"Yes, that's what I was thinking," Smithy added, as he let go Allan's arm, which he must have unconsciously gripped in his sudden fright; "what if we had run to that end of the cabin, things would look somewhat different right now."

"Ugh! guess that's right," Giraffe admitted; "and for one I ain't goin'

to make any more complaint. But what under the sun was it hit us?"

"A big rock must have dropped down from the side of the mountain, and tore out the end of the old cabin," Thad explained. "It came on this night of all nights, just when we happened to be camped here. And the cabin has stood unharmed for as much as thirty years, Bob White says."

"I call that queer, now," said b.u.mpus.

"It's more than that, b.u.mpus," Smithy remarked, in his most mysterious manner; "I'd call it highly significant, if you asked my opinion."

"Wow! listen to that, would you?" exclaimed Step Hen, shuddering again.

"He means that the rock was smashed down by somebody who wanted to chase us out of this region. And that must be our old friend, Phin Dady, the moonshiner!"

Thad bent down, and proceeded to light a handy little lantern which one of the boys had carried for emergencies.

"I'm going to take a look out, and see what struck us," he remarked.

"Be careful, Thad," warned Allan; "another rock might follow the first."

"And if you hear the least suspicious sound, jump for all that's out,"

added b.u.mpus, ready to admire the nerve of one who could face danger so readily, even though not capable of imitating Thad's example himself.

"Oh! I reckon there's little chance of anything like that happening,"

the other sent back, with a little laugh, as though he wanted to cheer his chums up; "you know, they say lightning never strikes in the same place twice. It's taken thirty years for a rock to hit this cabin, though plenty must have slid down the side of the mountain in that time.

Be back in a jiffy, boys."

With that he stepped out of the door, which had been burst open when the log structure received such a terrific jolt. The other boys cl.u.s.tered there by the revived fire, exchanging views, and waiting for the return of those who had gone outside; for Bob White had silently followed Thad, as though he felt that since it was through his invitation that the scouts were placed in this predicament, he ought to do everything in his power to ease the strain.

When they entered again in less than ten minutes, of course a bombardment of eager questions saluted them.

"Slow up, fellows," Thad said, laughingly. "If I tried to answer you all, I'd be apt to get my tongue twisted some, and that's a fact. Yes, it _was_ a rock that did the damage, just as we guessed. It rolled down from somewhere above; but we could only guess at that, it's so dark out there. And after taking a look at the size of the same, Bob and myself made up our minds we had reason to be mighty thankful that it only touched the end of the cabin, instead of hitting it square in the center."

"But whoever started it rolling?" demanded b.u.mpus; and it was evident from the way the others waited to hear what Thad would say to this, that they laid great stress on the answer.

"Well," returned the other, soberly, "of course we couldn't make dead certain, but after seeing the heft of that rock we believed that it was never started by any human hands. The rain and storm must have undermined it."

b.u.mpus heaved a big sigh of relief.

"Well," said he, "I'm glad of that. It's bad enough to think you're bein' bombarded by rocks that just take a silly notion to drop when we come along; but it'd be a heap sight worse if the men of the Big Smokies were throwing such pebbles at us, haphazard. Whew! I'm hungry, fellers; who says grub?"

That was just like a boy, to remember his natural appet.i.te right on the heels of the greatest fright of his whole life. And as the others admitted to feeling somewhat the same way, there ensued a bustle to see how soon supper could be gotten ready.

The members of the Silver Fox Patrol were no longer greenhorns, though one or two of them gave evidence that they had not yet graduated from the tenderfoot cla.s.s. They had learned a great deal about the things that are connected with a camp life, because they had spent some time under canvas on Lake Omega, which lay not many miles from their home town.

And then again, Thad had belonged to a troop of scouts before coming to Cranford; while, as for Allan, he had been through the mill so often up in Maine and elsewhere, that he was, as b.u.mpus declared, a "walking edition of what to do, and what not to do when in the woods."

It is true that on this big hike through the mountains they were compelled to travel very light, and would miss many of the things that had added greatly to their comfort on that other occasion. But then it was their desire to learn how to rough it, taking the knocks with the good things.

