“Come along, Brick!” He dived for the door of the tent and up the wooded hillside, his red-headed follower close on his heels. “Somebody in trouble on the mountain! We’ve got to run, old boy—and I mean run!”
CHAPTER IV
DIRK JUMPS
In the wake of his racing leader, Brick Ryan dashed through the thickets behind the tent, and crossed the road. Here Sax paused and shouted toward the mountainside.
“Hello! What’s the matter?”
Ahead came a faint cry in answer, and a spitting crack. Something buzzed through the leaves of a maple overhead, and a detached twig drifted down.
“That was a gun!” said Brick in amazement. “Somebody shootin’ through the trees.”
Sax was angry. “The fool!” he cried. “Is he trying to pick us off?” He raised his voice and shouted again to the unknown. “Cut out that shooting! We’re coming right along!”
Again he plunged into the woods. Brick, who had been rubbing his uncovered arms and legs where his swimming suit had not protected him from scratches and whipping branches, panted at his side. “Over this way it came from, Sax,” he said. “Not very far off, either.”
McNulty saved his wind for running, and his long legs bounded out of sight. In short order, Brick heard the man’s voice upraised in stinging rebuke.
“Put that gun down! Here, give it to me, before you kill a few of us! Now, What do you mean by this——”