CHAPTER XXII.
THE CALL IN THE RAIN.
There was a sudden splash, heard above the downpour of the rain, followed by an exclamation of surprise, and then Jimmie's voice called out: "Say, you fellers, throw me that life preserver!" Nestor turned the flame on the electric flashlight and directed it toward the spot from which the voice had come.

Jimmie, who had been feeling his way cautiously a few paces in advance of the party, was seen floundering about in a pool of water.
"Come on in!" the boy cried out.

"The water is fine!" "What you doing in there ?" demanded Frank, nearly choking with laughter at the odd plight of the little fellow.
"I came in to get measured for a suit of clothes!" replied Jimmie.
"Say, you fellows, give me a hand and I'll climb out." The pool was neither wide nor deep, and the boy was soon on solid earth again.

The storm had filled one of the depressions in the canyon the boys were following, with muddy water, and in the darkness Jimmie had tumbled into it.
"You're a sight!" Nestor said, turning the light on the boy, whose clothes were now a mixture of mud and briars acquired while descending the mountain slope above.
"I ain't any wetter than you are!" retorted the boy, as the rain switched his hair about his face.

"Why don't you let me take the light when I go on ahead, then ?" "For the same reason that we do not head our procession with a fife and drum," laughed Frank.