"No," Russ answered, "it's because we're under better shelter than we would be in a tent, camping out in the rain. No water can get through this auto top."
"Yes it can, too!" cried Laddie. "I just felt a drop on my nose."
"Oh, that just leaked in around the side curtains," declared Russ, with a laugh. "We'll not get wet; shall we, Captain Ben?"
"I hope not," was the marine's answer, as he got ready to drive the car through the storm. He and Daddy Bunker were on the front seat, with the glass wind shield in front of them, and curtains at the sides, as there were at the back and at the sides near the seat where the children sat.
"You'll have to drive slowly," said Mr. Bunker in a low voice to Captain Ben.
"Yes, we can't make any speed," said the sailor. "The roads are mud puddles already."
Indeed it had rained so hard that in a very short time it seemed as though the automobile was going along through a small brook instead of along a country road. It was very dark, though it was only the middle of the afternoon. But by the lightning flashes, which came every now and then, the four little Bunkers, looking out through the celluloid windows in the side curtains, could see the streams of muddy water rushing along in the middle and on either edge of the country road along which they were traveling.
The thunder, too, boomed out every now and then, a sound at which Laddie and Vi would jump in startled surprise and nestle closer to Russ and Rose. The smaller children were not exactly afraid, but they could not help jumping at the loud sound made by the claps of thunder.
Uncle Ben had to drive the car more and more slowly, for it was slippery on the muddy roads, and he did not want an accident. Finally, after he had to come almost to a standstill where a brook had overflowed the road, Russ and Rose heard their father talking to the soldier-sailor.
"Do you think it is safe to go on?" asked Mr. Bunker.