"There is no wind," observed Lucien; "how is it that the dust rises so high?" [Illustration: "The sand rose rapidly, whirling round and round."] "There is every cause for wonder," I replied, "for no _savant_ has yet explained the real cause of this phenomenon." "If we happened to be caught in one of these whirlwinds would it carry us away?" "No, Chanito," replied the Indian, "it would be content with throwing us down." "Then you've had some experience of them?" "Yes; when I used to play with the children in our village, and a _tornado_ came within reach, we were always delighted to run through it." About a hundred paces from us, although there was not the slightest breeze in the air, the sand rose rapidly, whirling round and round. The rotation did not extend over a space of more than a few feet. There was no apparent cause for it, and the phenomenon ceased as unaccountably as it commenced. Lucien was of course dying with anxiety to run through one of these _tornadoes_; but all that we saw were quite beyond reach. "I think," said Sumichrast, addressing me, "when it is thoroughly studied on the great plains of Mexico, we shall be able to explain the cause of this phenomenon. In a general point of view, these whirlwinds are nothing but water-spouts in miniature." "A water-spout!" asked Lucien; "what is that?" "It is a natural phenomenon very like what you have just witnessed; but it is of a far more formidable character, for it destroys every thing it comes in contact with!" "Did you ever see one, papa?" "Only once, at sea. The English steamer on which I had embarked had just left the port of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, and we were still coasting the island; there was but a slight breeze blowing, the sky was clear, and the water rippled with miniature waves, when, all of a sudden, a large tract of the sea ahead of us was violently agitated. An enormous column of water rapidly rose, and formed something like a dark and terrible-looking column. After about a quarter of an hour, the fearful phenomenon, which fortunately had kept on moving before us, remained stationary. The volume, incessantly swelling, assumed a dark-blue shade, while the column of water, which appeared to feed a cloud, was of a gray color. A dull roaring noise like that of distant thunder suddenly occurred. The column broke in the middle, and the greater portion of the liquid fell into the sea with a tremendous shock; but the upper portion sprinkled us with a heavy shower. Half an hour afterwards we were sailing under a cloudless sky and over an unruffled ocean." "And what would have happened if the water-spout had reached the ship?" "We should most likely have been swamped." "How dreadfully frightened you must have been, Tatita!" "Yes, of course; and I was not the only one who was in terror; for the officers and sailors watched the course of the water-spout with evident anxiety."