.
It was a sultry, thunderous night, and at last he rose, opened the
window, and stood to gaze out at the flashing lightning as it played
about a ridge of clouds in the east.

"Can't you sleep?" said Norman, in a whisper.

"No; come here. It's so jolly and cool."

There was a faint rustling sound in the darkness, and the next minute
Norman was by his brother's side, enjoying the soft, comparatively cool,
night air.

"Lovely," he said; and then they both stood gazing at the lightning,
which made the clouds look like a chain of mountains, about whose
summits the electricity played.

All at once there was a dull, low, muttering sound, apparently at a
distance.

"Thunder," said Norman. "We're going to have a storm."

"Good job," replied Rifle, in the same low tone as that adopted by his
brother. "Things were getting precious dry."

There was a long pause, and the lightning grew nearer and the flashes
more vivid. Then, all of a sudden as the same peculiar sound was heard,
Rifle whispered:

"I say, Man; that isn't thunder."

"No," was the reply. "I was just thinking so. Sounds to me like a
horse galloping."

"Of course it does. I say, it isn't the colt, is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Our colt gone mad, and galloping about all night so as to make himself
look bad to-morrow morning."

"Rubbish!"

"But it does come from the paddock."

"Yes; it does come from the paddock," said Norman, after a pause.

"And no mistake about it. Only one horse too."

"It's very strange," said Norman; "let's go and see."

"What, in the middle of the night, like this? Father would hear us and
take us for black fellows."

"We could drop quietly out of the window. Why, Rifle, you're right;
there is a horse galloping in the paddock. Let's dress and go."

"Shall we call father and tell him first?"

"No; because we might be wrong. Let's go and see first. A 'possum must
have got on the horse's back and be scaring him into this gallop. Look
sharp."

The boys soon had on their flannel shirts and trousers, generally their
every-day costume, and after satisfying themselves that Tim was fast
asleep, they squeezed themselves out of the window and dropped one after
the other, and then hurried along in the thick darkness, across the
garden, past the storehouse, and then along under the shelter of the
fences till, perfectly satisfied now, they neared the corner of the
paddock, just as a horse galloped by at full speed.