"You mean that that was your explanation of it," corrected Bob. "I thought when the thing happened, that it was an outlaw who yelled at us until we were glad to get out of hearing of him, and I think so now."
"So do I," said Joe. "And I shall hold fast to that opinion until we go down there and get at the bottom of the mystery. I am ready to start at once. What do you say?"
CHAPTER XXIII. EXPLORING THE CAVE.
Ever since the mysterious inhabitant of the gorge had driven them from his presence by his unearthly howling, there had been a tacit understanding between Tom and Bob that some day, after they had time to get a good ready, they would return and drive him out of his hiding-place; or, if they failed in that, find out who he was, and what brought him there.
It was the hope of being able to carry out one or the other of these ideas that had prompted them, on the previous day, to seize their guns and run for the gorge when they heard those four shots fired there.
When they found Joe, and learned that he was more than half inclined to go in search of the poachers, who, he thought, were pursuing their nefarious work on the other side of the gulf, they endeavored to dissuade him, because they were afraid he might encounter something he would not care to see. But it turned out that Joe knew more about the matter than they did, and furthermore that he wouldn't rest easy until he knew all about it.
Tom was the first to speak.
"I wonder if a stranger thing than this ever happened?" said he. "We wrote a letter and put it into your father's wood-pile, just for the fun of the thing—"