“Could he have fallen down one of the slippery sides of the rocky way we came out?” asked Mrs. Courtney, anxiously.
“Hardly! The trail is too carefully guarded against accident,” returned Jack.
“Well, anyway, we can’t go on without him. We’ve got to hunt him up now,” declared Dodo, impatiently. Then she added, to her mother, “Why don’t you tie him to your apron-strings, since he is not capable of taking care of himself?”
“You don’t expect me to sacrifice my pleasure by playing nurse maid to your admirer, do you?” retorted Mrs. Alexander.
“You know very well that he never would have joined this party were it not that you insisted that he come. He knows I despise his airs and silly attentions, but you keep encouraging him. So it’s up to you to assume responsibility for his safety. He cannot take care of himself, as you can see.”
Thus arguing over the hapless Algy, the two arguers followed Jack back to the Painted Cave. But so much time had been devoted to other sights that day, that now it was twilight once more and the Cave entrance was shrouded in semi-darkness.
Meanwhile what had become of the lost Algy?
He found the small cave he had entered quite a pleasant hiding-place. And, seeing a soft covering of dried grass and roots upon the rock at one side, he decided to sit down and rest, while waiting to catch the sound of the voices of his returning friends.
He sat thus for some time, but he preferred doing nothing, even though he had to sit in a low, rock-ribbed cavelet while doing so. He felt drowsy, and he was tired from the long tramps of the day before, plus the constant walking while exploring the places where he saw nothing to rave over—as the girls seemed to do.
As he waited patiently, with now and then a little doze to furnish necessary stimulus to his weary body, he was suddenly roused by a horrid noise at the mouth of his retreat. He had penetrated so far into the small aperture as was possible, and he had no idea of what the threatening danger might be, but he did understand that without notice or explanation the place he was in became unexpectedly dark.