"I should say not! Even old Hank would balk at that, and he's never
been afraid of thing that flies, runs or crawls. It was old Hank who
taught me all I know about range life. He showed me how to shoot,
throw a rope, and do heaps of other things a prairie boy ought to know.
Hank thinks lots of me, and honest now, Bob, that gruff old fellow
would willingly lay down his life for me."
"I reckon he would," assented the other, readily enough.
"But Hank's a rank believer In the Injun story of the mountain, and
would never come here of his own accord; but to keep an eye on me, and,
stand between me and danger, he'd just crawl down the crater of a live
volcano."
"Seems like the show might be over for tonight," Bob suggested.
"The row has stopped, sure enough," Frank remarked, looking up at the
dimly-seen outlines of the far-away crest of the rocky elevation, where
it stood out against the starry heavens.
"You don't believe, then, that there could have been some kind of storm
up there; do you?" questioned Bob.
"Well, it's sure a great puzzle," replied his chum, with a long breath.
"My eyes are reckoned prime, but I can't glimpse any sign of a cloud
that would bring out all that noise. A mystery it's been these many
years; and if so be we can learn the cause for all that queer roaring
that shakes the earth, we'll be doing more'n anyone else has ever done
in the past."
"That's what we're here for, if Peg gives us half a chance," remarked
Bob, with the healthy assurance of youth.
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