"If those two boys have guns," he said, "get them away from them!"
"What's that?" demanded Tommy, gazing at the sheriff indignantly.
"You're all under arrest," thundered the officer, "and I demand that you give up your weapons."
"You'll find my gun out there in the cavern somewhere," Tommy answered. "I threw it at the bears after the last bullet had been fired."
Will put his hand into Sandy's pocket as if feeling for a gun but found none there. "I dropped it in the cavern," the boy said. "There are no bullets in it, anyway. I shot 'em all at the bear."
Sandy's wound proved to consist only of several scratches in the flesh of the shoulder, but Will explained to the sheriff that it would be necessary to take him out to where water could be obtained in order that the injury might be properly dressed.
"Come along, then," the sheriff consented. "We've had enough of this underground hole, anyway."
Tommy looked longingly at the three dead bears as he passed out.
"I'm coming back here to get those rugs," he whispered to Will.
"And I'm coming back here and get some bear steak," George contributed.