"It was before the noise began," Jim replied, in a thoughtful voice. "I think something woke me, but don't know what it was."
"Tom remarked that something had started off the wall. I allow he mayn't have reflected much, but perhaps it's significant he and you agree."
Jim was silent for a minute or two, and then asked: "Did all the boys come along?"
"So far as I remember. I didn't count."
"Well," said Jim. "It's too soon to state what I think. After all, I don't know very much."
Jake said nothing. He knew his partner was generally marked by a grim reserve after a bad set-back. When Jim was ready, he would talk, and in the meantime Jake imagined his brain was occupied. Crossing the track of the landslide cautiously, they returned to camp, but when they reached it Jim lighted his pipe again and did not go to sleep.
CHAPTER VII
A COUNCIL
Jim got up at daybreak and went to the spot where the landslide had carried away the line. A hundred yards had gone and a great bank of soil and gravel ran down at an even slant to the river, where the current foamed about the rubbish that blocked its channel. The slope was dotted by broken trees and rocks, and in one place farther up a belt of smaller stones rested loosely at the top of a steep pitch. Jim thought a slight disturbance would start another slide.