As if to corroborate his statement there was a distant rumble.
"Thunder," gasped Jerry breathlessly, for the speed of the machine almost shut off his wind, and like the other boys he was clinging tightly to his seat.
"I felt rain then, too," shouted Herb.
Another rumble, louder than the first, sent thrills down their backs.
"It was the Thunder Bird all right," yelled Fred. "I told you I saw him that day."
"We know where he lives now, though," returned Fly.
But they were dashing through space at such a terrific pace that speech became impossible. Hawke was bending every energy to beat the storm. Already the wind had risen considerably, and he was obliged to concentrate his whole thought on the control of the machine.
"Make for the B. P.," requested Herb. "Dad'll be anxious to know how we come out. We can—"
But the rest of his sentence was lost in a deafening roar, while a flash of lightning split the darkness and revealed, below them, the stretches of pasture belonging to the Bread Pudding ranch.
While they had been obliged to give up when victory was within easy reach, the boys were more pleased than otherwise at the adventurous turn things had taken. The flight by night, so eagerly anticipated, was becoming more exciting than they had expected.