wn, there was quite a crowd
of boys behind Sim, as he stood a little inside, and watched his kite.
His reel was almost empty now, and the big kite looked a good deal
smaller than when it started.

"How steady it is!"

"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."

"Did lightning ever strike anybody when he was flying a kite?" asked
Joe.

"Not that I ever heard of," said Sim. "But it's beginning to pour hard.
I'll reel in my kite till the storm's over."

He unhooked his reel as he spoke, but it was well he took a good strong
hold of it. The wind must have been blowing a gale up where the kite
was, and the string was a very strong one for its size.

"I declare! Why--"

But the next the boys knew, Sim Vedder was out in the rain, with that
kite tugging at him. He would not let go, and he could not stop himself,
and the sloping pasture before him was all down hill. On he went, faster
and faster, till his foot slipped, and down he went full length. He held
on, though, like a good fellow, and there he lay in the wet grass, with
the rain pouring upon him, tugging his best at his big kite.

The wind lulled a little, and Sim began to work his reel. Slowly at
first, then faster; and about the time the rain stopped, the wind almost
died out, and the wonderful kite came in.

"There isn't a stick of it broken," said Sim, triumphantly, "nor a
fore-band. That's because they were made right, and put on so they all
help each other."

"Oh, but ain't you wet!" exclaimed three or four boys at once.

Well, yes; he was, indeed, very wet.

TWO NARROW ESCAPES.

BY UNCLE NED.

One evening last winter the children called upon their uncle Ned, who is
a sailor, and just home from India