The party was met just beyond the illumination of the fire by Will and Ed, who greeted their chums with such cordiality that a rather perilous situation was at once suspected.
"What are you boys doing out here in the scenery, anyhow?" demanded Tommy. "You ought to be at home in the cabin with a hot supper ready for us! You always go wrong when I go away!" he added with a grin.
"There's no time to tell long stories now," Will hastened to say. "The thing we've got to do is to pry open that mountain and dig George, Sandy and Bert out."
"Are they dead?" asked Tommy, turning very white.
"There's some one alive in there," replied Will. "We hear something which sounds like the human voice but we can't distinguish any words."
"Earthquake?" asked Tommy,
"Earthquake!" replied Will.
"But how——"
Will cut Frank off with a gesture and pointed to the cliff.
"We've got to get to work!" he said.