By this time, the sunlight was slanting across the tops of the mountains.
Sam Randall seated himself on a rock, the picture of gloom and dejection.
"Now what's what?" he asked.
"We can't climb the cliff," answered Dave. "Do you think——" He hesitated.
"Think what, Chubby?"
"That it would be too risky to swim for the other shore?"
Bob and Sam looked at the current and listened to the roar of the cataract. The thought of again trusting themselves to the mercy of such waters made them shiver.
"The current is much swifter over there," said Sam, "and if we missed that point of rock——" An expressive gesture finished the sentence.
"Guess the searching parties are out for us now," observed Bob Somers.
"Even if they discover where we are, how in the dickens could they help us?" demanded Sam.