“Certainly!” cried Darry.
“With all my heart,” came from Sam.
Hockley took the hand of each and pressed it briefly. He looked one and the other in the eyes and then his gaze dropped. “All right, we’ll be friends,” he said, in a lower voice than ever.
Nobody felt like talking after this. Darry started up the fire and got out some things for dinner. Sam brought up the fish and cleaned them. Hockley turned over on his back and dozed away, occasionally uttering a low groan. Yet every one of the lads felt better because of what had just passed.
CHAPTER XXXII
A PEEP AT GOLD AND SILVER MINES
“The tree is caught fast!”
“I know it, Frank, but I don’t think it will stay caught for long!”
What the two chums said was true—the tree had caught in the boiling and foaming water, directly in the middle of the stream. The spray was flying all about them, so that they could scarcely make out what was ahead. But they heard a noise that could mean but one thing. A waterfall was there, dashing with a roar over the rocks and falling into a big pool below.
A minute went by. The tree was swinging around slowly. Now it began to grate along the rocks. Of a sudden an end bobbed up and then the tree was free, and on it rushed for the waterfall.
“We are going over!” shrieked Frank, and held fast, not knowing exactly why. Mark tried to answer, but the roar all around them drowned out every other sound.