He and the children looked at the queer blue fire that seemed to come
from inside the rock. What could it mean?
CHAPTER XX
THE HAPPY TRAMP
Grandpa Martin stood looking down at the queer, burning rock. The blue
fire was flaming up brighter now, and it made a strange light on the
faces of the Curlytops and Hal as they gathered about. The sky was
cloudy and it was getting dark.
"Oh, what is it? What is it?" asked Ted and Jan.
"It smells just like old-fashioned sulphur matches that my grandmother
used to light," said Nora, who had come out, having seen the queer
light from the cook-tent.
"And it _is_ sulphur that is burning," said Grandpa Martin. "That rock
has sulphur in it, not gold, Hal. And it is the sulphur that is
burning with the blue fire."
"But what makes it?" asked the children.
Grandpa Martin did not answer for a few seconds. He stood again
looking down at the flaming blue rock. Mrs. Martin, who had started to
put Trouble to bed early, came out and looked.
"It's like something I once saw in the theater," said the maid. "I
don't like it--that blue light. It reminds me of the time our house
was struck by lightning--that sulphur smell."
"It is the same smell," said Mr. Martin. "Curlytops, I think you have
found something very queer in this blue rock. I don't know just what
it is, but we'll find out.
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