"It pulls hard, though."
"There comes the rain."
"Thunder and lightning too."
Sim had fastened his wooden reel against the door-post, on a hook that was there, but he kept his hand on the string.
"I declare, boys! Feel of that! The string's wet, and it's making a lightning-rod of itself."
Parley and Joe and Bob, and two or three others, felt of it at once.
"Lightning? Why, Sim," said Bob, "I know better than that. I've had an electric shock before."
"That's all it is," said Parley.
"Well," replied Sim, "didn't you ever hear of Dr. Franklin? We're doing just what he did. He discovered electricity with a kite. A wet kite string was the first lightning-rod there ever was in the world."
"Lightning?" exclaimed Bob. "Don't you bring any in here. I won't touch it again."