第56章 Chapter XXXIV(1)
A heavy storm came on soon after they had retired to rest; the lightning was so vivid that its flashes penetrated through the chinks of the door and windows, and the thunder burst upon them with a noise which prevented them obtaining any sleep. The children cried and trembled as they lay in the arms of Mrs. Seagrave and Juno, who were almost as much alarmed themselves.
"This is very awful," said Mr. Seagrave to Ready, for they had both risen from their beds.
"It is indeed, sir; I never knew a more terrible storm than this."
"Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Mr. Seagrave.
As he spoke, they were both thrown back half-stunned; a crash of thunder burst over the house, which shook everything in it; a sulphurous smell pervaded the building, and soon afterwards, when they recovered their feet, they perceived that the house was full of smoke, and they heard the wailing of the women and the shrieks of the children in the bed-places on the other side.
"God have mercy on us!" exclaimed Ready, who was the first to recover himself, and who now attempted to ascertain the injury which had been done: "the lightning has struck us, and I fear that the house is on fire somewhere."
"My wife - my children!" exclaimed Mr. Seagrave; "are they all safe?"
"Yes, yes!" cried Mrs. Seagrave, "all safe; Tommy has come to me; but where is Juno? Juno!"
Juno answered not. William darted to the other side of the house, and found Juno lying on her side, motionless.
"She is dead, father," cried William.
"Help me to carry her out of the house, Mr. Seagrave," said Ready, who had lifted up the poor girl; "she may be only stunned."
They carried Juno out of the house, and laid her on the ground; the rain poured down in torrents.
Ready left them for a minute, to ascertain if the house was on fire; he found that it had been in flames at the further corner, but the rain had extinguished it. He then went back to Mr. Seagrave and William, who were with Juno.
"I will attend to the girl, sir," said Ready; "go you and Master William into the house; Mrs. Seagrave will be too much frightened if she is left alone at such an awful time. See, sir! Juno is not dead - her chest heaves - she will come to very soon; thank God for it!"
William and Mr. Seagrave returned to the house; they found Mrs.
Seagrave fainting with anxiety and fear. The information they brought, that Juno was not killed by the lightning, did much to restore her.
William soothed little Albert, and Tommy in a few minutes was fast asleep again in his father's arms. The storm now abated, and as the day began to break, Ready appeared with Juno, who was sufficiently recovered to he able to walk in with his support; she was put into her bed, and then Ready and Mr. Seagrave went to examine if further mischief had been done. The lightning had come in at the further end of the house, at the part where the fireplace was intended to have been made.
"We have been most mercifully preserved," said Mr. Seagrave.
"Yes, sir, thanks be to God for all his goodness," replied Ready.
"I think we have a large roll of copper wire, Ready; have we not?" said Mr. Seagrave.
"Yes, sir, I was just thinking of it myself; we will have a lightning-conductor up the first thing."
It was now broad daylight. Mrs. Seagrave dressed herself and the children, and as soon as she was ready, Mr. Seagrave read such portions of the Psalms as were appropriate, and they earnestly joined in a prayer of thankfulness and humility. William went out to prepare the breakfast, and Ready procured the coil of copper wire from those stores which were stowed under the bed-places. This he unrolled, and stretched it out straight, and then went for the ladder, which was at the outhouse they had commenced building. As soon as breakfast was over, Ready and Mr. Seagrave went out again to fix up the lightning-conductor, leaving William to do the work of Juno, who still remained fast asleep in her bed.
"I think," said Ready, "that one of those two trees which are close together will suit the best; they are not too near the house, and yet quite near enough for the wire to attract the lightning."
"I agree with you, Ready; but we must not leave both standing."
"No, sir, but we shall require them both to get up and fix the wire; after that we will cut down the other."
Ready put his ladder against one of the trees, and, taking with him the hammer and a bag of large spike-nails, drove one of the nails into the trunk of the tree till it was deep enough in to bear his weight; he then drove in another above it, and so he continued to do, standing upon one of them while he drove in another above, till he had reached the top of the tree, close to the boughs; he then descended, and, leaving the hammer behind him, took up a saw and small axe, and in about ten minutes he had cut off the head of the cocoa-nut tree, which remained a tall, bare pole.
"Take care, Ready, how you come down," said Mr. Seagrave anxiously.
"Never fear, sir," replied Ready; "I'm not so young as I was, but I have been too often at the mast-head, much higher than this."
Ready came down again, and then cut down a small pole, to fix with a thick piece of pointed wire at the top of it, on the head of the cocoa-nut tree. He then went up, lashed the small pole to the head of the tree, made the end of the copper wire fast to the pointed wire, and then he descended. The other tree near to it was then cut down, and the lower end of the wire buried in the ground at the bottom of the tree on which the lightning-conductor had been fixed.
"That's a good job done, sir," said Ready, wiping his face, for he was warm with the work.
"Yes," replied Mr. Seagrave; "and we must put up another near the outhouse, or we may lose our stores."
"Very true, sir."
"You understand this, William, don't you?" said his father.
"O yes, papa; lightning is attracted by metal, and will now strike the point instead of the house, run down the wire, and only tear up the ground below."
"It's coming on again, sir, as thick as ever," observed the old man;
"we shall do no work to-day, I'm afraid. I'll just go and see where the stock are."