ies of vast
importance to meteorology and astronomy. He wrote time and again to the
Weather Bureau, begging us to give his hypothesis a trial."

"And didn't you?" asked Fred.

The Forecaster shook his head.

"We couldn't," he answered. "We had no funds for special research and
Dr. Veeder's ideas were so far ahead of his time that, then, they seemed
visionary. Now, twenty years later, when a great deal of similar work
has been done in Europe and in this country, we see that Dr. Veeder was
a real pioneer, although, of course, many of his conclusions are still
doubtful. Yet, in poverty, in discouragement, in the turmoil of a busy
life, he continued his work for fifteen years, then reluctantly
abandoned it, despairing of support and opportunity. Yet he leaves a
debt that science can never repay. Such men may be everywhere; one of
you boys may be the meteorologist of the coming generation. Veeder may
be dead but his work lives after him."

The Weather expert picked up the great glass crystal which Monroe had
replaced upon the ground.

"We will go on with Veeder's work ourselves," he repeated, "so far as we
can. Veeder showed us that sun-spots and changes in the sun are closely
followed by changes on the earth, and he suggested that this is caused
by some agency other than heat. From that we shall go on. Let us do some
sun-study. It is symbolic, to me, that a crystal once used for the
superstition of crystal-gazing, should become a tool for scientific
research."

He raised the crystal to shoulder height.

"Here's to Veeder!" he shouted. "And to Dan'l!"

The cheers were given with a vim.

Interesting as the work of the League had been to the boys during its
first summer, when all were learning of the ways to read the weather,
this second summer became tenfold more exciting, when every lad realized
that he was part of a group striving to advance along the lines laid
down by Veeder. The money which Jed Tighe handed over to the League as
its fair share of having saved his fruit crop, was spent in the purchase
of a telescope for studying the sun and for various other scientific
instruments, and, as the Forecaster had foretold, Issaquena County began
to take its place as one of the most efficiently organized
meteorological regions of the United States.

The summer was passing on. The year and a half that had elapsed since
the flood, a year and a half of constant association with the
Forecaster, and still more, of const