Page:Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers.djvu/145

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THE LANDSLIDE
135

"The ghost again! There's our friend in white!"

The others looked, and saw the same weird figure that had menaced them when they were encamped on the other side of the peak.

"They must have followed us," said Mr. Jenks, in a low voice.

Slowly the figure advanced. It waved the long white arms, as if in warning. At times it would be only dimly visible in the blackness, then, suddenly it would stand out in bold relief as a great flash of fire split the clouds.

The thunder, meanwhile, had been growing louder and sharper, indicating the nearer approach of the storm. Each lightning flash was followed in a second or two, by a terrific clap. Still there was no wind nor rain, and the campfire burned steadily.

All at once there was a crash as if the very mountain had split asunder, and the adventurers saw a great ball of purple-bluish fire shoot down, as if from some cloud, and strike against the side of the crag, not a hundred feet from where stood the ghostly figure in white.

"That was a bad one," cried Mr. Damon, shouting so as to be heard above the echoes of the thunderclap.

Almost as he spoke there came another ex-