"Why not?" questioned Penny in astonishment.

"The weather don't look so good. She might blow up a gale before sundown."

"Oh, we're not afraid of a little wind or rain," answered Penny carelessly. "Come along, Lou."

Anchor Joe said nothing more, but his sober gaze followed the girls as they walked away.

Keeping close to the river, Penny and Louise trod a path which they knew would lead to the main road and Peter Fenestra's farm.

"Queer sort, wasn't he?" Penny remarked thoughtfully.

"Anchor Joe?"

"Yes, I wonder where Dad found him? He certainly didn't tell us much about himself."

Crossing the river by means of a swaying, suspension bridge, the girls came out from beneath the solid canopy of trees. Penny paused to stare up at the sky.

"Aren't those clouds odd?" she observed. "Just watch them boil!"

"They must be filled with wind," declared Louise uneasily. "Anchor Joe said he thought a storm would blow up."

"It's not far away either. Unless we step right along, we'll surely get caught in it."

"Perhaps we should forget The Willows and start home."

"We never could get there now," responded Penny. "If we hurry we may reach Fenestra's place before the storm breaks."

Walking even faster, the girls hastened along the winding path. The air remained sultry and very still. The sky, Penny noted, had changed to a peculiar yellowish color.

Then, as she watched with increasing alarm, a writhing, twisting, funnel-shaped arm reached down from the boiling clouds, anchoring them to earth. For a moment the entire ma.s.s seemed to settle and flatten out.

"Listen!" commanded Penny.

Plainly they both could hear a sullen, deep-throated roar as the storm moved forward.

"A tornado!" gasped Louise. "It's coming this way!"

"Run!" urged Penny, seizing her hand. "We still have a chance to make Fenestra's place."

In a clearing beyond a weed-grown field stood a white farmhouse, a red barn and a silo. One side of the property was bounded by the willow-rimmed river, the other by the road.

Crawling beneath a barbed-wire fence, the girls cut across the field. The sky was darker now, the roar of the wind ominous. They could see the tail of the funnel whipping along the ground, veering to the south, then coming toward them again.

"We'll never make the house," Louise cried fearfully.

"Yes, we will," encouraged Penny.

She raised another wire strand for Louise to roll beneath. Her own sweater caught on the sharp barbs, tearing a large hole as she jerked free.

Dust had begun to blow. Trees and bushes bowed before the first gusts of wind.

Glancing frantically about for a place of refuge, Penny saw a low, circular cement hump rising from the ground not many yards distant.

Instantly she recognized it as an old fashioned storm cellar.

"We'll get in there, Lou!" she shouted. "Come on!"

Running across the yard, they reached the cave. Entrance was guarded by a door built in the side of the cement dome. A bra.s.s padlock hung unsnapped in the hasp.

"Thank goodness, we can get in," gasped Louise. "Hurry!"

Penny tugged at the heavy door. It would not raise, and then it gave so suddenly that she nearly tumbled backwards.

The door clattered back against the cement dome. Through the rectangular opening protruded the head and shoulders of Peter Fenestra. His face was convulsed with rage.

"What are you trying to do?" he demanded harshly. "Speak up!"

CHAPTER 9 _A FALLEN TREE_

"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.

The girls scurried through the door and he closed it behind them. Barely had they reached shelter when the wind struck the house in full force, fairly shaking it to its foundation. Windows rattled, a tree bough came crashing down on the porch, the air was filled with flying debris.

As a hard object shattered a pane of gla.s.s, Penny and Louise heard a terrified scream from the kitchen. A moment later a girl ran into the room. She stopped short as she saw Penny and Louise. They also stared, for it was Tillie Fellows.

"Stop that silly screeching!" Fenestra ordered sharply. "The center of the storm is pa.s.sing to the south. Now get back to your work!"

"Yes, sir," Tillie mumbled.