Part 7 (1/2)
”That doesn't matter. Come away, do, please.”
Not wanting to worry his mother, Jed obeyed. Hardly had he moved back when there came a terrific crash. It was so loud, and sounded so close, that, for a moment, every one in the room was stunned.
”That struck somewhere around here!” cried Mr. Crosby, as soon as the rolling thunder sound had died away.
”I should say so!” added Will. ”You can smell the sulphur.”
There was a noticeable odor in the room, like when an old-fas.h.i.+oned match is lighted.
”Oh, dear! I'm afraid it hit the house!” cried Mrs. Crosby. ”We'll all be killed!”
”If it struck the house we wouldn't be sitting here,” replied Jed. ”We'd be knocked off our chairs. Come on, Will, we'll go see what damage it did.”
Following that one terrible clap the storm seemed to let up a bit, though it rained harder than ever. The two boys, taking heavy coats, from nails in the kitchen, went out. No sooner had they reached the porch than Jed cried:
”It struck our cow barn! The place is on fire! Come on and get the cow out!”
His cry was heard in the sitting-room, and his father and the miner ran out. They did not need to be told what had happened. The cow shed, a small structure, near the barn, but not attached to it, was in flames.
”We must save the cow!” exclaimed Mr. Crosby. ”She's worth fifty dollars!”
The men and boys rushed to the little stable. The lightning had torn out one complete side, and it was burning fiercely in spite of the drenching rain. But one look inside showed Mr. Crosby that more bad luck had come to him. Though the rain had arrived in time to save part of his crops, the lightning had struck the cow, and the poor creature was stretched out dead on the floor of the small stable.
CHAPTER VI
THE GOLD STRIKE
”You can't save that cow, Mr. Crosby!” cried Gabe Harrison. ”Come on, boys, get pails and we'll see if we can't put out the fire! Where's there a well or a cistern?”
”Right over this way,” replied Jed.
”More trouble!” exclaimed Mr. Crosby bitterly, as he saw his property being consumed by the flames, and thought of the dead cow.
Soon the two boys and the old miner had secured buckets and were das.h.i.+ng water on the flames. They might have saved themselves the trouble, however, for there came such a deluge of rain a few minutes later that the fire was extinguished.
”Well, I guess we can't do any more good out here,” observed Mr.
Harrison.
”No, nothing more can burn in this storm,” added Will. ”Lucky it didn't strike the barn.”
”That's so,” agreed Jed. ”This is as close as I want lightning to come to me.”
”It's too bad about your cow, friend Crosby,” spoke the miner, as the four splashed through the water and mud back to the house.
”Indeed it is,” admitted the farmer. ”She was a valuable animal, and supplied us with all our milk and b.u.t.ter. Now I'll have to buy a new one, and I don't see where I'm going to get the money these hard times.”
The boys felt their father's loss keenly, and they wished they could do something to aid him. When they reached the house they found Mrs. Crosby on the verge of hysterics, with her daughter vainly trying to quiet her.