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
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]
Futen, God of the Winds[14]
There, Before the Flood, Stood Anton's House[30]
The Edge of a Tornado's Whirl[38]
In the Path of the Lightning[46]
In the Path of the Tornado[46]
Facing a Climb on Snow-Shoes[56]
Twenty-Five-Foot Drift a Mile Long[56]
Forest Ranger in Idaho[56]
Observer Among the Quaking Aspens[56]
No Peak Too Lofty for a Weather Station[68]
Wall and Upright Sun-Dials[86]
The First Line of Defence Against the Tempest[98]
Solar Halo Seen in the United States[110]
Solar Halo Seen in Russia[110]
The Dust that Makes Red Sunsets[122]
An Army Destroyed by Weather[138]
Types of Upper Clouds[152]
Types of Lower Clouds[152]
Types of Rain Clouds[152]
Kite-Flying—The New Way[162]
Kite-Flying—The Old Way[162]
The Explorer of the Upper Air[172]
Snow-Flakes from the Upper Regions of the Air[186]
Snow-Flakes from the Middle Regions of the Air[186]
Snow-Flakes from the Lower Regions of the Air[186]
Ringing the Frost Alarm[192]
Fighting Frost in an Orchard—Night[206]
Fighting Frost in an Orchard—Dawn[206]
Bucking a Snow-Drift[212]
Clear the Way![212]
Measuring the Blizzard's Rage[224]
Signals on Delaware Breakwater[236]
Signal Tower for Storm Warnings[236]
Thermometers and Rain-Gauge[246]
Pencil Drawings of Tornado in Dakota[256]
True Tornado Forming in Advance of a Dust Whirl[268]
Tornado Dropping Towards Ground[268]
Tornado Wrecking a Farm[276]
Tornado Whirling Sidewise[276]
Galveston Causeway Before and After the Hurricane[286]
Shot from the Gun of a Hurricane[296]
Scale of Winds, Illustrated by Clipper Ships[304]
Branch Lightning and Multiple Flash[314]
Eiffel Tower Struck by Lightning[320]
Lightning Flash Striking Building[320]
Mules Carried in the Air Three Miles from Their Stable[328]
Grand Piano Picked Up by a Tornado and Dropped in a Cow-Pasture[328]