"Oh, this is dreadful!" cried Jessie, as a particularly bright flash lit up the interior of the automobile. "What if we should be struck!"
"Let us hope that nothing like that happens!" answered Laura. Her face, too, showed her alarm.
"I think I saw some sort of a village ahead," cried Dave, who had been peering intently through the windshield. "I think I saw the white steeple of a church."
"Maybe it's Simpson's Corners," suggested Belle.
"I hope there is a hotel there and a garage," said Dunston Porter. "We'll want to have a chance to dry ourselves and get supper."
"Then you don't think we'll reach Carpen Falls to-night?" questioned Phil.
"I don't know what to think, Phil. Perhaps we may——"
Mr. Porter did not finish what he was saying. Just at that instant came a vivid flash of lightning that nearly blinded them. It was followed by an ear-splitting crash of thunder. Then came another crash closer by, and an instant later Dave and his uncle saw a large tree fall directly toward the roadway in front of them!