Page:Ned Wilding's Disappearance.djvu/82

72 stepped from the doorway. "I'm being blown away."

The wind had caught her long cloak and whipped it up around her shoulders so that it acted like a sail. Jennie was being fairly carried along the street.

"There's your chance, Fenn!" cried Frank. "Rescue a maiden in distress."

Fenn did not stop to reply to his tormenter but caught Jennie by the arm and helped her to straighten her garment.

"Noble youth!" exclaimed Bart. "You shall be suitably rewarded."

They all laughed, rather hysterically, it is true, at the nonsense talk, but it was a relief to their over-strained nerves for the shock of the accident had been a severe one.

They passed along and, as they got beyond the shelter of the school the full force of the wind was felt. It was almost a hurricane, and it was all they could do to walk along.

"No wonder it blew the tower down," observed Ned. "Let's take a look at the wreck."

They walked around to the other side of the school. There, prone on the ground, though but a confused mass of bricks and mortar, was what had been the tower.