from Jack, who with Mark was in the
steering tower, startled them. His voice ran out through the cabins as
he cried:

"A whirlwind! A whirlwind! We are running straight into a whirlwind!"

CHAPTER XIV

TOSSED BY A TORNADO

"Shut down de engines!" cried Washington.

"Lower the ship!" exclaimed Mark, who had run back from the tower.
"Close to the earth we may escape the wind!"

"Is it headed toward us?" asked Andy.

"Straight," answered Mark. Jack tried to steer to one side, but the
currents of air sucked the ship right back into the path again!

"The captain knew more than we gave him credit for," muttered the
hunter. "He heard the storm coming."

The air, that had been so strangely quiet, now vibrated with a curious
humming. It seemed to make the whole ship tremble. Then, just as the
craft began to settle down, the upward pulling force of the gas being
lessened under Washington's manipulations, there came a terrible
roaring. The wind howled like a thousand demons seeking to tear the
_Monarch_ to pieces.

"It's a regular tornado!" cried Andy.

Then the storm picked the downward-falling ship up as if it had been a
feather and tossed the craft into the air. The adventurers were in a sad
plight.

There was nothing to be done. The forces of nature were ten times
stronger than those of man. To start the engines and try to run the ship
out of the grasp of the wind would only mean to strain the craft to a
dangerous point. There was but one thing to do, to run before the
tornado, as ships on the sea scud before the gale. In this way the
airship might be saved, if it was not dashed down to earth.

As soon as this plan manifested itself to be the best one, Washington
stopped drawing gas from the bag. He wanted to keep the ship as high as
he could. Jack still held his place in the conning tower, but he could
do nothing to guide the craft, and it would have been folly to attempt
it, so fearful was the force of the wind.

"Which way are we headed?" asked Mark, making his way back to the tower
where Jack was.

"Almost due west," was the reply. "About two points to the south, too."

"Then we are being driven away from the north pole," said Mark.

"We're as helpless as kittens tied up in a sack," said Andy. "If only I
could do something I'd feel better. But I've got to sit here and take
what comes."

The sick man stirred uneasily. Then he muttered in his delirium
something about the tornado that was tossi