in a deluge, but Mrs. Vernon jumped out into the mud to see what had
happened at the rear. Then she, too, gasped.

Both the rails were completely worm-eaten, but how should girls have
known that? They were placed under the car at a dangerous angle for
their future use in the fence, and when the good strong muscles of four
scouts brought their weight upon the rails to lift the car somewhat, the
timber quickly split up and precipitated the four boosters, face
downward, in the mud.

"Oh, dear me! This is the last straw!" moaned Mrs. Vernon.

"No--the last rails!" sputtered Julie, trying to laugh.

"Girls--hold your faces up to the rain and it will wash the mud from
your eyes!" yelled Judith, who waited on the running board for further
developments.

She had hardly spoken when a swift shaft of blinding light and a
deafening crack of thunder sent a panic into every one. They were
stunned for a moment, and then such a howl as went up from nine lusty
throats!

"We're struck!" yelled some.

"Oh, we're killed!" added others, but it took only a second after they
had caught their breaths to pile, willy-nilly, into the cars, where they
huddled until the fright had subsided.

Shortly after the lightning had struck a large tree further up the road,
the rain suddenly stopped and the sun shone out as hot and bright as
ever.

"My! I feel like Pollyanna would," sighed Julie. "'I'm glad, _glad_,
GLAD' we weren't standing under that tree!"

"We can only die once," responded Ruth, sighing as she gazed down at the
flooded road.

"Ruth thinks she'd rather die quickly, than by slow degrees in being
choked in this mud," laughed Julie, catching Ruth's thought.

Every one laughed and that made them feel more cheerful. Then just back
of them came the sound of horses' hoofs and a kindly voice called out,
"Well, well, this is some plight you-all are in, eh?"

They turned and beheld a nice old man sitting astride one plow-horse and
leading a second.

"Reckon you didn't know this was one of the worst roads in the county
when it rains."

Mrs. Vernon explained how it came about that they were there, and the
old man said, "Fortunately, I cut across that field in order to reach
home. I was late and, as this is meeting night, I have to leave home
earlier than usual. Now I can help you pull out, 'cause my team is
pretty powerful."

He hitched his horses to the front of the stalled car, and it was soon
pulled up on higher ground where