THE COUNTRY BOY 131 



and sure enough he heard it. His eyes 

 sparkled as he straightened up in his chair 

 alert. "There, Homer, that's the barn door, 

 and as awful as this storm is, we must get out 

 to the barn and tie it shut, or this wind will 

 tear it off its hinges in less than an hour. 

 And what's more, such a storm as this 

 might tear the roof off the barn, if it gets 

 under it. It's the worst storm I have ever 

 seen in Oregon." There was nothing to 

 do but put on all the rubber clothes we 

 could find, tie them, and take a lantern and 

 start for the barn, some fifty yards from the 

 house. 



We held on to each other for protection, the 

 light going out with almost the first awful 

 crash of the storm. We hung on to each other 

 for dear life, and bunted against a turkey and 

 some chickens. They had been blown out of 

 the trees where they were roosting, and were 

 groping about on the ground. We reached 

 the barn, got inside and stood for a moment 

 almost exhausted, and drenched to the skin. 



We noticed that there wasn't a light streak 

 anywhere in the sky. We relit the lantern, 

 for it was as black as pitch, and the roar of the 



