There was a gray, ominous cloud in the north-west. It exactly suited Ella's mood.
She was sour and put out. Ignacio had woken with a toothache and could not be persuaded to make breakfast, no matter how hard they all pestered him, or threatened him with whippings and, even (as a last ditch attempt) outright killing.
"My tooth hurt," he groaned, as he hunched over, stirring his cup of coffee. "You leave me be. I no cook today."
They had had to make do with corn-tack left over from last night's supper—there was barely enough to go around, and Ella was hungry. More than that, she had slept poorly. They had camped outside of Dodge City, and the ground had seemed rocky and more uncomfortable than usual. She had been woken up from a dead sleep by a fight between Boots and Tiny—they had gotten into it over a game of cards in a saloon, and carried their fight back to camp. Boots, drunk, had maintained that Tiny had cheated him. Tiny, drunker, had retorted that he would cut Boots's pecker off with his Bowie knife for calling him a cheat. And then he had tried to do it. It had taken the Captain and Kin and Buck to hold Boots back, and the rest of the camp had had as much as they could do to keep Tiny from carrying through his threat. The men had been sequested and gone to bed the bitterest of enemies; this morning, however, they were back to being friends, banded together in their mutual loathing of the cook. Last night had been forgotten between them.
The wind picked up and pulled at Ella's hat; she planted it more firmly on her head and looked up to feel Kin's eyes on her. He gave her a little smile. She did not smile back. She had not forgotten their own fight, and though Kin had been kind and polite and friendly to her ever since—and had made a big deal of not going into town again with the others—she was cold to him, and would not speak to him. She refrained looking in his direction whenever it was humanly possible, and as she felt his eyes on her, she made her face blank, and her eyes looked through him as though he were made of glass. Kin looked hurt—his shoulders droopped—and then he spurred his horse away back up the line. Good, though Ella, and clutched at her hat as it threatened to fly off again.
It was slow riding—the wind was in their faces, the horses' heads were bowed. The wind squalled and threatened to tear the canvas cover off the wagon, and Ignacio, his cheek swollen and distended, glowered as he had to get up again and again to tie it down. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the cattle were spooked. Several times they stopped and threatened to change direction. They did not want to go toward the big black cloud. The cowboys were riding here and there, frantically waving their ropes and calling, "Hi, yi! Hi, yi yi!" to get the cows to move in one direction again.
The great clouds piled up on top of each other, so that soon the sky was pitch-black, and it seemed as though they were riding at night. Captain Lexington broke off from the group and pulled up on his horse beside Ella.
"Looks like we're in for some nasty weather, Mrs. K," he said amiably. "But don't you fret. You just stay back here with Ignacio, and you'll be all right."
His tone was even enough, but Ella saw the worried way his eyes scanned the horizon, and her shoulders slumped as she realized that she would soon be riding through the rain. Riding through the wind was bad enough, but a driving rain was miserable. It blinded her, and made cold little streams down her neck. She twisted to get her slicker out of her saddlebag, and just when she had it, the wind whipped it from her hand. She watched it fly away down the prairie.
They were heading right into the storm, and the clouds began to light up from the inside with a weird light. A first few fat drops of rain began to splatter. There was a sickening, ominous crack of thunder, and then a streak of lightning dipped down toward the earth.
Ella hid her ears in fright as it rent the black sky. And then she gasped as she saw blue fingers of electricity jump from one cattle's horns to another. It crawled through the herd.
And then the cattle stampeded.
She watched in horror as the animals began to move as one, running, fighting, crushing the ground and each other with their hooves. The sound of their frightened wails filled the air. The herd turned sharply, suddenly to the right, and Ella screamed as she saw a horse and rider pulled down amid the trampling hooves.
Who was it? Who was it? She was almost sure it was Cake, but it may have been Buck, or Red. The horse was a big white charger. Oh, please let it not be Buck. And if it was Cake or Red, let him not be hurt too badly.
Ella's own horse reared as the herd changed direction again, and her panic became so palpable a thing that she could smell and taste it. Oh, God, let her not die! Let her not be crushed to death by these rampaging beasts! The reins fell from her hands and she could not reach down to pick them up without falling. She clung to Mr. Butler's mane as he reared and tried to throw her off, again and again. She thought suddenly of Bonnie. The rain was blinding her.
And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the rain let up. The sky was still black, but the rain had stopped, and the whole heard suddenly stood still, as if they were surprised by this as Ella was. She heard the cowboys shouting to each other, and riding frantically back and forth, trying to get the herd to turn. Mr. Butler settled on his feet, and she almost sobbed with relief as the cattle turned north again, and the distance between the herd and her and the wagon widened. She scrabbled around for the rains and gave another sob as she picked them up. Oh, thank God. Oh, thank God.
But then something happened: the great black cloud had suddenly turned green, and the air was filled with an peculiar yellow light. Ella had never seen anything like it before. The air was still and hot and stifling. The herd began throwing their heads, and started to run again, but this time they were running away from her. She lifted her head and saw with surprise as a piece of the black cloud broke off and hurled itself down to earth.
