“Say, this is slick!” exclaimed Chot, paying one of the highest compliments in his rather limited vocabulary.
“Nifty!” agreed Rick, adding his tribute.
But, boy like, they did not pause long to admire just the mere beauty of the place, romantic as it was. They had come upon sterner business, and Rick gave a hint of it when he said:
“Chot, I don’t believe this stream has flowed here very long.”
“Why not? How can you tell?”
“Because it’s too near the trees and bushes. And there aren’t many stones along the banks. When a river has run a long time in a place it washes away the dirt and leaves a lot of rocks, and where it washes away the dirt from tree roots the trees partly die. But this looks like a river that has suddenly been turned loose in the woods.”
“That’s what it does,” assented Chot. “Do you think the men turned it in here?”
“I guess they did,” agreed Rick. “And the thing for us to do is to find out where they turned it, and shift it back again so it will run into Uncle Tod’s tunnel.”
“Do you think we can?” asked Chot.
“I hope so,” answered Rick. “Let’s keep on.”