there it
sometimes rains."

"Shall we see any snow fall, now that we are in the _Terre-Froide_?"

"No," replied Sumichrast, smiling; "you will not see any snow before
next year, when you will be in France. The winters of the Mexican
_Terre-Froide_ are like our European springs. It is, however, never warm
enough to allow tropical fruit to ripen; but the _Terre-Froide_ only
deserves its name when it is compared with the _Terre-Chaude_ and the
_Terre-Temperee_."

"It seems to me to have been very badly named, for it is as hot now as
the day when the south wind blew so strongly. Gringalet looks as if he
was of my opinion, for he lolls his tongue out much more than usual."

"Upon my word!" cried Sumichrast, "Master Sunbeam's remark shows that he
is a first-class observer. You are as right as you can be," continued
he, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. "In the plains of the
_Terre-Froide_ the heat is much more uncomfortable than in the
_Terre-Chaude_ itself, where an insensible perspiration always mitigates
the oppressive rays of the sun. A few days' walking in this atmosphere
will do more in bronzing our skins than all the rest of the journey."

My companion suddenly stopped short, and pointed to the horizon with his
finger.

"That's smoke," cried Lucien.

"No, Chanito," replied l'Encuerado, "it is a _tornado_."

Seeing a slender column of dust rising up to the clouds, I had, at first
sight, formed the same idea as my son. It was, in fact, nothing but a
whirlwind of dust, which disappeared soon afterwards.

"There is no wind," observed Lucien; "how is it that the dust rises so
high?"

[Illustration: "The sand rose rapidly, whirling round and round."]

"There is every cause for wonder," I replied, "for no _savant_ has yet
explained the real cause of this phenomenon."

"If we happened to be caught in one of these whirlwinds would it carry
us away?"

"No, Chanito," replied the Indian, "it would be content with throwing us
down."

"Then you've had some experience of them?"

"Yes; when I used to play with the children in our village, and a
_tornado_ came within reach, we were always delighted to run through
it."

About a hundred paces from us, although there was not the slightest
breeze in the air, the sand rose rapidly, whirling round and round. The
rotation did not extend over a space of more than a few feet. There was
no apparent cause for it, and the phenomenon ceased as unaccountably as
it commenc