“Hey! What’s the matter with you fellows? Why don’t you come in out of the wet?” some one wanted to know.
“It’s Ned!” joyfully cried Jerry.
Then Tinny saw Ned standing in what seemed to be the entrance of a cave in the side of the mountain. Back of the lad could be observed his horse. Their position, snug and sheltered, was in grim contrast to that of the others.
“Are you all right, Ned?” cried Jerry, his voice trembling from the reaction on finding his chum safe.
“Right? Of course I am! Why didn’t you come in here? I thought you were right behind me. It’s a dandy place, dry as a bone, and you can’t get struck by lightning in here.”
“He’s right,” said Tinny. “And we’ll have more and worse lightning soon, if this storm is like all the others on Thunder Mountain. Come on back, Jerry. We’ll all go into that cave.”
Returning to Bob and Cromley, who had remained with the horses, Jerry and Tinny soon explained that Ned was safe in a sheltering cave.
“Gosh, that’s good!” murmured Bob. “We can build a fire in there and dry out—and eat!” he added, as a sort of afterthought.
“In a big cave, is he?” asked Cromley, as he climbed rather stiffly into his saddle, for his recent fall had jarred him. “I didn’t know there was a cave on this side of Thunder Mountain.”
“Neither did I,” replied Tinny. “I shouldn’t be surprised to find that this cave had been uncovered by a landslide. I mean to say that the cave was always there, of course, under the mountain, but the entrance to it was blocked. A landslide would open the mouth.”