d down!" panted Darry.

"Boys, are you safe?" came from old Benson, who was also caught.

"I--I guess so!" answered Joe. "But it's a tight squeeze." Then the
youth called out to his brother, but no answer came back.

"Will must be hurt!" he exclaimed, his heart rising in his throat.
"Will! Will! Where are you?" he continued.

Still there was no answer, or if so the fury of the wind drowned it out
completely. The boys tried their best to move, but could only budge a
few inches.

In five minutes the fury of the blow spent itself and the last of the
wind sent the fallen tree rolling along the cliff a distance of several
rods. This released Joe and Darry, and they arose to their feet dazed
and bewildered and scarcely knowing what to do next. It was now raining
and darker than ever.

"Benson!" called out Joe, "where is my brother?"

"The captain must still be under the tree," replied the old scout. "He
was next to you when the tree came down, wasn't he?"

"He was, but I believe the wind carried his hat off, and he made a dive
for it. That's the last I saw of him."

Staggering to his feet, Joe looked around, trying to pierce the
darkness. Darry followed him, and old Benson also got up. The scout had
received a nasty cut on the shoulder, from which the blood was flowing.

In a few minutes Joe found his brother. The captain lay on the rocks
unconscious, a big lump on his forehead, where the largest of the tree's
branches had struck him. Kneeling at his brother's side, the boy made a
hasty examination.

"He's alive!" he said. "But he must have been struck a terrible crack."

There was little to do excepting to bathe the unconscious officer's
head, and this was done. In the meantime Darry assisted old Benson at
binding up the wounded shoulder.

"Take the tree off!" Such were the first words Captain Moore uttered
when he returned to consciousness. It was some time before he could sit
up.

"You are all right, Will--the tree is not on you," said Joe soothingly.

"But it came down right on top of me."

"Yes, it came down on all of us."

"Anybody killed?"

"No. Benson has a cut on the shoulder, and you were knocked out. Feel
the lump on your head."

The young captain did so.

"Phew! But that's a regular goose-egg, isn't it?" he muttered. "I
suppose I can be thankful that I am alive."

"We can all be thankful for that, Will."

"It was the greatest blow I ever experienced--in more ways than one,"
said the ca