“Yes,” Cliff said, “I saw him. He talked to each one for a few minutes, then he dropped behind and talked to the next one.”
“What do you suppose it meant?” Nicky wondered. “Nothing, I guess. I have seen him do it before.”
“You have?” Cliff and Tom asked it at one instant.
“Certainly. But he is the boss isn’t he? He has to give orders.”
“When he gives orders he yells them out so that we all hear him,” Tom objected.
“In the morning,” Cliff said, “Let’s ask Mr. Whitley and Bill if they have noticed.” They agreed and discussed the curious disappearance of the trailing party for a while.
Then, suddenly, Cliff hissed under his breath, “Sh-h-h-h!”
They became alert, intent: they listened with straining ears.
“It was only some pebbles—a little landslide,” Nicky whispered. “They do that in the mountains. I saw some pebbles slip this afternoon.”
Nevertheless Cliff gently crawled out of his blanket and his head came in rather vigorous contact with Tom’s cranium for he was doing the same thing. They forgot the bump in the excitement for more pebbles were clattering at a little distance.