Midnight came and went, and it must have been toward two o'clock in the
morning when every boy suddenly sat upright, as though a galvanic shock
had passed in and out of every tent.

So it had, for the very earth trembled under them, as a terrific
detonation sounded, just as though a bolt of lightning had struck a
nearby tree. And some of the scouts were ready to declare that the
shock had been accompanied by a brilliant electric flash, that almost
blinded them.

Immediately there began to be an upheaval, as blankets were tossed aside
and the scouts crawled or scrambled from under, uttering all sorts of
exclamations, and apparently too dazed to account for the phenomenon.

They began to swarm out of the tents, and loud were the outcries of
astonishment when they discovered not a cloud as big as a hand in the
starry heavens.




CHAPTER XII

WAS IT A BURSTING METEOR?


"Who hit me?" exclaimed Bobolink, rubbing his eyes as he gained his feet
and looked around at the dimly-seen forms of the other scouts; for the
moon had by now sunk behind the horizon.