“It’s a good distance down there and a good distance back,” remarked Teddy as he and his chums reached the edge of the ravine and looked into it as far as their sight could penetrate through the gloom.
“We can make it,” declared Joe. “I’ve often gone down steeper places than this when I was out scouting.”
“It isn’t going down that counts,” said Dick with a sigh. “It’s the climb up that’s hard work.”
“It’ll work off some of your fat!” chuckled Joe, taking care to be beyond the range of Dick’s fists.
“Oh, is that so?” snapped the stout lad. “Well, I’ll show you two I’m as good a gully climber as either of you. But are you sure your plane came in here, Teddy?”
“Quite sure, yes. I marked it by that lightning-struck oak tree on the edge of the wood. The plane went in right there.”
“Do you think it could go far, with all these trees to dodge?” Dick asked. “I mean wouldn’t it crack-up against one of ’em?”
“It might,” Teddy agreed. “But if my good luck holds, it might just buzz in and out among the trees. Then it would come down in the gully. I think the motor would be about run down if the plane got this far,” he said. He came to a stop in a little glade on the edge of the ravine. The ground was covered with a soft carpet of pine needles.
“Makes a good landing field,” commented Joe as he brushed a pile of needles together with a motion of his foot.
“Just like coming down on a spring bed,” declared Dick. He threw himself on the ground with a soft thud.