Being successful in disposing of their chairs, and securing loads of bacon and corn, they were almost home when an Iowa blizzard, or Hurricane, or cyclone, or all in one, struck them. Clouds and Egyptian darkness settled suddenly around them. They had no modern "tornado cellars", to flee into and no manner of shelter of any kind. The cold was intense; the wind came from every direction; they were all skilled backwoodsmen and knew they were very close to their homes; but they also knew that they were hopelessly lost in that swirling wind and those black clouds of snow. They and their oxen were freezing, and their only hope of life was in making a fire and camping where they were.