“Not one,” Jimmie answered. “I would have dropped into one if it had come my way. It was fierce up there!”
“It is rather cool when you get up a couple of miles,” Ned laughed, “and Jimmie wouldn’t listen to reason regarding his clothes. To-morrow I’ll give one of you boys a ride, and you may see for yourself.”
“Not me!” Pat exclaimed. “I’ll stay below and help pick up the pieces.”
“I should like to go,” Frank said. “We may find the people we saw in the rowboat. When we become acquainted with them we may be able to learn something about that cavern.”
“I would advise remaining silent about the cavern,” Ned said. “It may be used for some criminal purpose, and we must not admit that we know of its existence. We are just carefree lads, here for an outing, remember,” he added, with a laugh, “and we are due to make friends with everybody we come across.”
“But you made us lug all this camping outfit up here,” complained Jack, “so the men who steered the burros up the hills wouldn’t know where we camped. What about that?”
“I thought it best to cut off all communication with the people below,” explained Ned. “It may be that the purpose of our visit here is suspected. In that case some one from below might want to find us—for no good purpose. So we’ll keep out of sight of the people in the towns, unless they see our aeroplane, and cultivate the acquaintance of the natives—if there are any.”
“How about gasoline and provisions?” asked Pat.
“I have plenty of gasoline stored on the right of way of the Great Northern railroad,” Ned replied, “enough to last us a month. It was piped into a hidden tank from an oil car by a train crew now out of the state. We are to get provisions at the same place, if we need more, for Uncle Sam fixed all the details for us. All we have to do is to find the fellows who are setting forest fires and bring them to punishment.”
“We ought to locate every little smudge, with that aeroplane,” Frank suggested.