“You folks are the only party I’ve seen in my sector in weeks.”
“Good. And now I’d suggest that we all get to bed for what’s left of the night. Tomorrow will be a rough day.” He glanced at their packs piled up in the middle of the room. “There’s plenty of room for us to spread our sleeping bags on the floor.”
“You can take my bunk, sir,” the ranger said quickly.
Russ smiled. “That’s mighty generous of you, Dick, but I wouldn’t hear of it. I’ve imposed on you enough for one night.”
When his four guests were settled in their bedrolls, the ranger turned out the lights and scanned the surrounding woods carefully from all four windows.
“I guess it’ll keep till morning,” he said wearily, as he stretched out on his bunk.
Just before he fell off to sleep, Sandy was aware of a tremendous luminous flash in the sky to the northwest. “Heat lightning,” he heard the ranger mumble, but he was too exhausted to worry about it.
CHAPTER FIVE
Lightning Strikes
The storm hit with the suddenness and impact of an earthquake at 6:00 A.M. An ear-splitting crash sent the five sleepers jerking up like jack-in-the-boxes. On all sides of the tower the sky was alive with jagged streaks of lightning. The thunder rolled through the air in continuous waves, shaking the earth. The tower creaked and trembled violently. Sandy saw a pair of binoculars on the table dance crazily over the edge and crash to the floor.
Dick Fellows leaped out of his bunk in T-shirt and shorts and swept the other instruments off the table. “A couple of you up here!” he shouted. “The rest of you pile onto chairs or my bunk. Insulated glass legs. Save your life if the tower’s hit. Keep your feet off the floor.”