Ned swung around the bend at a tremendous pace. He was able to see little about him, though as he once more reached the bank he could tell where the river lay, because the river gorge lay in a deeper shadow than did the rest of the landscape about him.
"Oh, Tad! Tad!" he shouted.
A faint call answered him. He was not quite sure that it was not an echo of his own voice.
"Tad! T-a-d!"
"Hurry!"
It seemed a long distance away—that faint reply to his hail.
"That you, Tad!"
"Y-e-s."
"Where are you!"
"Here."