ed, after which the chums had to shake
hands on it again, thus sealing the compact to stick.

And so the day went, and night came on apace.

The air did not seem to cool off to any extent as darkness approached.
Frank took pains to call the attention of his comrade to this fact.

"You can guess what that means, Bob," he remarked. "It's sure going to
bring on a whopper before a great while. All the signs point that way
right now. So we can expect to get ready for a ducking."

"Oh! that doesn't bother me," declared Bob. "I've been through many a
one. All I hope is that we don't happen to be in the old canyon when
that cloudburst you mentioned comes along. I'm not hankering after a
ride on a forty foot wave, and down that crooked old canyon, too.
Excuse me, if you please!"

"Of course if we only stick it out here, there's going to be no
danger," Frank remarked, indifferently.

"I see that you're just itching to be on the move, old fellow,"
ventured Bob, who knew the restless nature of his chum.

"Do you? Well, Bob, to tell the truth, if I was alone now, I suppose
I'd be making for the top of the old hill, bent on finding out whether
there was any sign of smoke oozing from the cracks and crevices at just
the time the rumblings came on."

"Then what's to hinder both of us going at it?" demanded the proud
Kentucky lad, fearful that Frank might think him timid because he had
suggested their remaining out of the danger zone.

"We may, later on. Just now it's our business to get some supper; and
hot or not, I'm going to make a cooking fire back of this big boulder,
where nobody could ever glimpse the blaze."

"Did you say coffee?" remarked Bob. "All right, I'll go you, old
fellow. I feel a little that way myself, and that's no yarn."

So Frank got things started, and it was not a great while before the
coffee pot was bubbling as merrily as ever, with that appetizing odor
wafting from it.

The darkness kept on increasing while they ate. An hour later it was
very black all around them, and Bob viewed the possibility of their
venturing into the unknown perils around them with anything but a
comfortable feeling.

It was just when he was wondering whether Frank would not conclude to
remain in the safe position they occupied that he heard his comrade
give a sharp cry.

"What have you discovered, Frank?" asked Bob, starting to get up.

"A light up the side of the mountain yonder," replied the other, "and,