Terrified, he shrieked. But the roar of the explosion drowned his cries, and he dropped to the ground, unconscious of the mass of dirt and brush that fell on him or about him.
Arrived at what he considered a safe distance, Phil had turned just in time to see the cloud raised by the dynamite shoot into the air. In vain he scanned the bushes near him for the sight of his brother coming toward him, and as the mass of debris dropped back to the ground and the echoes crashed from mountain to mountain, his face went white and his knees trembled under him.
Completely unnerved at the thought that his warning had been too late and that his brother had fallen victim to his carelessness in firing the fuse before informing him of his intention, Phil fled, panic-stricken, from the spot, rushing madly to the camp, where he bridled his pony, leaped on its bare back, and raced toward the Jay farm.
At the sound of the rapid hoof-beats, Joy ran to the door.
“Oh, what is it? What’s happened?” she cried, as she beheld the look of terror on Phil’s face.
“W-where’s your father? Quick!” gasped the boy.
Cool in emergencies, Joy stepped back into the house, picked up a tin horn, returned to the door, blew three shrill blasts, and then rushed to the boy, arriving just in time to catch him as he reeled from his pony in a faint.
To Jasper, working in his field behind the barn, the three blasts on the horn carried the signal that he was urgently needed at the cabin, and, dropping his tools, thinking only that Petersen had come to avenge the discovery of his theft of the horse, he ran to the back door, seized his rifle, cautiously advancing round the corner just as Joy dropped to the ground, took Phil’s head in her lap, and began to bathe it in some water she had fetched.
CHAPTER XXIX
TED MAKES A DISCOVERY