Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/178

 cut the bark beside his hand, but he did not  give up. He pushed until the big tree swayed, moved a little, then suddenly rolled all the way  over. Just as the first Indian’s foot was upon it, the great log fell splashing into the water, was whirled over and over by the current and rushed  away down stream. Dripping and delighted, Hugh ran up the trail to join Dick, the angry  bullets still whistling behind him. He looked back to see one of the Indians wade into the  water, stand waist deep, reeling under the force  of the flood, then struggle back to the shore. All three of the pirates strode away through the  bushes, talking earnestly together.

For some time after the boys returned to the cabin they were busied caring for John Edmonds. While they were working, they exchanged their various experiences, so that Dick learned  how Hugh came to be in the cabin on Jasper  Peak, and Hugh, of the Edmonds’ adventures in  the forest.

This illness of John’s, it seemed, had been coming on gradually. Dick had noticed that