“I am glad to hear you say that, Dick; you always have some good news when it gets bleak and black. And from the way I’m shivering I think the sooner we make a move the better.”
Mayhew had also heard the proposal with interest. Unfruitful though his own search had proved, the news that one of the boys had made some sort of discovery likely to benefit them sounded good to him.
“Where are going, Dick?” asked Roger, after they had started. “Unless I’m mistaken we seem to be on the back trail.”
“Where else could I take you, except to some place I had seen before?” demanded the new guide. “But I know you must want to hear about it, so listen. As we came along I happened to notice what looked like the mouth of a cave. If it should turn out that way we can find shelter within. It might even be possible for us to light a fire there.”
“Caves are all right on a bad night, too,” assented Roger. “We know, for haven’t we made use of one when overtaken by a storm? I only hope it turns out to be something besides a little hole in the side of the hill.”
“I have hopes that it will prove to be much better than that.”
“Is it far away?” continued the other, a little uneasily, for after their late bitter experience, when the earth slide robbed them of their packs, Roger had come to eye their surroundings with considerable suspicion, and did not much fancy prowling around there in the darkness.
“Only a few minutes’ walk,” Dick assured him. “I want to make sure that we do not pass it by, that is all.”
He devoted himself to the task of keeping track of the trail as they made their way along. Even Roger used his eyes the best he knew how, hoping that he might be of some assistance.