"Thank heaven we are out of that!" murmured the doctor's son, and his chums echoed his sentiment. Never had the outer world appeared so glorious to them. At that instant they were all ready to vow they would never enter a cave again.
It was still raining, and the day was fast drawing to a close. The lightning and thunder had passed away to the westward, but they knew the downfall would last at least an hour or so longer.
"If we try to get down to our camp now we'll be soaked," said
Snap, as they gathered under the semi-protection of a large hemlock
tree. "The underbrush is loaded with water, and if there is anything
I hate it is to have a wet bough slash me in the face or breast."
"And we don't want to go back without that bear," put in Shep.
"No, indeed!" cried Giant. "It cost us too much trouble to get a shot at him."
"Wonder what became of the other bear?" mused Whopper.
"Oh, he ran away," said Shep. "More than likely we'll never see him again."
"If we could find a place that was half dry, I'd be in favor of staying on the mountain all night," went on the leader of the club. "We could build a fire and broil those quail Giant shot. We'd have a bird apiece, and that would make a good supper, with what is left of the lunch."
"The thing of it is, to find the place," put in Giant.
"Let us hunt around a little."