“Looks like you finished jest in time, boss,” Chow commented, after a glance upward.
Soon after nightfall the storm burst in full fury. Americans and Ngombians peered from their tents in awe. Thunder nearly deafened them as rain poured down in sheets.
Fantastic lightning discharges raced toward the hot mud.
“Wow! Regular pillars of fire!” Tom gasped.
Again the darkness was lighted by a series of brilliant flashes. Next moment, the flying bridge came crashing down in ruins!
CHAPTER XVIII
DINOSAUR STAMPEDE
TOM was stunned by the awesome disaster. “All that work for nothing!” he murmured. “And the repelatron gear is probably ruined!”
Bud put his hand on his pal’s shoulder. “Don’t take it too hard, Tom. You built it once-you can build it again.”
The young inventor could only shrug gloomily. Slumping down on his cot, Tom recalled the weird old man and his strange warning. His prophecy had come true in a way Tom had never expected!
There was no way even to inspect the damage in the stormy darkness. Rain continued to lash the tents, while the jungle trees swayed and moaned in the driving gusts. Jagged lightning split the sky, followed by cannonades of thunder. Tom stretched out on his cot. “Hope the patrol’s weathering this storm okay,” he said. “They can go back tomorrow. We won’t need them now that the protective repelatrons are installed.”
151
152 REPELATRON SKYWAY
The storm gradually abated, and by daybreak, when the boys awoke and went outside, the sky was clear. But a fresh shock was in store for them. The wrecked bridge had fractured completely under the fury of the storm and had now sunk without a trace into the hot mud!