The dog barked, came a little way toward his master, reluctantly enough, and then returned to the hole.
“He hates to leave it,” said Chot.
“Must be something there,” agreed his chum. “We’ll set a trap there to-night.”
“Where’ll we get a trap?”
“Oh, Uncle Tod has some. I’d like to catch something.”
“So would I, if it isn’t a skunk,” said Chot.
“Well, after all, it may only be a big rat, or some animal like a groundhog,” decided Rick, “though I don’t know whether groundhogs live out here or not. All right, Ruddy,” he went on, speaking to his dog, “stay there if it’s any fun, and let us know when it comes out.”
Again the boys fell to work on the stone pile. They could see that they were making an “impression” on it, as Rick called it when they stopped to eat some of the lunch they had brought with them, sharing it with Ruddy. For there was quite a hole excavated into the pile of big and little boulders.
After their meal, which was followed by a brief resting period, the lads again began tossing aside the rocks in their endeavor to see what lay behind them. That it was the opening into a tunnel beneath the mountain they hoped. And what they feared was that the pile of stones might hide but the smooth gravel side of the sloping hill.
“But it can’t be that,” decided Rick. “These stones never got here naturally. They were piled here and there aren’t any like ’em anywhere else around here.”