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"Listen again," said Dale

Bo was asleep And Helen, listening, at once caught low, distant roar

"Wind It's goin' to storm," explained Dale "You'll hear somethin' worth while But don't be scared Reckon we'll be safe Pines blon often But this felloill stand any fall wind that ever was Better slip under the blankets so I can pull the tarp up"

Helen slid down, just as she was, fully dressed except for boots, which she and Bo had removed; and she laid her head close to Bo's Dale pulled the tarpaulin up and folded it back just below their heads

"When it rains you'll wake, an' then just pull the tarp up over you," he said

"Will it rain?" Helen asked But she was thinking that this est that had ever happened to her By the light of the camp-fire she saw Dale's face, just as usual, still, darkly serene, expressing no thought He was kind, but he was not thinking of these sisters as girls, alone with him in a pitch-black forest, helpless and defenseless He did not see at all But Helen had never before in her life been so keenly susceptible to experience

"I'll be close by an' keep the fire goin' all night," he said

She heard hiing, bu dropped upon the fire A cloud of sparks shot up, and ain curled upward along the great, seamed tree-trunk, and flaain for the roar of wind It seemed to come on a breath of air that fanned her cheek and softly blew Bo's curls, and it was stronger But it died out presently, only to coer Helen realized then that the sound was that of an approaching storm Her heavy eyelids almost refused to stay open, and she knew if she let them close she would instantly drop to sleep And she wanted to hear the storm-wind in the pines

A few drops of cold rain fell upon her face, thrilling her with the proof that no roof stood between her and the elements Then a breeze bore the smell of burnt wood into her face, and soirlhood days when she burned brush and leaves with her little brothers The memory faded The roar that had see swiftly, increasing in volurew a, and heavy this storm-wind! She likened its approach to the tread of an army Then the roar filled the forest, yet it was back there behind her Not a pine-needle quivered in the light of the camp-fire But the air see crash, like an ocean torrent engulfing the earth Bo awoke to cling to Helen with fright The deafening storm-blast was upon theiant pine had trehty fury of as all aloft, in the tree-tops And for a long moment it bowed the forest under its tre crash passed to roar, and that swept on and on, lessening in volu in low detonation, at last to die in the distance