When they were about twenty-five miles from home, Patricia gazed anxiously ahead at a bank of dark clouds, rapidly spreading all across the sky. “Afraid we’re going to run into a storm, girls.”
“As long as it isn’t a thunder storm,” began Anne, in a worried tone.
“Safe enough in a car if you keep out from under trees,” commented Katharine.
“Can’t, if you happen to be in the woods,” objected Jane, who was watching the clouds gathering so rapidly.
“We’re not going to be in the woods,” said Patricia. “We’ll strike the storm long before we reach them.”
As she spoke a wave of chill wind swept across the country as the darkness shut down like the cover of a box, and huge hailstones began to bounce off the hood and patter on the top of the car with such force that it seemed as if they must break through.
CHAPTER XIX
A WEIRD EXPERIENCE
“I’ll have to pull off the road and stop for a while,” declared Patricia. “Trying to drive in this is too nerve racking.”
The shoulder was wide and smooth; so she had no difficulty in finding a safe place to park. In fact, almost any place would have been safe, so far as traffic was concerned; for nearly all drivers stopped to await the end of the storm. For three-quarters of an hour the sky was dark, while hailstones, big and little, pelted down covering the ground with an icy white carpet; then they ceased almost as abruptly as they had begun. The sun was trying to break through the clouds when Patricia started the engine and turned out onto the road again.
“We’ll get as far as we can while it’s pleasant,” she said.