There was a rumbling sound, not unlike the roar of a heavy freight train coming down the grade of a mountain. All of the scouts plainly felt the cabin quiver as though in the throes of an earthquake.
Then succeeded a crash, as the further end was knocked out. For a moment Thad really feared they were done for, and his very heart seemed to stand still with dread. Then, as the awful sounds died away, save for the patter of small stuff on the cabin roof, he breathed naturally again.
Whatever it was that had happened, no one had been hurt; and at least they could find consolation in this.
"It's an earthquake!" exclaimed Bumpus, being the very first to recover the use of his voice.
"A landslide, you mean!" echoed Giraffe, contrary minded.
"Thad, you say?" asked Step Hen; just as though the leader could determine the nature of the calamity better than any one else.
"I think Giraffe struck it about right," Thad answered.
"You mean part of the hillside caved away?" further questioned Bumpus.
"Must have been the whole mountain top, by the racket it kicked up," Davy Jones grumbled; "say, my heart turned upside down; and I'll have to stand on my head to get it to working again the right way."
"And look at what it did to our snug old cabin; tore the whole end off!" observed Step Hen, ruefully. "Now, if it happened to be a cold night, why, we'd just be freezing to death, that's what. Anybody seen my cap around; my hair stood up on end with the scare, and I must have dropped it? Thank you, Allan, for picking it up. I do have the worst luck about losing my things you ever saw."