mself
flat on his breast and peered down.

Clay was twenty feet below him clinging to a bunch of stout bushes that
grew in a crevice of the cliff. His feet rested on a tiny ledge no more
than six inches wide, and below him was a clear drop of thirty feet to
the dark surface of the creek.

Ned realized his utter inability to render aid, and his agony found vent
in a sharp cry.

Clay turned a white, pitiful face upward.

"You can't help me," he gasped hoarsely. "The bushes are tearing loose.
If the water is deep I stand a chance. Try to get--"

His feeble voice was smothered by a sharp ripping noise, and the next
instant he plunged downward, attended by a shower of dirt and stones.

CHAPTER XIII

WHAT CLAY SHOT

We must now take the reader back to the previous morning, and see what
befell Randy and Nugget after their companions had started for West
Hill. Nugget amused himself until dinner time by fishing at the mouth of
the run, and caught a number of sunfish and chubs.

When he returned Randy had just finished entering the events of the
cruise in the log book. Then they started in to get dinner, and Randy
proved himself no novice in culinary affairs by frying a delicious
panful of fish and boiling some excellent coffee.

The distasteful work of washing the dishes was duly performed, and then
they began to consider what they should do next. Randy wanted to go away
up the stream for trout, but Nugget was unwilling to trust himself in
the woods after his experience of the previous evening, and was equally
determined not to remain alone in camp.

This obstinate conduct roused Randy's temper, and indications pointed a
lively quarrel.

"I never saw such a coward," he exclaimed angrily. "You're a nice fellow
to go on a canoe trip, I must say."

"I'm not a coward," returned Nugget hotly. "I'm not afraid of you,
anyhow, and if you call me any more names I'll show you something."

Randy laughed scornfully, and was about to make a bitter reply when a
trampling noise was heard in the woods behind the tent, followed by a
violent agitation of the bushes. A few seconds later a big brindle cow
appeared on the scene, followed by a small boy shouting "Hi! hi!" at the
top of his voice.

The cow was evidently in no mood to listen to argument; she pranced at
the tent with lowered horns, knocked it flat, and trampled with dirty
hoofs over the clean canvas.

Then she rushed at Nugget with a vicious bellow, and afte