"Are they going to?" asked Janet, sitting down on a stone to rest, after she had caught up to the boys.
"Well, they might," answered Hal. "We've got to hurry."
They went on again, walking a little more slowly this time, and when they came to a muddy puddle in the middle of the woodland path, Ted tried to jump over it. But he slipped on the edge and one leg, from his foot to above his knee, got very wet and muddy.
"Oh, wow!" he cried. "Now I've got to stop and clean this off."
He began to wipe off the worst of the mud on bunches of grass, while
Janet sat down on a log near by.
"I'm sorry you fell in the mud, Teddy," she said, "but I'm glad I can rest, for I'm awful tired. You go so fast!"
"Come on, hurry up!" called Hal, as Ted still brushed away with the bunch of grass. "Let it dry and it will come off easier."
"I guess it will," agreed Ted, looking at his muddy stocking. "It won't come off this way."
However, the accident had given his sister a little chance to rest, and now Janet was able to keep up with the boys. Pretty soon they were near the hole into which Ted had fallen, and out of which the cave opened.
"Now be careful!" whispered Hal, as he got out his flashlight. "Maybe the tramps are there!"