“Keep still, you little dunce!” Ned said.
“If he sticks his head up here, soak him!” advised Jimmie.
“Don’t you think I won’t,” Ned returned.
But Huga did not enter the huge old fireplace at all. When he flashed his light into the chimney he saw only straight up, and the vertical passage from the fire-flue was too small for even a small cat to negotiate.
The chamber into which the boys had found their way was directly at the back of the flue, and might have been seen by a more careful man. The boys chuckled as the half-breed turned away.
In a few minutes the sounds of pursuit ceased entirely. Lights no longer flashed about the room, creating a faint mist in the fireplace below. Still the boys were not certain that the outlaws had abandoned the hunt.
“Say, Ned,” Jimmie whispered, directly, poking Ned in the ribs, “you didn’t bring one of those bear steaks with you, did you?”
“Why, Jimmie,” Ned said in pretended amazement, “you’re not getting hungry, are you? I’m astonished at that!”
“Hungry!” repeated the boy. “I feel as if I could eat my way through this rock like a mouse eats through cheese! And I could drink a barrel of water. There never was such a thirst.”
“Well,” Ned suggested, “we’d better wait here a little while, until things get quieted down, and then make a break for the passage.”