A roaring filled her ears—she watched, sick with shock, as the cloud twisted and turned and thickened, and began to tear the earth so that the air was filled with dust. She screamed, but the sound was whipped away from her mouth before she could even hear it.
Mr. Butler shook her again, and again, and she felt an otherworldly sense of peace as she went sailing over his head, through the air. This is how Bonnie had died—how she, Ella, would die, too. She did not mind. She was not afraid to die. But then she landed, and was surprised to find she was still living. The air was black and gritty and swirling and another dark, slender funnel touched down to the earth on her right.
The wind was all around her and she stood still, watching the dark shapes of men and animals against the darker background of sky. Everything was dark. Her hat was blown clear of her head and her hair was torn and ripped by the wind. It was the worst storm she had ever seen. Her teeth chattered, as she stood alone in the middle of the darkness. It was now so dark that she could not see more than a few feet in front of her.
Good heavens, if that big black cloud should come and suck her up, she knew that she would not live. She could not survive it. Oh, where should she go? Ella sobbed crazily as another funnel touched down in the south. There was no where she could go. Mr. Butler had run away, the cattle were somewhere ahead. Good Lord, what should she do? What should she do? Where could she go?
She screamed again without hearing it as she was pulled from behind—she though that the cloud had gotten her, and would tear her up and away from the earth. She went limp with fear, and her mind began to grow dreamy. It took her a long while to realize that it was Ignacio that had hold of her. He pulled her down and threw his small body on top of hers. She could not breathe. He had pulled her under the wagon, which creaked and swayed and threatened to be torn to pieces by the wind.
Afterwards, Ella could not say how long it lasted. She lie still, with her heart pounding against the ground, for what seemed like hours. She could feel Ignacio's heart pounding against her back. Would the sky never be still? Would the storm never stop?
"Mother!" she cried, "Mother, I'm frightened!"
After hours—or minutes—or seconds—or days, the strange, fingers of cloud that looked like slender, waving plumes of black smoke, were absorbed by the big black cloud, and were gone. The wind kept on pummeling them, rocking the wagon, for another several minutes. Ella sobbed and sobbed and buried her face in the dirt, clutching the grass in her hands. A few minutes more—and the same eerie greenish light appeared again, and Ella almost screamed with relief as the big black cloud rolled on, leaving gray sky in its wake. It was over—thank God! It was over. She had been in Hell, and now she sobbed, like an angel cast back down to earth. Oh thank God, it was over!
She began to laugh, for her nerves were as torn and battered as the wagon's canvas cover. She shouted with laughed and tears seeped from her eyes. She pulled herself up, and looked down at Ignacio, who was sprawled on his back under the wagon, and helped him up, too.
"You saved me," she gasped, "Ignacio, you saved my life! How funny!" and she began to laugh again.
He crossed himself—his lips moved in prayer—and then he turned to her. His voice was casual, but he could not bring himself to glower.
"If I let you die, El Capitan, he have my hide," Ignacio said, but Ella took a few wobbly steps toward him and kissed his wizened, leathery face.
"Thank you," she said, and she knew that from this moment on, she would have no more problems with Ignacio. She would not want to kill him, and he would not cross himself and glower when she came near.
They walked out a little ways from the wagon and saw that the cattle were spread out, thinly. A great many of them seemed to be missing. The men were riding helter-skelter to gather them in one herd again. Ella saw Buck on his charger, racing to the left and right, and heard the boom of Captain Lexington's voice as he shouted orders. But there was one rider who was not with the rest—he was spurring his horse toward the wagon at full gallop, and Ella began to run as she saw the rider jump of, and come toward her at a full sprint.
"Kin! Kin!" she cried, as he caught her up, and pressed his cheek to hers, his arms holding her tight. "Kin! Oh, darling!"
"You gave me a fright, Lorie." He was calling her Lorie, so they must be friends again. Oh, how glad she was to see him! She had not had time to think of him in the clamor of the storm but now that he was safe before her, she realized how terrified she was without him, how much she would have missed him, if the great black cloud should have carried him away. She began to cry, tears of fright and gladness landing on his shoulder.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I've been mean!" she cried, and he said, "I'm sorry, too." And then they stood together, with his cheek pressed against her hair, as Ella sobbed and laughed and went weak-kneed with relief. God was so good. He had not taken Kin and he might have taken him. God was so good!
"I don't want to be away from you again," she said, her face muffled against his chest. "You're going to have to let me ride up front, with you, after this. I don't want to be away from you again."
She felt him nod. And Ella spoke again, the words pulled out of her as though by the same violent cloud that had pulled the earth away.
"I love you," she said, and surprised herself by saying it. He pulled back to look at her and his face was so tender and surprised that she blushed and stammered.
"I mean, I mean…" she began, but she never got to tell him what it was she meant, or to even figure it out for herself, for Captain Lexington rode up and reined in a respectful distance away.
"Don't mean to break up no private moment," he said, and his face was grim. "But we've got work to do."
Kin gave her a last, searching glance, and went back to his mount and pulled himself up. "Giddap," Ella heard him say, and then she watched him ride off with the Captain, as they went to survey the damage.
