"You can sleep now that the sun doesn't shine," he said, "and I promise to keep strict watch."

After some hesitation Teddy accepted the offer while he paced to and fro to rest his cramped and aching limbs, and Poyor consulted with c.u.mmings relative to an attempt at flight when the storm should come.

His idea was that they could not be any worse off by making one effort to reach the summit of the range, even if the desired result was not attained, and after considerable discussion the white man agreed to the plan.

"It is barely possible that we may get on all right, and the situation is so desperate that almost any change must be for the better," he said.

"We will wait half an hour or so, and then start if the enemy have made no move meanwhile."

The threatened storm was not long delayed.

In less than an hour it was upon them in all its fury, and c.u.mmings said sharply as he pressed nearer the front of the fortification:

"Now we need all the eyes in the party. Keep a sharp watch, and fire at the first moving thing you see."

On this occasion thunder and lightning accompanied the wind and rain, and by the glare of the flashes it was possible to see as if at noon-day.

Never before had the boys witnessed such a terrible tempest. The entire heavens seemed ablaze at times, and the peals which echoed and re-echoed from one point to another appeared to shake the mountain.

The wind was so powerful that even Poyor could not stand against it, and c.u.mmings said in a tone of deepest disappointment:

"Unless we choose to venture into the valley again flight is out of the question. We must stay here and take what the Indians care to give us when the storm clears away."

He had hardly ceased speaking when a flash of lightning nearly blinded them; the earth shook most decidedly before the thunder peal came, and then it was as if all nature was in convulsion.

The rocks forming the fortification were precipitated down the mountain; the little party were hurled violently forward, and then intense darkness and the most profound silence ensued.

Teddy reached out his hand to touch Neal; but the latter was not near him.

"Neal! Neal!" he shouted again and again, and several moments elapsed before he heard, as if far away, an answering cry.

"Where are you, Teddy?"

"Here, on the side of the hill. Come this way."

"I can't. I'm nearly buried in the sand."

From the direction of the voice Teddy knew his friend had been thrown quite a distance down the hill, and he cried:

"Keep on shouting so I can find you."

"Don't move! Wait for another flash of lightning!"

It was c.u.mmings who had spoken, and an instant later Jake was heard begging for help.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The little party were hurled violently forward, and then intense darkness ensued.]

"All the rocks of the fort must be on top of me. Will somebody help pull them away."

The rain was yet falling in torrents: but the electrical disturbance had ceased entirely.

That something terrible had occurred all knew; but what it was no one could say.

When Jake implored some one to aid him the second time, Poyor cried:

"Let each remain motionless. I will find the engineer. The earth has opened here, and I am on the brink of a chasm."

This order was obeyed, and the boys knew by the sound of the Indian's voice that he was making his way toward Jake.

At the end of ten minutes he shouted:

"There has been no harm done here. We will come to you."

The boys spoke from time to time to guide him, regardless of the fact that they might also be calling the enemy, and after what seemed to be a very long while the party were re-united at the spot where Neal was, as he had said, nearly buried in the sand.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE CATASTROPHE.

To extricate Neal from his disagreeable position was a long, but not a difficult operation.

It appeared as if the earth Poyor had dug up from the middle of the fortification was all heaped above him in such a manner that he could do nothing in his own behalf, and it was only necessary to dig this away.

"What could have happened to upset things so thoroughly?" he asked, staggering to his feet, and being obliged to sit down very suddenly lest the wind should blow him down.

"As near as I can guess there has been a land slide," c.u.mmings replied.

"I believe it began at the ledge under which the Indians were hidden, and how far it extends no one can so much as guess until it is possible to get a view of the country."

"Are you not afraid of an attack?" Teddy asked.

"Not while this storm is raging. Stand up for a moment, and then you can see whether those fellows would make much headway trying to reach us."

The wind was blowing furiously, and the rain falling in great volume.

Now and then the little party cowering close together for mutual protection, would be struck by a perfect shower of pebbles and wet sand with such force that, had they been in a standing position, all would have been overthrown, and it really required considerable exertion to remain in one spot.

The ammunition, or rather, the greater portion of it, had been left near the front wall of the fort, and the chances were that it was destroyed by the water or scattered beyond finding.

Teddy was the first to think of this misfortune, and he said in a tone of despair:

"There's little hope now that we can hold the enemy in check even for an hour, in case they should make an attack, for I don't believe we have twenty cartridges left."

"And but two guns, for I lost mine when I was blown down the side of the mountain," Neal added.

"Don't make the mistake of searching for trouble," c.u.mmings interrupted.

"It is sufficient to know that we are alive and uninjured. The Indians will not bother us for some time."