He stopped at the doorway and might have said more, if Fogg had not requested him to come on in and close the door.
“This is the last plate I exposed, and I’m going to try it first,” said Fogg, as he made his preparations.
Fogg was an enthusiast on the subject of photography, and had long desired to catch a lightning flash with his camera.
“If I haven’t got it now I’ll never have a better chance. That flash, just before the dam broke—wasn’t it great? The whole sky flamed in a way to blind a fellow. For a second or so I couldn’t see a thing. I had the camera focussed and pointed just right to get that in great shape, it seems to me. Now we’ll see the result.”
He placed the plate in the tray and turned the developer on it. Justin and Lucy were standing together, with heads almost touching, watching with interest to see the picture appear.
“I’ve got something, anyhow,” said Fogg, when he saw the streak which the lightning had printed stand out, as it were, on the plate. “I think I’ve got a picture of the dam, too. The camera was trained on the mountain, right across the top of the dam; I thought if I got the lightning I might have a great combination, with the dam and other things showing.”
“You’ve got the lightning flash all right,” said Justin, bending forward.
“Yes, that’s coming out great; see the image develop!”
He stopped, with a whistle of astonishment.
“Hello!” he exclaimed. “What’s this?”