The girls jumped out and ran back. They saw Dr. Stanley come out on the porch from his study. He was in his house gown and wore a little black cap to cover his bald spot. It was a little on one side and gave the good clergyman a decidedly rakish appearance.
“Come in here, children! Hurry! It is going to rain,” he called in his full and mellow voice.
“Oh, Doctor! Doctor!” Jessie gasped. “The fire! The fire!”
“Why, you are not wet. Here come the first drops. You don’t need a fire.”
“Nor you don’t need one, Doctor,” and Amy began to laugh. “But you’ve got one just the same.”
“In the kitchen stove. Is it a joke or a conundrum?” 164 asked the smiling minister, as the two chums came up under the porch roof just as the first big drops came thudding down.
“Upstairs! The radio!” declared the earnest Jessie. “Don’t you know it’s afire?”
“The radio afire?”
“The lightning struck it. Didn’t you feel and hear it? The boys must have left the switch to the receiver open, and the lightning came right in––”
“Come on!” broke in Amy, who knew the way about the parsonage as well as she did about her own house. “We saw the smoke pouring out of the window,” and she darted in and started up the front stairway.