Page:Dave Porter in the Gold Fields.djvu/258

242 "I wish we were in that cave," cried Phil. "We'd be as dry as a bone in there."

"Not if the roof leaked," returned the senator's son, grimly. "Besides, somehow I don't think it would be safe."

"Why not?"

"The rain might wash down some of the rocks forming the roof."

"Pooh! they have stayed up so long, I guess they would stay up a little longer," grumbled Phil.

"No sech cave for me," broke in Abe Blower. "The rain makes 'em too dangerous. I was in a mine onct when it rained like this, an', fust thing we knew, about a hundred tons o' rocks slid down, almost buryin' us alive! "

"We'll stay where we are," said Tom Dillon. "The storm won't last forever."

As the night came on, and the storm continued, the boys felt anything but comfortable. Building a campfire was out of the question, for the rain made a dense smoke which the wind swirled all around them, setting them to coughing and the horses to snorting. The animals were as much alarmed as their masters.

"Might as well save your firewood, boys," said Abe Blower. "You'll need it, to dry out by, arfter the rain stops."

"If it ever does stop," grumbled Phil. Rain