Presently a low sound of thunder rolled along the sky. The cloud now loomed high and darkened in the still, hot air.
"It is coming," said Franklin, "and the cloud will be a thunder gust. It is early in the season for such a cloud as that. See how black it grows!"
The kite was made of a large silk handkerchief fastened to a perpendicular stick, on the top of which was a piece of sharpened iron wire. The philosopher examined it carefully.
"What if you should receive a spark from the cloud, father?" asked the young man.
"I would then say lightning was electricity, and that it could be controlled, and that human life might be protected from the thunderbolt."
"But would not that thwart the providence of God?"
"No, it would merely cause a force of Nature to obey its own laws so as to protect life instead of destroying it."
The sky darkened. The sun went out. The sea birds flew inland and screamed. The field birds stood panting on the shrubs with drooping wings.
A rattling thunder peal crossed the sky. The wind began to rise, and to cause the early blasted young fruit to fall in the orchards. The waves on the Delaware curled white.
"Let us go to the cattle-shed," said Father Franklin. "I have been laughed at all my life, and do not care to have my neighbors tell the story of my experiment to others if I should fail."