At the Back of the North Wind | Page 8

have to go and sink a ship to-night."
"Sink a ship!" cried Diamond. "And drown the men and women in it? How dreadful! Still I cannot believe you are cruel, North Wind!"
"No, I could not be cruel, and yet I must often do what looks cruel to those who do not know. But the people they say I drown, I only carry away to the back of the north wind--only I never saw the place."
"But how can you carry them there if you never saw the place? And how is it that you never saw it?"
"Because it is behind me. You cannot see your own back, you know. But run along now if you want to go with me to-night. I cannot take you till you have been to bed and gone to sleep. I'll look about and do something till you are ready. Do you see that man over there on the river in the boat who is just floating about? Now watch!"
She flashed like a dragon-fly across the water whose surface rippled and puckered as she passed. The next moment, the man in the boat glanced about him and bent to his oars. The boat flew over the rippling water. The same instant almost, North Wind perched again upon the river wall.
"How did you do that?" asked Diamond.
"I just blew in his face and blew the mist out of him."
"But what for? I don't understand!" said Diamond. Hearing no answer, he looked down at the wall. North Wind was gone. Away across the river went a long ripple--what sailors call a cat's paw. The man in the boat at once put up his sail. The moon was coming to herself on the edge of a great cloud and the sail began to shine white. Diamond rubbed his eyes and wondered what it was all about. But he felt that he could not know more till he had gone to bed, so he turned away and started for home. He stopped to look out of a window before going to bed. Above the moon, the clouds were streaming different ways, and the wind was rising as he fell asleep.
He woke in the middle of the night and the darkness. A terrible noise was rumbling overhead like the rolling beat of great drums. For a while, he could not come quite awake. But a second peal of thunder broke over his head and a great blast of wind followed which tore some tiles off the roof and, through the hole this made, sent a spout of wind down into his face. At the same moment, he heard a mighty, yet musical voice say, "Come up, Diamond! It's all ready. I am waiting for you." Then a gigantic arm was reached down which drew him up and clasped him against North Wind's breast.
"Oh, North Wind!" he murmured. But the words vanished from his lips as he had seen the soap bubbles, that burst too soon, vanish from the mouth of his pipe. The wind caught them and they were no-where.
At the same moment, a peal of thunder which shook Diamond's heart against his side boomed out of the heavens; I cannot say, out of the sky, for there was no sky. Diamond had not seen the lightning for he had been busy trying to find the face of North Wind. Every moment, the folds of her garment would sweep across his eyes and blind him. But between them, he could just catch glimpses of the great glories of her eyes looking down at him through the rifts of the huge clouds over his head.
"Oh dear North Wind!" cried the boy. "Why do you do like this? Must you go and sink the ship? It is not like you! Here you are, taking care of a poor little boy like me, with one arm, and there you are, sinking the ship with the other! No, no! It can't be like you!"
"Then you must believe that I am cruel," answered the strong voice of North Wind, sounding about him out of the clouds.
"No, dear North Wind, I can't believe that. I don't believe it. I will not believe it. How could you know how to put on such a beautiful face if you did not love me and love all the rest too? No! You may sink as many ships as you like--though I shall not like to see it!"
"That is quite another thing!" said North Wind.
As she spoke, she gave one spring from the roof and rushed up into the clouds. As if the clouds knew she had come, they burst into fresh thunderous light. Diamond seemed to be borne through an ocean of dazzling flame. The winds were writhing around him like a storm of serpents. For they were in the midst