“Boy,” he gasped, “that’s wonderful! Some rain!”
“You just naturally crazy?” Teddy asked. “Wow! There goes a Big Bertha!”
A blinding flash was followed almost immediately by a crash of thunder. The bolt had struck near by.
“Them mules tied tight?” Silent yelled.
“Yep. They can’t get away without pullin’ the trees with ’em!” Nick shouted in answer. “Baby, listen at it!”
The wind swept through the woods fiercely, bending the branches toward the ground. The lightning was continual, enabling the wayfarers to see, a little distance from them, the animals crowding together for mutual protection. The horses’ pride was forgotten in the stress of the moment, and they fraternized with the mules.
“If Pop were here now, he’d call this a gentle shower, I suppose,” Teddy remarked. “Thank goodness we brought these coats! We’d be drowned without ’em. Even as it is, I’m no arid desert myself.”
The ground was gradually turning to a swamp beneath their feet, and Nick groaned when he thought of his lost rest.
“Somethin’ terrible,” he muttered. “Me, I’m delicate! Need the best of attention an’ regular sleep. My pop always told me—”
Roy, who was standing near him, seized him by the arm.