There, leaning against the trunk, and watching the house, were Emma, the servant, and a man with a sandy beard.
Even while the doctor was looking, the eyes of the sandy-bearded man were raised, and he saw the men on the roof.
He uttered a cry, and made a step as if to leave his place of observation.
At that instant there came a blinding flash, followed by a deafening clap of thunder.
For a brief time Nick and Abbott were partially stunned.
Nick was the first to recover. He looked toward the tree.
The tree was a wreck from the lightning’s bolt, and beneath its shattered boughs lay two forms—a man and a woman.
They hastened to reach the solid earth, and the task was soon accomplished.
The man and woman under the tree were found, upon examination by the doctor, to be stone dead.
The lightning had done its work effectually.