r the front seat of the touring-car.

"Anybody hurt?" questioned Dunston Porter quickly, as soon as the shock
had come to an end.

"I--I--think I am all right, Uncle Dunston," panted Laura. "But dear me!
wasn't it awful?"

"I thought I was going to fly right over Dave's head," wailed Jessie,
who had come up behind the youth with a great thump. "Oh, Dave, did I
hurt you?"

"Knocked a little of the wind out of me, Jessie; that's all," he
answered. "But I won't mind that if only you are not hurt."

"Say, that was some stop, believe me!" was Phil's grim comment, as he
managed to straighten up and look ahead. "Stuffed mackerel! what did we
try to do, Dave--climb a tree?"

"No. We tried to take a running jump and go over it," replied Roger,
with a faint attempt at humor.

"Sound the horn, Dave, as loudly as you can!" cried his uncle, quickly.
"We must warn the others." And thus admonished, Dave put his finger on
the button of the electric horn and held it down for some time. Looking
backward, those in the Wadsworth car soon saw the Basswood machine come
into sight and then slow down. The heavy clap of thunder was now
followed by another fierce downfall of rain, while the sky grew blacker
than ever. In the midst of this outburst the second touring-car came
slowly forward.

"Did the lightning strike you?" yelled Ben.

"No. But we had a close call of it," answered Mr. Porter. "It hit this
tree when we were less than one hundred and fifty feet away. Then the
tree came down as you see, and we ploughed right into it."

"Phew! That's some escape!" was Mr. Basswood's comment. "Anything
broken?"

"We don't know yet," answered Dave.

He alighted from the car, and his uncle did likewise. An examination
showed that one of the mudguards in front had been badly bent, and that
a headlight had snapped off, but beyond this, and the windshield, the
big touring-car seemed to be undamaged.

"I'm thankful it's no worse," remarked Dunston Porter.

"It's too bad the light had to go," returned Dave. "It will make running
at night rather dangerous until we can get it fixed."

"Oh, let us be thankful that no one was hurt!" cried Laura.

While Dave and his uncle had been examining the car, Mr. Basswood and
the others had been looking for some way around the tree, which covered
the roadway completely.

"I think I see a path through yonder trees," said Ben, pointing to his
left. "The ground seems to be pretty good there, and I think