Are you all right?”
She started up, barely saving herself from a fall as the big unhusked nuts rolled beneath her feet. The morning sunlight was streaming in over her door. She sprang down ankle-deep into the mire of the cave floor, and ran to loosen the bars. As the door swung up, she darted out, with a cry of delight: ”You are safe--safe! Oh, I was so afraid for you! But you're drenched! You must build a fire--dry yourself--at once!”
”Wait,” said Blake. ”I've got to tell you something.”
He caught her outstretched hands, and pushed them down with gentle force.
His face was grave, almost solemn.
”Think you can stand bad news--a shock?”
”I-- What is it? You look so strange!”
”It's about Winthrope,--something very bad--”
She turned, with a gasp, and hid her face in her hands, shuddering with horror and loathing.
”Oh! oh!” she cried, ”I know already--I know all!”
”All?” demanded Blake, staring blankly.
”Yes; all! And--and he made me think it was you!” She gasped, and fell silent.
Blake's face went white. He spoke in a clear, vibrant voice, tense as an overstrained violin string: ”I am speaking about Winthrope--understand me?--Winthrope. He has been badly hurt.”
”The door swung down and struck him, when he was creeping in.”
”G.o.d!” roared Blake. ”I picked him up like a sick baby--the beast!--'stead of grinding my heel in his face! G.o.d! I'll--”
”Tom! don't--don't even speak it! Tom!”
”G.o.d! When a helpless girl--when a --!” He choked, beside himself with rage.
She sprang to him, and caught his sleeve in a convulsive grasp. ”Hush, for mercy's sake! Tom Blake, remember--you're a man!”
He calmed like a ferocious dog at the voice of its master; but it was several minutes before he could bring himself to obey her insistent urging that he should return to the injured man.