CHAPTER XX
LONG GUN IS AFRAID
From below them Jack and Nat could hear cries of alarm, and they could see several waving firebrands and note ghostly figures circling about the camp blaze.
“Can you stop your horse, Jack?” called Nat.
“I’m not going to try,” was the reply. “I’ve got all I can do to hold on. How about you?”
“I’m in the same boat. I hope we don’t strike anything, for if we do I’ll shoot over his head and land I don’t know where. This is fierce!”
“Hold on tight!”
“That’s what I’m doing!”
The horses reached a place that was not quite so steep, and managed to stop sliding, running for a short distance. Then the slipping began again, but both animals were like cats on their feet, and seemed to take it all as a matter of course.
“We’re almost there!” cried Jack as he saw the camp fire more plainly, and could distinguish Sam’s and Bony’s voices calling to them.
“I’m—glad—of—that,” replied Ned brokenly, for he was bounding up and down in the saddle.