Presently he concluded to follow in the footsteps of the wood hunter, and hasten the prospect of a cheery blaze by the time night should fall. With the passing of an hour or more, and no sign of the fuel seekers, Billy and Henri developed an uneasy streak, rendered more acute by the drear surroundings and the oppressive lack of all sound. "We had better do some scouting; I'll go daffy with this waiting business." "I'm with you, Billy," joined in Henri, "anything but sitting 'round here doing nothing." The boys lost no time in picking their way through the rocks in the direction taken by their absent companions. "Let's give them a shout," suggested Billy, himself acting first on the suggestion. No answer to the shouters, when they paused at intervals, hoping for the welcome response. Stumbling along, careless now of bumps and bruises, the lads so often raised their voices to high pitch that they were hoarse from the effort. Rounding a huge boulder that blocked their path, Billy, who was in the lead, suddenly started back with a cry of alarm, and Henri instinctively threw his arms about the waist of his chum. Lucky move, this, for the Bangor boy was in the closest kind of way connected with a mass of crumbling earth that swept with a slight rumble into the darksome depths of Uzsok pass. Henri's strong pull landed both boys on their backs--but on the safe side of the boulder. "Narrow shave that, old boy," murmured Billy, raising himself on his elbow, and reaching for the hand of his chum, "and it's to you that I owe----" "No more of that," interrupted Henri, "it's only a rare occasion when you were not doing something for me. I think we can account now for the disappearance of Roque and Schneider. It completely unnerves me, though, to believe that our companions are lost in this abyss." Billy was on his feet in an instant, alert and resourceful. "There's a way of finding out whether or not they are down there, and we will never quit searching as long as there's a speck of hope." Gingerly skirting the boulder, he found solid ground on the higher side, to the right of the treacherous spot on which he had so narrowly escaped a long fall. Stretched out full length at the verge of the steep descent, Billy peered into the depths, giving vent to several ear-splitting whoops in rapid succession. A faint halloo finally came back from the dim recesses of the pass. "Glory be!" cried the strenuous hailer, "there is somebody below--and that somebody is alive!" Through the hollow of his hands Billy shouted words of encouragement to the unseen owner of the voice answering from the bush-grown wall of the chasm. "It's a clear drop of twenty feet, and smooth as a billiard ball before the growth begins and the rocks shelve out," Billy advised his chum, the latter to the rear and maintaining a firm grip on the ankles of the venturesome prober of the pass mystery.