“It might. There’s no tellin’. But we won’t take a chance on ’em to-night, at any rate. We’ve got to wait till morning. Now let’s have a look at the stuff that was placed under the boat.” The rain had ceased by this time, and now the sun came forth in all its glory for a farewell flash before night settled down. The boys turned the canoe over carefully and discovered that the rifles and blankets were as dry as before the storm. This lightened their spirits somewhat, for it meant that they could at least spend a fairly comfortable night. They fretted a good deal at the delay, but there was no help for it, and they set about making camp. It took them some time to get a fire going, for they had hard work to find dry wood, but finally picked up enough to start a small blaze, sufficient to warm them. “Guess we won’t be at the grazing ground much before dad, at this rate,” Roy declared, munching on some bacon and bread. “Golly! I hope those Durhams stick around a while longer.” “Say! I wonder if that storm could have started another slide?” Bug Eye questioned suddenly. “Snakes, I never thought about that!” replied Roy. “Suffering tripe, what a break it would be to get there and find the cows all in the river, drowned! And if that waddy Nick told us about spoke the truth, that may have happened. That will hit dad hard. Our best cows are in that bunch.” “Aw, forget it,” Teddy returned. “I can’t believe that, Roy. It doesn’t stand to reason. Cows wander all over the lot, and there’s not one chance in a thousand that they’d wait for a landslide to fall on ’em. They may have been in danger when that stranger came through, but that was three or four days ago. They’re just as likely to be a mile away by this time.” “Hope you’re right,” Roy mused. “And when you look at it that way, I guess you are. The story does sound fishy. Golly! I wish those blamed trees would stop dripping cold water down my neck.” With a last parting glow, the sun sank out of sight and darkness followed fast. The boys had established themselves some distance back from the river, but its roaring song could be plainly heard through the black night. Like all good campers, they had brought with them a small spade, and now found a use for it. They dug up the soft earth in a trench about their camp until a layer of dry sand made a comfortable sleeping place for them. But all were rather restless, and none of them wished to turn in immediately. Gradually the voice of the river grew fainter. The torrent was subsiding. Bug Eye and Pop had seated themselves on a log near the fire, and were puffing away on pipes, waiting for sleepiness to come upon them. Roy fed the blaze until he got it going to his satisfaction, then called to Teddy: “What say we have one more look at the stream before we turn in? I want to see that the canoe is pulled up far enough. Want to come along?” Teddy stretched himself, and yawned.