They felt its soft, gigantic hands all over them; its silky coils of
hair entangled every movement; they heard its wings, its rushing,
sighing voice, its velvet feet. The room was in a whirr and uproar.
"Uncle! Can't _you_ help? You're the biggest!"
"But it's blown me inside out," he answered, in a curiously muffled
voice. "My fingers are blown off. It's taken all my breath away."
The pictures rattled on the wall; loose bits of paper fluttered
everywhere; the curtains flapped out horizontally into the air.
"Catch it! Hold it! Stop it!" cried the breathless voices.
"Join hands," he gasped. "We'll try." And, holding hands, they raced
across the floor. They managed to encircle something with their spread
arms and legs. Into the corner by the door they forced a great, loose,
flowing thing against the wall. Wedged tight together like a fence,
they stooped. They pounced upon it.
"Caught!" shouted Tim. "We've got you!"
There was a laughing whistle in the keyhole just behind them. It was
gone.
The window shook. They heard the wild, high laughter. It was out of
the room. The next minute it passed shouting above the cedar tops and
up into the open sky.
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