t on the ground. The horses screamed in fear,
struggling to pick themselves up. Cole got quickly to his feet.

_Where was he?_

The grayness was gone. White walls stuck up on all sides. A deep light
gleamed down, not daylight but something like it. The team was pulling
the cart on its side, dragging it along, tools and equipment falling
out. Cole righted the cart, leaping up onto the seat.

And for the first time saw the people.

Men, with astonished white faces, in some sort of uniforms. Shouts,
noise and confusion. And a feeling of danger!

Cole headed the team toward the door. Hoofs thundered steel against
steel as they pounded through the doorway, scattering the astonished
men in all directions. He was out in a wide hall. A building, like a
hospital.

The hall divided. More men were coming, spilling from all sides.

Shouting and milling in excitement, like white ants. Something cut
past him, a beam of dark violet. It seared off a corner of the cart,
leaving the wood smoking.

Cole felt fear. He kicked at the terrified horses. They reached a big
door, crashing wildly against it. The door gave--and they were
outside, bright sunlight blinking down on them. For a sickening second
the cart tilted, almost turning over. Then the horses gained speed,
racing across an open field, toward a distant line of green, Cole
holding tightly to the reins.

Behind him the little white-faced men had come out and were standing
in a group, gesturing frantically. He could hear their faint shrill
shouts.

But he had got away. He was safe. He slowed the horses down and began
to breathe again.

The woods were artificial. Some kind of park. But the park was wild
and overgrown. A dense jungle of twisted plants. Everything growing in
confusion.

The park was empty. No one was there. By the position of the sun he
could tell it was either early morning or late afternoon. The smell of
the flowers and grass, the dampness of the leaves, indicated morning.
It had been late afternoon when the tornado had picked him up. And the
sky had been overcast and cloudy.

Cole considered. Clearly, he had been carried a long way. The
hospital, the men with white faces, the odd lighting, the accented
words he had caught--everything indicated he was no longer in
Nebraska--maybe not even in the United States.

Some of his tools had fallen out and gotten lost along the way. Cole
collected everything that remained, sorting them, running his fingers