CHAPTER XVII.
CAUGHT IN THE STORM.
"We ought to begin our training for the motor cycle race soon," saidJerry one morning, when he stopped at Ned's house, coming back from thepost-office.
"I guess you're right," Ned assented. "I think a few good long trips onthe road as a starter would be a fine thing. What we need most is anendurance run, for that's what will count in the twenty-five mile racethat we are going to compete in."
"I was thinking of that myself," Jerry remarked. "What would you say toa pretty long trip, say one hundred miles? We could run to Huntsville,which is about sixty miles from here as I figure it, stay there allnight, and come back the next day. That would give us good practice."
"Sounds as if it might do," was Ned's opinion. "Let's go over and talkto Bob about it."
Eight o'clock the next morning saw them assembled in Bob's yard, for ithad been agreed to start from his house. The last touches were giventhe machines and, at a signal from Jerry, the trip was begun.
"Where are we going to stop for dinner?" asked Bob, when they had beenriding about an hour.
"There he goes," said Jerry in a pretended complaining voice. "I neverdid see such a fellow! You'd think he was all stomach."
"Why," began Ned soberly, "Jerry and I had about made up our minds thatwe'd go without dinner. It will be good training and you need it youknow, Chunky."
"Oh!" groaned the stout youth. "Oh dear! If I had known that I wouldn'thave come along. I can't go without my dinner."
There was silence for a little while, broken now and again by a deepsigh from Bob. Jerry and Ned had all they could do to keep fromlaughing, but they managed to keep their faces serious.
"Let's speed up a bit," suggested the stout boy, after a time.
"What for?" asked Ned.
"Dinner time will come and pass quicker then," explained the hungry one."Maybe we won't notice it at all. But I surely will be glad when suppertime comes."
"No, we agreed to run slowly," Jerry remarked, "and we must stick to ourplan."
Bob sighed but said nothing. On and on they rode, along pleasanthighways, under big shady trees, up hill and down dale. At last, whenthe sun was almost at the zenith, they came to the top of a hill thatled down into a pretty valley.
In the centre of the vale, which was surrounded on all sides by greenwooded hills, nestled a village.
"That's the town of Montville," said Jerry. "We are half way toHuntsville now."
"Are we going to stop here?" asked Bob, a note of hope coming into hisvoice.
"What for?" inquired Ned, winking at Jerry.
"I--er--thought--er--we--" began Bob.
"Own up! It was dinner you were thinking of, now wasn't it Chunky?"
"Yes, it was," admitted Bob in desperation.
Jerry and Ned laughed outright.
"I don't see anything so very funny," exclaimed Bob, who was not in thebest of humor. "If you had the appetite I have you wouldn't want tolaugh."
By this time the boys had reached the village and were riding throughthe streets. People turned to stare at them, but the chums were used tothat by this time. They steered past a hotel.
"Ah! Um! Doesn't that smell good!" cried Ned, tilting his nose high inthe air and sniffing vigorously. "I'll bet they have ham and eggs!"
"Just what I was wishing for," groaned Bob. "I'm going to have mydinner, training or no training, race or no race," and, with adetermined look he got off his machine.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed Bob's two chums.
"I wondered how much longer we could keep up the joke," Jerry said, whenhe had ceased chuckling. "You were easy, Chunky."
"Then we are going to have dinner?" asked Bob, all his ill humor gone.
"That's just what we are, Chunky, my boy!" exclaimed Jerry. "We wereonly fooling you."
They all sat down to a bountifully spread table a little later, and Nedand Jerry were almost sorry for the anguish they had caused their chum,when they saw, by the quantity of ham and eggs he consumed, how reallyhungry he had been.
Dinner over, the three boys sat about on the hotel piazza for an hour.They were plied with questions as to the working of their machines byabout a score of boys and youths who had gathered to see the motorsoperated, Jerry kindly went into details and entertained the littleaudience for some time.
"Well, I think we'd better be going," said Jerry to his chums at length."It's two o'clock and we can just about reach Huntsville by night."
"You're goin' t' git ketched in a storm," said the hotel keeper.
"Think so?" inquired Jerry.
"I know it." The man pointed to where a bank of dark clouds wereaccumulating in the west. "Thunder storm coming as sure as guns is guns."
"Well, we'll ride on, and if we have to take to shelter I guess wecan find it," Jerry said. "We don't mind a little rain. We're out forpractice."
"Well, good luck to ye," called the hotel man after the three boys, asthey rode down the village street. "Stop in agin when ye're in thisdirection."