By this time some of the lads were beginning to believe that they would rub up against plenty of the "knocks" all right; especially if things kept on as they had commenced since striking this wonderful "Land of the Sky."

The supper put them in something like their customary good humor.

Indeed, as they sat around the fire afterwards, b.u.mpus was induced to sing several of their school songs, so that the whole of them might join in the rollicking chorus. Strange sounds indeed to well up out of that valley, so lately the theater of a war between the elements, as lightning and rain vied with each other to produce a panic in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of these same boys who now sang and joked as though they had not a care in the world.

Only Bob White remained very quiet. Thad often glanced toward the Southern lad, with sympathy in his look. He could easily understand that, with their arrival in this mountainous region, where the other had spent many of his earlier years, old memories must be revived, some pleasant, and possibly others of a disagreeable nature.

Finally they agreed that it would be wise to get some sleep, as another day lay before them. And accordingly, in the customary fashion, the bugler sounded "taps," and each scout tried to find a soft board, upon which he might rest his weary body during the hours that must elapse before dawn arrived.

A watch was kept up, one fellow taking an hour at a time, and then arousing the next on the list; so that at no time was the cabin unguarded while the night slowly pa.s.sed.

But nothing happened to disturb the scouts; and as morning came at last they began to get up and stretch, rubbing their limbs as though the hard bed had not been the nicest thing possible. But there was little grumbling. They had learned to take things as they came; which is one of the finest results of Boy Scout experience. The philosophy of the woods teaches that in the very start--try for the best results; but after you have done your best, accept the situation with cheerfulness.

Again the notes of the bugle sounded the "a.s.sembly," as breakfast was declared ready; and half an hour later they left their shelter of the night.

"Good-bye old cabin!" sang out b.u.mpus, waving his fat hand back toward the wrecked log house; "you treated us pretty decent after all, and we'll never forget you. Long may you wave, and offer shelter to other pilgrims storm chased!"

As the sun climbed above the rim of the encircling mountains the spirits of the boys mounted in proportion. Davy Jones was up to his usual pranks, being hard to control. They would miss him for a short time, only to hear a whoop; and looking up, discover the acrobatic boy hanging by his knees, or it might be his toes, from the limb of a tree, thirty feet or more above the ground.

Thad knew from experience that it was next to impossible to restrain the Jones boy; he must have his frolic out; and so they only laughed at his antics, and wondered what next the daring Davy would attempt.

Ten minutes later he was seen standing on his head on the edge of what appeared to be a deep ravine or gulch, and kicking his heels in the air.

All sorts of dire things had always been predicted as going to overtake Davy sooner or later, unless he gave up these venturesome pranks; and this time it actually looked as though they were about to be fulfilled.

For even as the seven other scouts were watching his antics, the earth at the edge of the gully appeared to suddenly give way.

Davy vanished from their view, the last thing they saw of him being his up tilted heels, waving what seemed to be a frantic farewell.

With cries of alarm the scouts rushed forward, fearful as to what they would see.

CHAPTER VI.

MORE SIGNS OF TROUBLE AHEAD.

"OH! did you see him kick his heels at us as he went down?" gasped b.u.mpus, as they hurried forward to the spot where the venturesome scout had vanished so forlornly; "I'll never forget it, never! Just like the poor old chap wanted to say 'good-bye boys!'"

b.u.mpus was too honest and warm hearted a fellow to say this with any intention of being hilarious. He sincerely felt every word of it.

Of course the long-legged Giraffe had to be the first to arrive on the scene of the late tragedy. Thad felt constrained to call out to him in warning.

"Be careful there, Giraffe, or else there may be another of us down in that pocket. Look out for your footing, I tell you!"

The other had dropped flat on his chest. He was seen to stretch his neck in the endeavor to get the best results with a minimum of risk; and they did say that when Giraffe really and truly did his prettiest in this respect he could cover more territory than any one else ever seen.

"Oh! is he smashed flatter'n a pancake?" asked Step Hen, as he drew near, with his melancholy face looking longer than usual; and the whites of his eyes showing strongly, as they always did when he was frightened.