rough the now driving rain came flashing larger particles, and one
of more than ordinary size rebounded from that curly pate, sending its
owner hurriedly to shelter beneath the scrubby trees, one hand ruefully
rubbing the injured part.

Faster fell the drops, both of rain and of ice, clattering against the
shanty and its adjoining shed with an uproar audible even above the
sullenly rolling peals of heavy thunder.

The rain descended in perfect sheets for a few minutes, while the
hailstones fell thicker and faster, growing in size as the storm raged,
already beginning to lend those red sands a pearly tinge with their
dancing particles. Now and then an aerial monster would fall, to draw
a wondering cry from the brothers, and on more than one occasion Waldo
risked a cracked crown by dashing forth from shelter to snatch up a
remarkable specimen.

"Talk about your California fruit! what's the matter with good old
Washington Territory?" he cried, tightly clenching one fist and holding
a hailstone alongside by way of comparison. "Look at that, will you?
Isn't it a beauty? See the different shaded rings of white and clear
ice. See--brother, it is as large as my fist!"

But for once Professor Phaeton Featherwit was fairly deaf to the claims
of this, in some respects his favourite nephew, having scuttled back
beneath the shed, where he was busily stowing away sundry articles of
importance into a queerly shaped machine which those rough planks fairly
shielded from the driving storm.

Having performed this duty to his own satisfaction, the professor came
back to where the brothers were standing, viewing with them such of the
storm as could be itemised. That was but little, thanks to the driving
rain, which cut one's vision short at but a few rods, while the
deafening peals of thunder prevented any connected conversation during
those first few minutes.

"Good thing we've got a shelter!" cried Waldo, involuntarily shrinking
as the plank roof was hammered by several mammoth stones of ice. "One of
those chunks of ice would crack a fellow's skull just as easy!"

Yet the next instant he was out in the driving storm, eagerly snatching
at a brace of those frozen marvels, heedless of his own risk or of the
warning shouts sent after him by those cooler-brained comrades.

Thunder crashed in wildest unison with almost blinding sheets of
lightning, the rain and hail falling thicker and heavier than ever for a
few moments; but then, as