"Dick, what was that?"
"I'm sure I don't know, Sam. Sounded like something falling."
"It was a tree sliding down the mountain," put in Jack Wumble. "A tree jest like the one you was goin' to take hold on."
"And somebody on it!" gasped Sam. "Oh, do you suppose it was Tom?"
At this question the old miner shrugged his shoulders.
"Ain't no tellin', Sam. Let us hope not, fer if he went down the mountain side——"
"He'd be killed!" finished Dick, and shuddered.
They listened and called out. But no answer came back, and they heard nothing more but the humming of the wind through the trees, for it had begun to blow stronger than before.
"Let's go a little further than this trail," suggested Jack Wumble. "It looks to be better walking yonder."
"But we don't want to lose our way," returned Sam, rather impatiently. The strange happenings of the day were getting on his nerves.