“It all comes from meddling with these ’Boy Inventors,’” he growled. “I’ve heard of ’em before. Nobody ever got ’em dead to rights yet.”
Flash! Bang! A blinding flash; an ear-splitting crash! The earth seemed to be suddenly bathed in blue flame, while the air sizzled with crackling electricity. Then came a deafening explosion and a still brighter flash of light.
Jack thought he heard a cry, but before he could make certain he himself toppled over.
A bolt of lightning had struck the old barn, felling also all three actors in the drama at which we have been onlookers.
CHAPTER XVIII.
HEAVEN’S INTERVENTION.
Luckily, Jack had received but a small portion of the electric fluid. It was only a few minutes after the bolt had struck the barn with such a deafening crash and such startling results, that he opened his eyes.
“What on earth has happened?” were his first thoughts. “Where am I? Oh, I know, in that old barn. They threw us in here and by good luck I cut my finger slightly on an old grass hook which had been left on top of the hay. That gave me an idea and I easily cut my bonds by leaning back against its sharp edge and gently sawing.
“Then that gun came flying through the air and I grabbed it up. I guessed that Duke was the only one in the party that had one, and knew it, too, for he had no fear in threatening his two accomplices. Then came that thunderbolt. My! how my head aches and——”
He broke off short. Smoke puffed in his face and the hay behind him broke into a lurid flame. The light showed that the bolt had ripped a hole in the roof of the barn and had then buried itself in the hay not ten feet from where Jack and Tom lay, setting fire to it.