He saw the last flare of the distant lightning, and he listened to the falling of the rain drops until they vanished with the vanishing wind, leaving the forest still and without noise.
Tom was several years older than any of the others, and, although powerful in action, he was singularly chary of speech.

Henry was the leader, but somehow Tom looked upon himself as a watcher over the other four, a sort of elder brother.

As the moon came out a little in the wake of the retreating clouds, he regarded them affectionately.
"One, two, three, four, five," he murmured to himself.

"We're all here, an' Henry come fur us.

That is shorely the greatest boy the world hez ever seed.