Jimmy protested, for his short legs were weary, but Herb yanked him to his feet and gave him a shove in the direction of the cave. Jimmy had not been any too securely balanced in the first place, and Herb’s shove had the effect of lifting him completely from his feet. He fell, landed on his side and rolled down the steep side of the mountain, turning over and over and grasping wildly at roots and stones in his path.
So suddenly had it happened that for a moment the other boys only stared. Then, as poor Jimmy went on rolling and finally disappeared in the gaping mouth of the cave they gathered their wits and made after him. Smothering their mirth, they half slid, half fell, down the mountain side.
The ground was rough and stony and they were afraid that Jimmy might be really hurt. Their fears were set at rest, however, when, upon peering into the dark cavern, they found that Jimmy had regained his feet and was glaring with a mixture of sheepishness and rage at Herb.
“You big stiff!” he said, carefully feeling over his pudgy form to make sure there were no bones broken, “next time you feel like shoving a fellow, just look who you’re shoving, will you? I suppose you think this was fun.”
“It was—for us,” retorted Herb, relieved to find he had not seriously hurt his fat chum. “Stop glaring at me, Doughnuts,” he added placatingly. “I didn’t mean to shove so hard, honest I didn’t.”
“Well,” said Jimmy, somewhat mollified, “I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it. Only don’t let it happen again, that’s all.”
“And now that we’re here,” said Bob, gazing about him with lively interest at the walls of the cave into which they had literally stumbled, “what do you say we look around a bit?”
“You bet,” agreed Joe, feeling in his pockets for matches. “From the looks of things, if we’re going to do much exploring we’ll need plenty of light.”
“I’ve got a new box of matches myself,” said Herb. “Any of the rest of you fellows got any?”
It appeared that they all had, and Bob, feeling about on the floor of the cave, found a stick that would serve them admirably as a torch.