Andy started violently and stared at Jerry.
"Then—you know?" he ejaculated, in some confusion.
"Yes, all about it; and we feel sorry for you, too. Come! If he is suffering, something must be done, or he may die. Don't hesitate any longer, but take us to where he is hiding. I'm sure my pard can do something to help him," said Jerry.
The other's indecision came to an end.
"I will, then, by gum! Come on!" he exclaimed between his set teeth.
Frank, looking around, thought that he had just the faintest glimpse of something moving amid the neighboring bushes; but then it might have been a prowling chipmunk or an inquisitive raccoon.
He fell in line, and trailed after the others, wondering just how the affair was going to end. Evidently, Andy's father, in wandering about the rough region after dark, had slipped once too often on the rocks, and come to serious harm.
The boy led them past the ruins, and up the side of a steep ascent. Several times he stopped and looked sharply down and around, as though suspicious of the strange stillness that had fallen upon all Nature. Even the birds seemed to have ceased their quarreling, and the crows that had been cawing in a dead tree near the lake front at the time our boys landed, had suddenly taken their departure, as though bent on seeking new pastures.
The difficulties increased as they ascended further. Great masses of rock seemed to be piled up all around them. It was as if giants had been using the slope for a playground, and heaved these tremendous bodies of stone hither and thither in endless confusion.
"H'm!" thought Frank as he noted these things. "I don't wonder much that our friend, Mr. Dodd, and his men, found trouble in discovering where the fugitive convict was secreted. A fellow could easily hide here, and laugh at the efforts of a dozen men to find him."