dian's
voice that he was making his way toward Jake.

At the end of ten minutes he shouted:

"There has been no harm done here. We will come to you."

The boys spoke from time to time to guide him, regardless of the fact
that they might also be calling the enemy, and after what seemed to be a
very long while the party were re-united at the spot where Neal was, as
he had said, nearly buried in the sand.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE CATASTROPHE.

To extricate Neal from his disagreeable position was a long, but not a
difficult operation.

It appeared as if the earth Poyor had dug up from the middle of the
fortification was all heaped above him in such a manner that he could do
nothing in his own behalf, and it was only necessary to dig this away.

"What could have happened to upset things so thoroughly?" he asked,
staggering to his feet, and being obliged to sit down very suddenly lest
the wind should blow him down.

"As near as I can guess there has been a land slide," Cummings replied.
"I believe it began at the ledge under which the Indians were hidden,
and how far it extends no one can so much as guess until it is possible
to get a view of the country."

"Are you not afraid of an attack?" Teddy asked.

"Not while this storm is raging. Stand up for a moment, and then you can
see whether those fellows would make much headway trying to reach us."

The wind was blowing furiously, and the rain falling in great volume.
Now and then the little party cowering close together for mutual
protection, would be struck by a perfect shower of pebbles and wet sand
with such force that, had they been in a standing position, all would
have been overthrown, and it really required considerable exertion to
remain in one spot.

The ammunition, or rather, the greater portion of it, had been left near
the front wall of the fort, and the chances were that it was destroyed
by the water or scattered beyond finding.

Teddy was the first to think of this misfortune, and he said in a tone
of despair:

"There's little hope now that we can hold the enemy in check even for an
hour, in case they should make an attack, for I don't believe we have
twenty cartridges left."

"And but two guns, for I lost mine when I was blown down the side of the
mountain," Neal added.

"Don't make the mistake of searching for trouble," Cummings interrupted.
"It is sufficient to know that we are alive and uninjured. The Indians
will not bother us for