A branch from a smaller tree, knocked down by the larger one in its fall, gave Hippy a sidewipe and sent him flying down the bank.
"Jump inter the river!" screamed the forest woman. "It ain't deep." Joe led the way, shouting as she leaped for the water. Had there been light, it would have been easy to see which way the tree was falling, but in the darkness one could only guess from the sound the direction in which the tree was falling. It landed with a mighty crash just as the Overland Riders leaped into the river, and for a few seconds it sounded as if the forest itself were going down. The girls listened to the crashings and the reports in awesome silence.
"All over!" announced Tom, in a tone of relief.
"I—I don't see anything about a falling tree that necessitates scaring a person out of a year's growth," complained Emma.
"You don't, eh? Then you have something to learn," answered Tom rather shortly.
"At least there is nothing to prevent our going back and getting to sleep, is there?" questioned Nora.
"There is!" said Tom.
"Wha—what do you mean?" demanded Hippy, but Tom made no reply.
Grace found herself wondering what had caused the tree to fall. There was no wind, other than a gentle zephyr; the ground was dry and the tree was not a dead tree, as she discovered when she found that its foliage had blotted out the campfire. Either she had not heard the explosion as the tree burst from the ground, or else she had forgotten that circumstance altogether in the excitement of the moment.
"All right. We can go back now," said Tom.