At first there was no
one in sight below, but presently a man came out by the fire, which
was burning low now.
It appeared to the boys that he must have crawled out from under the
chimney rock itself! He appeared so suddenly that they knew that, at
least, there must be an underground hiding place in which he had been
concealed when they had first come in view of the canyon and the
rock.
The man mended the fire, gathering up the ends of the logs and limbs
which had burned through in the middle and placing them back on the
coals. Then he opened a box which he had brought from some out-of-
sight place and took out canned food and cooking utensils. He was
evidently going to get an early breakfast.
Presently a second man joined the first arrival, and they sat down by
the fire to wait for water in a great pot to boil. At least, the boys
supposed that they were waiting for it to boil.
"I'd like to know what they are talking about," Frank said. "I'm
going to see if I can get close enough to them to find out."
"I was just thinking of that myself," Ned responded, "so we may as
well be on our way. Keep your gun handy, but don't shoot unless one
of them seizes you."
"I'll take good care they don't get hold of me," Frank answered.
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