This block stood upright, and received a portion
of the rafters, covered by the shingles and held them aloft as easily
as you can hold your hat with your outstretched arm. From this point
of highest support, the debris sloped away until it rested on the
floor, but the open space, in which the brother and sister lay, was as
safe as was their situation, before the gale loosened the structure.
Tim called to his sister and found that not so much as a hair of her
head had been harmed, and it was the same with himself. All was
darkness in their confined quarters, but the wrenched framework gave
them plenty of air to breathe.
Who can picture the feelings of the father, when he saw the collapse of
the roof of the barn and knew that his two children were beneath? He
rushed thither like a madman, only to be cheered to the highest
thankfulness the next moment at hearing their muffled assurances that
both were all right. A brief vigorous application of his axe and the
two were helped out into the open air, neither the worse for their
dreadful experience.
The parent could hardly believe what had been done by his boy, when
Maggie told him, until an examination for himself showed that it was
true. He declared that neither he nor anyone would have thought of the
means and applied it with such lightning quickness. It certainly was
an extraordinary exhibition of presence of mind and deserved all the
praise given to it.
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