For a time it seemed as if the prediction of the storm was not going tobe verified. The bank of clouds grew no larger, and the sun still shone.The boys speeded up a bit as they struck a stretch of good road.
"Hark! What was that?" asked Ned.
"Sounded like thunder," replied Jerry.
There was no doubt of it a minute later, for the distant rumble of thesky-artillery could easily be distinguished. The wind, which had diedaway, began to blow stronger, and the clouds spread over the heavens andwere blacker.
"It won't break for half an hour," was Ned's opinion. "We can ride onthrough a little rain, but if it gets too bad we can turn into somebarn."
In less than fifteen minutes the first drops splashed down. The rumbleof thunder grew louder, and there were vivid spurts and tongues oflightning leaping across the black vapor masses.
Crack! sounded a report so loud that it seemed as if lightning hadstruck near by. For a moment there was no apparent increase in the furyof the storm. Then came a flash so bright that it seemed as if the wholeheavens had been lighted up. It was followed by a terrifying crash thatfairly shook the earth, and then came a deluge of water that almost hidthe three boys one from another as it poured down from the clouds.
"We'd better get out of this!" cried Jerry. "It seems to be gettingworse. Put on full speed! I saw a house a little way ahead. We'll stopthere until this is over!"
Ned and Bob could just hear Jerry through the noise the storm made,though the boy was shouting at the top of his voice.
The storm was at its height now. The lightning seemed incessant, andthe thunder claps followed one after the other so closely that it wasa continual roar. The wind was a regular gale, driving the rain withstinging force into the faces of the riders.
"Here we are!" yelled Jerry presently. "Turn in!"
Dimly through the rain Ned and Bob could see their chum steering througha drive-way alongside of a white house on the left of the highway. Theyfollowed him, and soon found themselves in front of a barn, to which thedrive-way led.
"Hurry up inside!" Jerry called. "And bring the machines in with you!"
The motors were stopped and three drenched boys trundled them into theshelter of the barn, the doors of which Jerry had found unlocked, andhad managed to open.
"Whew! This is a storm!" exclaimed Ned, wiping the water from his eyes.
"Storm! I should say so--terrible--fearful! Worst one in twenty-oneyears! Hundreds of people struck! Houses burned! Barns blown over!Awful! Awful! Hello! Bob, Ned and Jerry! Where'd you come from? Glad tosee you--come in--shut the door--get up in the hay and dry off--this isthe worst ever!" and then the voice, that had uttered all this in onebreath stopped, and the three chums who had started in surprise as thetorrent of words began, turned to behold their friend Andy Rush.
"Well, how in the world did you get here?" asked Jerry, taking off hiscap and wringing the water from it.
"On a visit--my Aunt Jane lives here--nice lady--she'll be
glad to seeyou--lots to eat--I'm having a fine time--came out here to feed thehorse--storm came up--I didn't want to get wet--say how'd you get here?"
"The same old Andy," murmured Ned to Bob. "He'll beat the storm forwind."
"We were going to Huntsville on our motors," Jerry explained, "and wegot caught in the deluge. Do you suppose your aunt will mind if we stayhere a while?"
"Not a bit--glad to have you--Whoop! That was a cracker--bet it struckthe house!" cried Andy, as a louder clap of thunder than usual fairlyshook the barn.
Andy ran to the door and peered through a crack in the direction of thehouse.
"Nope, it's all right," he called, in a sort of disappointed tone. "Nodamage done--but say--I'm glad you happened to strike this place--how'sthings in Cresville? I've been here a week--fishing--ridinghorses--milking cows--lots of fun--can't you stay a few days--I know adandy place to fish--catch big suckers--chub--Aunt Jane will give youlots to eat--whoop!"
Andy could not seem to keep still. He hurried around in the barn, and,to give vent to his feelings he crawled up on a high beam, and jumpeddown in a big pile of hay.
The three chums were laughing so they could hardly speak. When theyceased Jerry thanked Andy for the invitation, but said they had madeother plans.
"But you can stay all night," suggested Andy, calming down a bit. "Theroads will be bad after this storm. You can go to Huntsville in themorning. It's only ten miles from here."
The idea appealed to the boys. The storm showed no signs of stopping,and they knew it would be impossible to go on while it lasted. As Andyhad said, they could proceed in the morning, and there was no specialneed of reaching Huntsville anyhow, except that they wanted to carry outthe arrangements they had made, and make a trip of over a hundred miles.
The evening was pleasantly spent in talking, singing and playing games.Andy's uncle wanted the three chums to remain over a day or two, but,though they thanked him for the invitation they decided to push on thenext morning, complete their scheduled trip, and then return home.