He had had a most remarkable adventure, and connected with it was an equally remarkable discovery.
During the search for the missing bag of specimens Hal and Frank Bowler worked in adjoining divisions of the territory that was being covered. As they finished the search on their divisions they met at the lower waterfall. They gazed a short while into the tumbling water and then moved down stream until they could hear each other’s voices.
“I don’t believe we’ll find the bag,” were Frank’s first words. “I don’t believe anybody’ll ever find it. I bet it’s in the deep part o’ the river where you couldn’t wade.”
“Maybe it’s on the other side,” suggested Hal. “There’s quite a little piece of ground over there along the river bank. It’s pretty steep, but we could walk on it if we’re careful.”
“Let’s go over there and hunt,” Frank proposed.
“All right. Come on.”
They continued on down the river to a wide shallow stony place, and there took off their shoes and waded over. Arrived on the opposite side, they put on their shoes again, and as they were doing this Hal said:
“It’ll be getting dark before long and we don’t want to have to walk along this steep place when we can’t see plain. Let’s go up to the other end, at the fall, and work down this way.”
“All right,” agreed Frank.
So they picked their way over stones and through bushes and patches of stunted fir trees, sometimes finding it necessary to hold onto a bush or a rock in order to keep from slipping or losing their balance and plunging into the river. But they reached the cataract and then halted again to look around them.