Once more we began climbing, and as one of the storms passed within a quarter of a mile or so of us, the machine was shaken with gusts of wind which seemed to be snatching and tearing at our 'planes like invisible giant hands. Continually rising and dodging as we were, it was impossible to escape wholly from such a turmoil, and twice we passed through the tail end of a storm. As we did so, big heavy rain-drops struck the 'planes and wind screen like a cascade of bullets. At 8,000 feet we got above a mighty cloud, stretching as far as one could see, and for nearly twenty minutes we flew above this great expanse of dazzling white--so glaringly bright that it made one's eyes and head ache. And then the engine suddenly stopped, the machine tilted, and a second later we were dropping earthwards like a stone. Right into the heart of the great cloud we sped, where everything grew dark and the rain beat against the machine in a hurricane of fury. The bumps were terrific and at times it became impossible to say whether we were on our heads or our heels. It was too dark to see, too noisy to think, too exciting even to fear. . . . We must have been dropping through this black and unholy turmoil for nearly three or four minutes when suddenly it became light again, a great, ragged opening appeared in the cloud, and the green earth slid up swiftly to meet us. In the glare of the sun I saw Oakley making a last effort to save us; but I knew it was hopeless. I held my breath, waited for the crash, and then let forth a loud cry of joy--for with a last and almost human effort the machine gave a lurch, flattened out and gracefully glided to earth. After a spinning, nose-diving and side-slipping career of over 8,000 feet we had alighted as gently as if our whole object had been to disturb not even a blade of grass. "Well!" I cried to Oakley. "We seem to have landed all right. But, where?" He unfastened his belt, alighted, wiped his forehead, and said: "God knows! It's earth--good, solid earth. And that's all that matters for the moment." I clambered down on this comforting bit of green _terra firma_ and looked heavenwards at the tail end of the departing cloud in which we had spent that agonizing eternity of unrest. "My godfather's trousers!" exclaimed Oakley. "I dunno how we scraped through!" "I don't know how _you_ did! All I could do was to sit tight and wait for the thud." "And I waited for the light--then shoved the nose up and trusted to luck. . . . This looks like a sort of clearing in the middle of a forest."