Nell said it was warmer down here than up in the hills. There was a much greater force of water underneath, too, here than up at the source of the stream, naturally. And, after all, it was April!
"Once it begins, it always goes so quickly," she said. "If it will last for us, just two whole days more--we ought to get somewhere safe, Da, in that time."
"We shall," said David with conviction, and his sister put away from her the queer nervous feeling that would not let her mind rest entirely.
A great part of that afternoon they lay still in their bunks, talking at intervals, while Robin dozed by the fire. As it happened, this was a very good thing for all three! The odd jobs were done. All was ready, the wood to fill the stove with in the morning, and the packets.
About sundown they had a meal, and after that the grey dusk began to creep over everything. Soft, still shadow.
"Now bed," said Nell; "we've got no candles and we must be up about four."
The words were hardly finished when a gun-shot rang out sharp on the silence.
Nell started as though she had been hit, because her mind was still strained.
"It may be anybody," said David. Robin growled. Nell opened the door and listened.
From the wood at the back a voice said, loud and harsh: