She wandered down the trail a short distance beyond the cliff, searching for a place where it would be possible to climb up the mountain side. “If we can’t find their path, then I’m going to find another way to get up there,” she told herself determinedly.
A few minutes later she started up the steep bank, steadying herself now and then by catching hold of the scrubby bushes growing out of the crevices of the rocks. After climbing about twenty-five or thirty feet she found herself on a rocky ledge above the cliff.
Her eyes suddenly began to twinkle. “I believe I’ll slip around this ledge till I’m right above Florence and drop a pebble or two on her, just for fun.”
As she was slipping quietly along the ledge she heard a faint moaning sound. She stopped instantly and listened. “What on earth is that? Sounds like someone in distress. Just suppose it’s a wild animal!” She strained her ears again to listen. Once more the moaning sound floated down to her a little more distinctly.
“That’s a human being!” she told herself excitedly. “I believe it’s more than one person. Sounds as if there must be several in distress. I wonder if it could be that family from the cave in some kind of trouble.”
She leaned over the edge of the cliff and called down excitedly, “Florence! Oh, Florence!”
“Where are you?” Florence called back in a surprised voice.
“Right over you.”
Florence stepped out hastily and stared up at Jo Ann. “How did you ever manage to get——”
“Did you hear that queer moaning sound a minute ago?” Jo Ann broke in.