“The blankets kept me from getting hurt,” Weber explained. “I saw it was coming and held them up in front of me.” He was bruised and his face was discolored and scratched, but otherwise he did not appear to be injured.
“I wasn’t expecting such a smash,” Jimmy said. “I tried to pick out a bunch of young trees. I thought we’d simply settle down, maybe turn over.”
“Well, it could have been worse,” the old man said philosophically. “That was a nasty crack you got on your head. I was afraid you wasn’t goin’ to come around.”
“Have I been out long?”
“Nearly three hours, I reckon,” Weber informed him. “But don’t you worry none. I had no more than got you pulled out and bandaged up before one of them other planes began circling over and diving down to take a look at us. Accordin’ to the way they waved around, I figger they’re goin’ to the nearest place for help. Some one will be coming in here after us as soon as they can get here. Either they saw us go down or were just flyin’ over and happened to see the wreck.”
“How far from Keno are we?” Jimmy asked.
“About fifteen miles, I figger,” Weber said. “This is Stink Crick that I was tellin’ you about. I’ve come up and down this very crick many a time. Here’s where I figgered the strike would come instead of over at Keno. But that just shows you how gold strikes happen.”
“If you started now, you could get over to Keno before the rush got there, couldn’t you?” Jimmy asked slowly. “I suppose you know how to get over there from here.”
“Yes, I know the trail all right,” the old man admitted.
“And you could beat the rush there, couldn’t you?” Jimmy insisted.