don't--where are we?"

Waldo lifted his head to peer with half-blind eyes about them, in which
action he was imitated by both brother and uncle; but, for a brief
space, they were none the wiser.

All around the aeromotor rose a wall of whirling winds, seemingly
impenetrable, apparently within reach of an extended arm, changing
colour with each fraction of a second, hideously beautiful, yet never
twice the same in blend or mixture.

A hollow, strangely sounding roar was perceptible; one instant coming as
from the far distance, then from nigh at hand, causing the air-ship
to quiver and tremble, as a sentient being might in the presence of a
torturing death.

"Look--upward!" panted Bruno, a few seconds later, his face as pale as
that of a corpse, in spite of the dirt and blotches of sticky mud with
which he had been peppered during that dizzy whirl.

Mechanically his companions in peril obeyed, catching breath sharply, as
they saw a clear sky and yellow sunshine far above,--so awfully far
they were, that it seemed like looking upward from the bottom of an
enormously deep well.

And then the marvellous truth flashed upon the brain of Phaeton
Featherwit, almost robbing him of all power of speech. Still he managed
to jerkily ejaculate:

"We're inside,--riding the--tornado--itself!"

Then those whirling winds closed quickly above them, shutting out the
sunlight, hiding the heavens from their view, enclosing that vehicle and
its occupants, as they were borne away into unknown regions, within the
very heart of the tornado itself!

Yet, incredible as it surely seems, no actual harm came to the trio
or to their flying-machine as it swayed gently upon its airy cushion,
although from every side came the horrid roar of destruction, while ever
and anon they could glimpse a wrestling tree or torn mass of shrubbery
whizzing upward and outward, to be flung far away beyond the vortex of
electrical winds.

Once more came that awful sense of suffocation. That painted pall closed
down upon them, robbing their lungs of air, one instant fairly crisping
their hair with a touch of fire, only to send an icy chill to their
veins a moment later.

In vain they struggled, fighting for breath, as a fish gasps when swung
from its native element. While that horrid pressure endured, man, youth,
and boy alike were powerless.

Again the pall lifted, folding back and blending with those madly
circling currents, once again affording a glimpse