"
"Eh? How do you know that?" queried Bud, becoming deeply interested.
"Well, in the first place," suggested Ralph, not waiting for Hugh's
reply, "the sound of voices came from the same level as our own
location. I'm dead sure of that fact. Then again we could hear the
swish of brush, and I even caught the sound of men crashing through
thickets and falling over logs."
"Yes," added Hugh, "and it struck me that they were in something like
a blue fright, as though the nearness of that explosion had given
them a bad scare. Only a sudden panic could make men rush through
thickets as recklessly as they were going."
"Everybody may not like meteors to drop all around 'em," Bud muttered;
"and I can't blame the fellows much, either. I came near being
knocked flat on my back, myself, when that one let go with a bang.
My ears are ringing yet, and I'm afraid I'll go deaf if I have to
hear much more of that sort of cannonading."
Although they continued to sit up for some little time and talk, Hugh
did not see fit to mention certain suspicions that had taken root in
his own mind. He believed he was on the track of the truth, but
until he had a little more positive evidence he hesitated to speak
out boldly.
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