“A Jap!” Jack laughed as he came dashing up. “There wasn’t any Jap. Couldn’t have been. I would have seen him.”
“But look! My ear is bleeding!” Stew rubbed his ear.
After a hasty glance up the rocky ridge Jack turned on his flashlight.
“Here’s your Jap,” he laughed. He pointed to a huge land crab with pincers six inches long. “He was looking for something soft.” Jack seized the crab by its back and tossed it far up on the slope.
“All the same,” Jack snapped off the light. “There was something up there on that ridge, and it wasn’t a crab.”
“Why? How do you know?” Stew’s voice was low.
“A rock came tumbling down. Thought I caught a flash of something white. I might have been mistaken.”
“We’ve got to watch our step.” Stew spoke in a solemn tone.
“We sure must,” Jack agreed.
But something more than the thought of danger was troubling Jack at this moment.