“No gladder than I am to be here,” commented Bill. “Oh, but I’m glad to get off that horse. Whew!”
He moved stiffly about, his lameness seeming to be worse because of the treatment he had received. But aside from this he was not harmed, though, as he said, the food the kidnapers furnished was not of the best.
“This is some meal!” exclaimed Bill, when they were all sitting about the campfire, eating in the gathering darkness.
“Trust Chunky when it comes to the eats!” chuckled Jerry.
As there was now no special object in hurrying, and as Bill was still very lame and stiff the next morning, it was decided to camp where they were for a day or so, to allow the old miner to recover somewhat.
“Then we’ll get back to Leftover,” decided Tinny: “I want to see how our mine is panning out.”
“Aren’t you going to have a try for the treasure chest at Blue Rock?” asked Ned.
“Not now,” decided Tinny. “Later on, when we get the mine to going well, you boys can prospect on that wild-goose chase if you want to.”
“Blue Rock isn’t so far from here,” observed the foreman. “It’s almost as near to go around that trail as back the way you came.”
“Well, we’ll see,” was all Mallison would say. “We’ve got to make a détour, anyhow, on account of the landslide. Did you see anything like that in your travels, Bill?”