"Seems to me," remarked Allan, soberly, "that instead of complaining the way you fellows are doing, we ought to be mighty thankful it wasn't any worse."
"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 Bumpus.
"It's more than that, Bumpus," 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."