"Gracious, boys!" he exclaimed, "but you certainly gave me a fright. I thought when that bolt hit you that you were going to be annihilated."
"How did it look from below?" asked Jack.
"As if you were enveloped in blue flame. Then suddenly a ball of red fire slid from the ship to the ground——"
"Down the conducting rope," put in Jack.
"And exploded with a loud bang when it struck the ground," continued the doctor. "But all's well that ends well, and now tell me what brings you here, for I know it must be urgent business or you'd never have ventured through such a storm."
Jack hastily told the doctor of his father's stroke. The medical man looked grave.
"I'll go with you just as soon as I can pack my bag," he said. "Your father had been overworking. I warned him of what would happen if he did not rest up, some time ago, but he has, seemingly, disregarded my advice."
In a few minutes the doctor, muffled up in a raincoat, was ready to start. But he stipulated that the run to High Towers should be made by the road.
"I like excitement as well as anybody," he said, "and I've been up in your Wondership before——"
"When it was the Roadracer," interpolated Jack.