[CHAPTER XXV]
THE STORM
Prancing, and an inclination on the part of the horses to bolt and run, kept the lads and their friends busy for a few moments after the crash. There was no chance for the boys to ask Tinny what he meant by his rather ominous words. But when the reverberations had died away, echoing and reëchoing among the mountain peaks, Jerry spoke up and called above the rush of wind:
“Is this a bad place to be in a storm?”
“There are worse places, only I don’t know ’em,” answered Tinny grimly. “I’d a good bit prefer being on any side of Thunder Mountain but this when the storm really bursts. But we’ll make the best speed we can, and maybe we can get out of the danger zone.”
“What specially makes it so dangerous here?” asked Ned.
Before Tinny could answer there flashed another vivid spear of lightning, followed by a crash louder than the first big one, and again they had to hold their horses in check.
“He said when the storm breaks!” murmured Bob, who was bouncing about on the back of his animal like a cork on troubled waters. “I wonder what he calls this?”
“This isn’t anything—just the beginning,” Tinny answered. “And while I don’t know exactly why this slope of Thunder Mountain is worse than the others, I think it must be because of iron or some metallic ores here more than anywhere else. I know that lightning strikes here oftener than anywhere else. That’s why it has the name Thunder Mountain.”
“Lightning Mountain would be a better name,” said Jerry, as another flash, vivid and menacing, shot across the low-lying clouds.