They did. After the heap had been unpiled, the boys got up, their clothes considerably the worse for the conflict, their faces red, but smiling and their spirits considerably higher.
"You'll get worse than that if you tantalize us in that way again," warned Tad. "We can stand for your harmless jokes, but this is cruel——-"
"—-ty to animals," finished Chunky.
"What you'll get will make you sure of that."
"Come over here and get warm, Brown," called the guide.
"Oh, he's warmed sufficiently," laughed Tad. "We have attended to that.
He won't get chills to-night, I promise you."
Breathing hard, their eyes glowing, the boys squatted down around the camp fire. No sooner had they done so than a thrilling roar sounded off somewhere in a canyon to their right, the roar echoing from rock to rock, from canyon to canyon, dying away in the far distance.
"For goodness' sake, what is that?" gasped Stacy.
"Mountain lion," answered the guide shortly.
"Can—-can he get here?" stammered Walter.