"This will be a godsend to us farmers," spoke Mr. Crosby, as he came out to see the storm. "It would have been worth a lot more had it come sooner, but it will save part of my crops for me." There was another crash of thunder, and it seemed as if several clouds, right overhead, opened and let out their flood of rain, so fiercely did the big drops dash down. "Nettie, are all the windows shut?" asked Mrs. Crosby of her daughter. "Yes, ma. I looked to 'em when I saw the shower coming up. They're all closed." "Are you sure you shut the one in my bedroom?" "Yep." "I'm afraid you didn't. I'm going to look, and make certain." If there was one worry Mrs. Crosby had, it was that the windows were not shut when a storm came up. She was afraid of the rain coming in, and she was also afraid of lightning, for, like many country women, she believed the electrical current only waited for the chance of darting in an open window to wreak damage. So she hurried off to oversee the work her daughter had said was already done. The storm became worse. The farmer and his two sons, who, with the old miner, were watching it from the side porch, had to go in, as a shift of the wind sent the rain into their shelter. "Now if this will keep up all night, we'll have water enough," commented Mr. Crosby. "Do you need as much as that?" asked Gabe. "Yes, and more too. Half the springs around here are dried up. Our well didn't have much more water in it, and the creek was lower than I ever saw it before." They went inside the house. Mrs. Crosby finished her supervision of the windows, and came into the sitting-room, where the others were gathered. "Jed," she called to her eldest son, "don't sit so close to the window." "Why not?" "You might be struck. Lightning always comes in a window." "But this one is closed." "That doesn't matter. Come away, do, please." Not wanting to worry his mother, Jed obeyed. Hardly had he moved back when there came a terrific crash. It was so loud, and sounded so close, that, for a moment, every one in the room was stunned. "That struck somewhere around here!" cried Mr. Crosby, as soon as the rolling thunder sound had died away. "I should say so!" added Will. "You can smell the sulphur." There was a noticeable odor in the room, like when an old-fashioned match is lighted. "Oh, dear! I'm afraid it hit the house!" cried Mrs. Crosby. "We'll all be killed!" "If it struck the house we wouldn't be sitting here," replied Jed. "We'd be knocked off our chairs. Come on, Will, we'll go see what damage it did." Following that one terrible clap the storm seemed to let up a bit, though it rained harder than ever. The two boys, taking heavy coats, from nails in the kitchen, went out. No sooner had they reached the porch than Jed cried: "It struck our cow barn! The place is on fire! Come on and get the cow out!"