le holding fast. In some spots the snow was now
over a foot deep, and his footing was, consequently, more uncertain
than ever.

Suddenly he found himself on the edge of a small cliff, the last on the
mountain side. Without knowing it, he had crossed the trail leading
upward three times. He stepped on some ice on the rocks, and the next
instant was launched into space.

Sam had no time to get scared. Forth into the descending snow he was
tossed, and down he went, to land first in a tree and then in some
thick bushes growing close by. The wind was knocked completely out of
him, and for the moment he could not move.

"Phew! that was a tumble!" he murmured, as he tried to sit up. He was
wedged so tightly in the bushes that he could scarcely move. It was
far from a pleasant situation, yet he realized that coming down first
on the tree and then in the bushes had saved him from broken bones if
not from death. He was considerably scratched up, but just then paid
no attention to the hurts.

At last he managed to crawl out on the ground, or rather the snow,
which was deeper in the valley than it had been up on the mountain.
His torch had been extinguished, so all was dark around him.

"Dick!" he called, as loudly as he could. "Dick, are you anywhere
around?"

"Sam!" came the faint reply. "Is that you? Yes, I am over here. Help
me. I am wedged in between the trees and can't move!"

"Is Tom down here too?"

"I don't know."

CHAPTER XXIV

IN WHICH TOM IS FOUND

Guided by his brother's voice Sam at last found Dick. As the latter
had said, he was wedged between two tall trees and in anything but a
comfortable position. And how to release him was a problem.

"I guess I had better climb up and bend one of the trees over by my
weight," suggested Sam. "I don't see any other way."

"All right, Sam. Only be careful and don't fall and let the tree snap
back on me," answered Dick, weakly. In his cramped position he could
scarcely breathe.

With great care Sam ascended the slimmest of the two trees, pushing it
as far away from the other as possible. As he went up his weight told,
and presently the tree commenced to bend down, away from the other.

"That's better--now I can move a little," cried Dick. "Go on! There,
that's enough. All right, Sam, you can come down." And then Dick
scrambled out in the snow and his brother joined him.

"Did you see anything at all of Tom?" asked the youngest Rover