could not
keep out the wailing shriek of the wind, nor the hissing of the rain,
which flashed like a continuous cutting blade of steel past the windows.
The hurricane wing could not rock, it was too low and solidly planted
for that, but it trembled in the impact.

After a couple of minutes came a lull, and Stuart's ears were filled
with the cries and howling of the frightened negroes, not a sound of
which had been audible during the squall. The scientist continued his
talk in an even voice, as peacefully as though he were in his study.

"You asked what could set the skies a-twist. I told you, the earth's
rotation. For, Stuart, you must remember that a hurricane is not a small
thing. This heated region of the air of which we have been speaking,
with its outer belt of cooler air, and the descending warm air beyond,
is a region certainly not less than five hundred miles in diameter and
may be a great deal more.

"Now, the air, as you know, is held to the earth's surface by
gravitation, but, being gaseous, it is not held as closely as if it were
in a solid state. Also, there is centrifugal force to be considered.
Also the fact that the earth is not round, but flattened at the poles.
Also the important fact that air at the equator is more heated than at
the Polar regions. All these things together keep the air in a constant
commotion. The combined effect of these, in the northern hemisphere, is
that air moving along the surface of the earth is deflected to the
right. Thus in the case we are considering, the lower currents,
approaching the heated center, do not come in equally from all
directions, but are compelled to approach in spirals. This spiral action
once begun increases, of itself, in power and velocity. This is a
hurricane in its baby stage."

Another squall struck.

Speech again became impossible. As before, sheets of water--which bore
no relation to rain, but seemed rather as though the earth were at the
foot of a waterfall from which a river was leaping from on high--were
hurled over the land. The shrieking of the wind had a wild and maniacal
sound, the sound which Jamaicans have christened "the hell-cackle of a
hurricane." This squall lasted longer, five minutes or more, and when it
passed, the wind dropped somewhat, but did not die down. It raged
furiously, its shriek dropped to a sullen and menacing roar.

"Such a hurricane as this," the "Ol' Doc" continued, "has taken many
days to brew. Day after day th