"You'll have to get us first," he muttered.
"What do they mean by that little song?" inquired Jud coolly.
"It's the hag-cry that the women raise before they torture the prisoners," returned the other. "They think they're sure of us as soon as the sun goes down."
Will returned just in time to catch the last words.
"There's no one in sight," he said. "Couldn't we slip off ourselves down the cliff?" he went on.
"Not a chance," explained the scientist. "They'd roll boulders down on us."
"Is there any way of holding them off after dark?" went on Will, after a little pause—and had his answer in the pitying silence of the two older men.
For a moment he turned very white. Then he set his teeth and threw back his shoulders.
"I'm only a kid," he said, "but I've been in tight places before. You needn't be afraid to talk plain."
"If they get over when it's too dark to shoot straight," said Jud at last, "we 're all in."