he back of his mind was the growing
suspicion that he knew.

"After your--accident," said Fenwick, "I went back to the farm with
Ellerbee and Sam because I'd left my car there. I went back to bed to
try to get some more shut-eye, but the storm had started up again and
kept me awake. Just before dawn a terrific bolt of lightning seemed to
strike Sam's silo. Later, Jim went out to check on his cows and help his
man finish up the milking.

"By mid-morning we hadn't heard anything from Sam and decided to go over
and talk to him about what we'd seen him do for you. I guess it was
eleven by the time we got there."

[Illustration: ... _Lightning doesn't strike up from inside a silo!
That's something else_ ...]

Jim Ellerbee nodded agreement.

"When we got there," Fenwick went on, "we saw that the front door of the
house was open as if the storm had blown it in. We called Sam, but he
didn't answer, so we went on in. Things were a mess. We thought it was
because of the storm, but then we saw that drawers and shelves seemed to
have been opened hastily and cleaned out. Some things had been dropped
on the floor, but most of the stuff was just gone.

"It was that way all through the house. Sam's bed hadn't been disturbed.
He had either not slept in it, or had gone to the trouble of making it
up even though he left the rest of the house in a mess."

"Sounds like the place might have been broken into," said Baker. "Didn't
you notify the sheriff?"

"Not after we'd seen what was outside, in back."

"What was that?"

"We wanted to see the silo after the lightning had struck it. Jim said
he'd always been curious about that silo. It was one of the best in the
county, but Sam never used it. He used a pit.

"When we went out, all the cows were bellowing. They hadn't been milked.
Sam did all his own work. Jim called his own man to come and take care
of Sam's cows. Then we had a close look at the silo. It had split like a
banana peel opening up. It hardly seemed as if a bolt of lightning could
have caused it. We climbed over the broken pieces to look inside. It was
still warm in there. At least six hours after lightning--or whatever had
struck it, the concrete was still warm. The bottom and several feet of
the sides of the silo were covered with a glassy glaze."

"No lightning bolt did that."

"We know that now," said Fenwick. "But I had seen the flash of it
myself. Then I remembered that in my groggy condition that morning
so