"And if you hear the least suspicious sound, jump for all that's out," added Bumpus, 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 clustered 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 Bumpus; 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."
Bumpus 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 appetite 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.