cast
in time to enable us to fight it, the lightning is tamed by the metal
finger we thrust upward to the sky. But the tornado sweeps its funnel of
death over our cities in spite of all we do, the cloudburst falls where
it will, and rivers rush to flood with the melting of the snows upon the
distant mountains.

There is no battle greater than the battle with the Weather, which is
both our enemy and our ally. Death and disaster are the price we pay
for ignorance. Great victories have been won by knowledge. Galveston's
sea-wall dared and defeated the hurricane, the levees of the Mississippi
have held captive many a flood, and our myriad spears of defence have
snatched at the power of the lightning flash and hurled it harmlessly to
the ground.

We are not slaves to the demons of the Weather, now--not as we once
were. The United States Weather Bureau, day by day, draws closer and
closer the chains which bind the untrammeled violence of sun and storm.
High, high in the atmosphere, is a world all unexplored, where no man
can dwell; where, as yet, no human-made instrument has reached. This
unknown world calls for explorers, it calls for adventure, it calls for
daring and patient work. It is for Man to tame the forces of the sky,
and tame them he must and will. To show how much the Weather Bureau is
accomplishing, to depict the marvels of its work, to portray the
ruthless ferocity of the forces as yet uncontrolled and to reveal the
gripping fascination of this work, in which every American boy may join,
is the aim and purpose of

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAGE
ADRIFT ON THE FLOODED RIVER 1

CHAPTER II
THE HOME OF THE RAIN 34

CHAPTER III
PUTTING THE SUN TO WORK 72

CHAPTER IV
THE MASSACRE OF AN ARMY 105

CHAPTER V
THE RUNAWAY KITE 143

CHAPTER VI
DEFEATING THE FROST 180

CHAPTER VII
CLEARING AN INNOCENT MAN 210

CHAPTER VIII
IN THE WHIRL OF A TORNADO 255

CHAPTER IX
THE TRAIL OF THE HURRICANE 280

CHAPTER X
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING 312

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Funnel of Death _Frontispiece_