At the same instant off went her brown beanie into the gutter.
“Whoops!” Vevi exclaimed, scampering after the rolling headgear.
As she snatched the beanie from the street an automobile came to a jerky halt at the curb. The strange woman Vevi knew as Mrs. Gabriel was at the wheel. She tooted her horn and glared at the little girl.
“Don’t you know better than to dash out into the street!” she scolded. “I might have run you down.”
Vevi had been a little careless. However, she never had come very close to the automobile.
“I am sorry,” she apologized. “That wind--”
Off went her beanie again, this time almost directly beneath the wheels of the stationary car. To the annoyance of Mrs. Gabriel, Vevi had to get down on her hands and knees to fish it out.
“Do watch what you are doing,” the woman said. “And hang onto that hat!”
The moment Vevi was safely on the curb, she drove away.
Hanny had been having a time with her own belongings. The capricious wind had scattered some of her school papers. For several minutes she was kept busy gathering them up.
Breathlessly the two girls huddled in the drugstore doorway. As yet there was no rain but dust was blowing wildly in the street. A newspaper flew past, plastering itself around a telephone pole.
“It’s going to blow real hard,” Vevi said, pulling her sweater tight. “Hanny, you had better come home with me.”
Vevi looked around quickly, wondering what was wrong. She thought dust had blown into Hanny’s eyes or that another paper had been swept away.
“What is it?” she asked for her little friend looked dreadfully worried.
“The windmill!” Hanny said in a frightened voice. “I left it turned on. If it pumps very long in this high wind, our tulips may be ruined!”
The wind was blowing steadily now, whipping the trees and sending everyone to cover.
Hanny and Vevi huddled in the drugstore doorway, not knowing what to do.
“I should have locked the windmill before I left the farm,” Hanny said, clutching her hat tightly to keep it from sailing away.
“Maybe your uncle will get home and take care of it,” Vevi said hopefully.
“He has gone away for the afternoon. Oh, Vevi, I will have to get out there as fast as I can. This wind is not going to let up for a long while.”