“After all, nothing so strange as we thought,” replied the other. “Instead of a supernatural happening, it was real human groans we heard. There are men trapped in that hole, and they have tried again and again to climb up, always to slip back again. They must he battered, and nearly starved, which would be enough to make them groan, I think.”
“But, Dick, I saw one of them plainly, and I knew him, too!” urged Roger, bluntly.
“Then you saw more than I did,” the other told him. “From the fact that they are dressed in buckskin I knew they must be hunters or trappers, but supposed it would turn out that they were French voyageurs, such as have roamed throughout the Northwest country since the time of Pontiac. Who was the man you saw, Roger?”
“It was surely Thomas Hardy, one of the men who accompanied Jasper Williams,” said Roger, showing much concern. “And I believe the other to be Mordaunt, the second frontiersman and trapper. But there is no third in the party. What can have become of Williams? If he is dead there is an end to all our hopes. Oh, Dick, I am afraid!”
Dick’s face had also lost much of its customary color, for a spasm of alarm had attacked his bold heart when his companion thus voiced his fears.
CHAPTER X
ATTACKED BY HOSTILE BLACKFEET
“Cheer up, Roger!” said Dick, making an effort to look as though he himself had no fear of disaster. “I’ve often heard my father say it is foolish to cross a bridge before you reach it. The first thing for us to do is to let these poor fellows in the trap know we are here.”
When there was a prospect for action Roger could rouse himself wonderfully.