“Wa’al, I’ll be gum-swizzled!” exclaimed the farmer.  “What’s this, anyhow?  Auto-mobiles?  As I live!  Wa’al, I swan t’ goodness!  An’ gals a-drivin’ of ’em!  Ho! ho!  Wa’al, that’s what I call rich—­yes, sir, rich!”

A fringe of curious haymakers gathered behind the one who had entered first.

“We only came in out of the rain,” explained Cora, who was looking her prettiest in the confusion.  “We hope we’re not in the way.”

“Oh, you’re welcome,” the man hastened to say.  “As welcome as—­wa’al, a heap sight more welcome than this thunderstorm is.  We calcalated t’ git all th’ hay in, but we didn’t quite make out.  We’ve got lots of room here, you see.  There ain’t another barn in all Woodbine that’d take a locomotive like that in it,” and he walked around Cora’s big car, eying it curiously.

“I knew you had a big barn,” said Cora.  “I saw it the other day; then, when the storm came, I remembered it, and so we intruded here.”

“’Tain’t no intrusion, nohow,” declared the farmer.  “I’m mighty glad of a chance t’ git a look at them things close by, when they ain’t movin’ like a blue streak.  My gal is jest daffy about ’em.  She thinks it would be handy fer her an’ me, but I ruther guess she’d git th’ most rides outer it.”

“They are very convenient when you want to get somewhere in a hurry,” ventured Bess, who thought it time to come to Cora’s aid in keeping up the conversation.

“Yes, I expect so; but you see th’ trouble on a farm is that you ain’t got much of any time t’ go anywhere.  Now, ef I had a machine like thet—­”

There came such a sharp crash of thunder and such a blinding flash of lightning simultaneously that the farmer’s voice was silenced, and every one jumped.

“Oh, isn’t that awful!” fairly screamed Belle, and instinctively she ran to the side of the tall, lanky man.

“Guess you’re used t’ bein’ near yer pa in a thunderstorm,” observed the farmer with a chuckle.

“I thought the barn was struck,” said the girl with a shudder.  “It would be terrible if it got on fire, with all this hay in it.”

“That’s what it would; but we’re not worryin so much since we got th’ new fire apparatus.  We’ve had th’ two hose carts for about three weeks now, an’ though we’ve practiced with ’em we ain’t never had no real fire.  We’ve got a good water system, with high pressure, an’ they can pump more when they need it.  All we have t’ do is run with those carts t’ th’ fire, an’ attach th’ hose t’ th’ hydrants.  But th’ funny part of it is that th’ carts is so heavy they need hosses t’ pull ’em, and we ain’t got no reg’lar hosses yet.  Have t’ pull ‘em by hand, I expect, an’ it’s goin’ t’ be hard work.”

“Do you belong to the department?” asked Cora.

“You’re right, I do.”

“And is that part of your uniform?” she went on, pointing to some rubber coats and fire hats that hung on the side of the barn.