But as the startled Step Hen hastened to obey, with considerable alacrity, Thad Brewster, looking up, saw a head withdrawn from the point whence the round stone that was rolling down the side of the steep incline must have had its start.
Jumping in zigzag curves from one side to another, the rock finally landed with a great crash in the mountain road not ten feet from where the scouts were huddled in a group, watching its coming with staring eyes.
CHAPTER III.
IN THE DESERTED LOG CABIN.
"Keep your eyes about you!" shouted Davy Jones; "mebbe there's more where that stone came from!"
But after the rock had settled quietly in the road, silence again fell upon the scene; a little trickle of dirt glided down the face of the descent, in the track the round rock had made; but that was all.
"Whew! that's a pretty hefty stone, believe me, fellers!" cried Step Hen.
"Whatever loosened it, d'ye s'pose?" asked Giraffe, who had jumped several feet when he heard the alarm given; for his recent adventure in the bed of the treacherous stream seemed to have unnerved the tall boy, usually as brave as the next scout.