the electric lights suddenly went out
and the windows rattled ominously. At the same moment each occupant of
the room felt himself sway slightly toward the east wall, on which
appeared a bright yellow glow. Instinctively they all turned to the
window which faced the north. The whole sky was flooded with an
orange-yellow aurora that rivalled the sunlight in intensity.

"What'd I tell you?" mumbled Hood.

The Executive Mansion quivered, and even in that yellow light the faces
of the ambassadors seemed pale with fear. And then as the glow slowly
faded in the north there floated down across the aperture of the window
something soft and fluffy like feathers. Thicker and faster it came
until the lawn of the White House was covered with it. The air in the
room turned cold. Through the window a large flake circled and lit on
the back of Rostoloff's head.

"Snow!" he cried. "A snowstorm--in August!"

The President arose and closed the window. Almost immediately the
electric lights burned up again.

"Now are you satisfied?" cried Liban to the German.

"Satisfied?" growled Von Koenitz. "I have seen plenty of snowstorms in
August. They have them daily in the Alps. You ask me if I am satisfied.
Of what? That earthquakes, the aurora borealis, electrical disturbances,
snowstorms exist--yes. That a mysterious bugaboo is responsible for
these things--no!"

"What, then, do you require?" gasped Liban.

"More than a snowstorm!" retorted the German. "When I was a boy at the
gymnasium we had a thunderstorm with fishes in it. They were everywhere
one stepped, all over the ground. But we did not conclude that Jonah was
giving us a demonstration of his power over the whale."

He faced the others defiantly; in his voice was mockery.

"You may retire, Mr. Hood," said the President. "But you will kindly
wait outside."

"That is an honest man if ever I saw one, Mr. President," announced Sir
John, after the operator had gone out. "I am satisfied that we are in
communication with a human being of practically supernatural powers."

"What, then, shall be done?" inquired Rostoloff anxiously. "The world
will be annihilated!"

"Your Excellencies"--Von Koenitz arose and took up a graceful position
at the end of the table--"I must protest against what seems to me to be
an extraordinary credulity upon the part of all of you. I speak to you
as a rational human being, not as an ambassador. Something has occurred
to affect the earth's orbit. It