The way was by no means easy, for the storm had washed the dirt and
stones in all directions and the path was strewn with broken branches
and torn-up bushes. On the way they picked up hard a dozen dead birds
and also saw three dead monkeys.
When the spot where the flag had been was reached they found the tree
still standing. The halyard of the flag had snapped and the colors
lay in a mass of bushes a hundred feet away.
To get to the bushes the boys had to leap over something of a gully.
Tom took the leap in safety, but Sam went down out of sight.
"Help! help!" cried the youngest Rover.
Tom looked back, to see Sam's fingers clutching at some brushwood
which grew at the edge of the gully. Then the hand disappeared and
he heard a crashing far below, for though the gully was not wide, it
was very deep.
"Sam! Sam!" he called. "Are you hurt?"
No answer came back, and much alarmed, Tom got on his knees and tried
to look into the opening. At first he could see nothing, but when
his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, he made out the form of
his brother lying on some broken brushwood which the storm had swept
into the opening.
How to get down to Sam was a problem, and Tom was revolving the matter
in his mind when Sam let out another cry.
"Are you hurt, Sam?"
"N--not much, but m--my wind was kno--knocked out of me."
"Can you climb up to the top?"
"Hardly, Tom, the sides are very steep, and--yes, there is a regular
cave down here," went on Sam.
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