CHAPTER XXVII
THE DESERTED COTTAGE
Giant's announcement filled Snap with keen interest, and he wanted to know at once all Shep and the small youth could tell.
"We went directly up the lake," said Giant. "Took the road around the rocks that Jed Sanborn showed us. We found the nut trees, and——"
"Never mind the nut trees," interrupted Snap. "Tell me about that man."
"Well, back of the trees is a cleared spot—-maybe it was a farm some years ago, and in the midst of the clearing is an old, half-tumbled-down cottage. We walked over to the cottage and looked in at the window."
"And we saw a man sitting on a box with a barrel before him," put in Shep. "On the barrel he had a board and on the board were spread some papers that the man was looking over. The man was tall and thin, and had red hair and a short, red moustache"
"That tallies with the man who stole the money and the papers!" cried Snap, excitedly. "Did he limp, too?"
"Slightly, with his left foot."
"He must be our man. But what is he doing around here?"
"I don't know," answered Shep. "As soon as he saw us he jumped up and put the papers in his pocket."
"What did you do?" asked Whopper.
"He asked us what we wanted, and Shep told him we were out nutting," said Giant. "Then he asked us who we were."
"Did you tell him?"
"We did," said Shep; "and then we asked him who he was, but he put us off. He said he was out tramping the mountains for his health."
"Did he seem to be staying at the cottage?"
"Yes; at least he had a bag full of provisions with him, and a gun, too."
"Was he alone?"
"He seemed to be."
"Did you see the documents he had, closely?"
"Not very," said Giant. "But we saw something of a map on one of them."
"One of the stolen papers was a map of that lumber tract," said Snap, thoughtfully. "Boys, if that is the rascal who set fire to the sawmill we ought to capture him," he continued.
"That's the talk!" cried Whopper. "But we want to be sure of what we are doing. It won't do to arrest the wrong man."
"If we could only get a look at those papers," said Shep, "they would surely tell the tale."
"Did he look like a guilty man?" went on Snap.
"He acted scared when he saw us, and he got the papers out of sight in a jiffy. And he is certainly tall and thin, and has a red moustache and red hair."
"Well, that fits the rascal who is wanted, pretty closely."
"It's queer that he'd come to a place like this," was Whopper's comment.
"Maybe he thinks it is best to keep in hiding, at least for the present."
"But why doesn't he go elsewhere?"
"He may be afraid to show himself in town, or at a railroad station."
The matter was talked over for an hour, and then it was decided to visit the old cottage as early as possible on the following morning.
"And let us take our guns," declared Snap. "And we'll take a rope, too—-in case we have to tie him up."
The boys could scarcely sleep that night, so excited were they over the prospect ahead. All of them were up at dawn and procured breakfast as quickly as they could. Then the game-bags were filled with provisions, the guns were overhauled, and Snap got the rope he had mentioned.
"Now I guess we are ready," said Shep.
"Wait till I kick out the fire," said Whopper. "Don't want the place to burn up while we are away."
The fire extinguished, they set off on their journey and were soon a goodly distance from the lake. The snow had disappeared and the day promised to be an unusually warm one. They did not look for any game, and when a rabbit crossed their path nobody shot at it.
"We are after other game to-day," observed Snap, grimly.
"If only we have the same success as we had when we caught that nigger," came from Whopper. "That was dead easy."
"I don't think we'll catch him asleep," said Shep. "He is a wide-awake fellow, if nothing else."
On and on they went, covering several miles. They passed the trees that were loaded with nuts, but did not stop, and soon came in sight of the clearing.
"Now go slow," cautioned Snap. "If he sees us from a distance he may take it into his head to run away."
"Maybe one or two of us had better go forward and investigate," suggested Giant.
This was thought a good plan, and Snap and Shep went forward, slowly and cautiously, until they gained the very edge of the clearing.
"I see smoke coming out of the chimney," said Snap. "That would seem to show he is still there."
The door to the old cottage was tightly closed, and growing bolder, the two young hunters walked to it and knocked loudly.
"See that he doesn't slip out the other way," whispered Snap to his chum, and Shep at once ran around to the other side of the building.
As there was no answer to the summons, Snap knocked on the door a second time. Still there was no response.
"Guess I'll go in," he murmured, and pushed the door open.
The apartment beyond was the living-room of the old cottage and a glance showed him a smouldering fire in the fireplace. Nobody was visible.
From the kitchen the boy hunter went into the room beyond and then ran upstairs.
"See anybody?" called Shep, as Snap showed himself at a broken-out window.
"No. Call the others."
Shep did as requested, and soon all of the young hunters were making an investigation of the premises.
"He must have gone away this morning," said Giant. "See how the fire is still burning."
"I wish I knew where he had gone to," said Snap, with a long sigh.
"Perhaps we can find out if we search closely."
In the cottage they found the remains of some meals the stranger had had, and also some scraps of paper, including an envelope addressed to Lusher Barrock.
"I wonder if that is his name?" said Snap.
"More than likely," answered Giant. "Did you ever hear of him before?"
"No."
They tried to put the pieces of paper together, but the effort was a failure.
"Here is where he did some figuring," said Whopper, pointing to the board, which contained numerous pencil marks. "Maybe—-hullo! look here!"
"What's up now?" asked Snap, running forward.
"Here is the name of Andrew Felps!"
"Felps!" came from all of the others in a chorus.
"Can that man have been here?" asked Giant.
"I must say, I don't understand this," came from Snap. "But I have got an idea."
"What is it, Snap?"
"Of course I may be all wrong, but I'll give it to you for what it is worth. Do you remember what my father said about those papers?"
"That they related to a certain patch of timber land?" said Giant.
"Yes; and that the Felps people wanted to get hold of the patch. Well, this Lusher Barrock may be hanging around here trying to sell the papers."
"To sell them?" said Shep, looking puzzled.
"Exactly. They are of no use to him, but they might be of use to Andrew Felps and his lumber company."
"You mean that by getting the papers Felps might keep your folks from cutting down the lumber on that tract?"
"Yes, and more. Felps may have some way of getting hold of the land himself, if these papers are destroyed. I don't know the whole truth of the case, but I know my father wanted the papers and he didn't want Andrew Felps to learn that they were missing."
"Snap, I think you have struck the truth," ejaculated Shep. "I don't know of anything else that would bring this Barrock—-if that's his name—-to this locality. He must be watching his chance to meet Andrew Felps."
"Would Felps be mean enough to buy the papers from him?" asked
Whopper. "Why, that would be dishonest!"
"I think that man is mean enough for anything!" burst out Giant, who was not inclined to forget how badly he and his chums had been treated by the individual in question.
"If this is true, Snap, the best thing we can do is to go over to the Felps camp and watch out for this Lusher Barrock," said Shep.
"And that is what I am going to do," answered Snap.
"When will you go?" questioned Whopper.
"As soon as possible."
"We can't get to the camp very well from here. We'll have to go back to Firefly Lake first."
"Do you suppose this Barrock went that way?"
"Maybe he did, or else he knows of some trail over the mountain."
"Well, we can go back to the lake, and then start for Lake Cameron without delay," said Snap, and so it was settled.