"No, nothing more can burn in this storm," added Will. "Lucky it didn't strike the barn."
"That's so," agreed Jed. "This is as close as I want lightning to come to me."
"It's too bad about your cow, friend Crosby," spoke the miner, as the four splashed through the water and mud back to the house.
"Indeed it is," admitted the farmer. "She was a valuable animal, and supplied us with all our milk and butter. Now I'll have to buy a new one, and I don't see where I'm going to get the money these hard times."
The boys felt their father's loss keenly, and they wished they could do something to aid him. When they reached the house they found Mrs. Crosby on the verge of hysterics, with her daughter vainly trying to quiet her.
"Some one is killed! I know there is!" exclaimed the nervous woman. "I'm sure some one is killed!"
"Only the cow, mother," replied Jed. "It might have been worse. We still have the pigs left. They seemed to like this rain, for they're out in the open part of their pen, getting a good soaking."
"Oh, Jed! How can you joke at such a serious time as this?" asked Nettie, reproachfully.
"Might as well joke as cry," answered her brother.
"That's the right view to take of it," put in old Gabe. "Always look on the bright side of things. Of course, it's too bad to lose a valuable cow, but it might have been worse. I had a partner prospecting with me once. He got careless with some dynamite, and it blowed our shanty to pieces. We had narrow escapes. But do you think my partner worried over it? Not a bit. He said he was thinking of building a new shanty, anyhow, and the dynamite blast saved him the trouble of tearing the old one down."