When,
however, they turned toward home, they were forced silent by the
mighty power of the wind against them. The tears ran from their
eyes as though they were crying; they had to lower their heads.
Hardly could Carroll command vision clear enough to see the road
along which she was driving. This was really unnecessary, for
Prince was buffeted to a walk. Thus they crawled along until they
reached the turn-bridge, where the right-angled change in direction
gave them relief. The river was full of choppy waves, considerable
in size. As they crossed, the SPRITE darted beneath them, lowering
her smokestack as she went under the bridge.
They entered Main Street, where was a great banging and clanging of
swinging signs and a few loose shutters. All the sidewalk displays
of vegetables and other goods had been taken in, and the doors,
customarily wide open, were now shut fast. This alone lent to the
street quite a deserted air, which was emphasised by the fact that
actually not a rig of any sort stood at the curbs. Up the empty
roadway whirled one after the other clouds of dust hurried by the
wind.
"I wonder where all the farmers' wagons are?" marvelled the
practical Mina. "Surely they would not stay home Saturday afternoon
just for this wind!"
Opposite Randall's hardware store her curiosity quite mastered her.
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