Not caring to tell the exact facts. Will said nothing whatever, and for a moment there was a rather embarrassed silence.
"What do you say about that?" demanded Antoine.
"Why, I think there was a little fire left when we went into the place," Will replied, "but that might have been a left-over from the day before. Those large fires burn a long time."
"And you say that you have not been disturbed at all during your occupancy of the place?" Antoine continued.
"Now I wonder how much this fellow knows," Will asked himself while Antoine stood gazing curiously down upon him. "I wonder if he knows about the people who came there that night? He seems to have a suspicion that some person is wandering about the country, and keeping pretty well out of sight. I wish I knew how much he knows."
"Oh, we have slept all right," he finally said, in reply to the man's question. "A mess of healthy boys will sleep under the noise of battle!"
"I ask these questions," Antoine said directly, "because I have seen strange foot-prints in the snow at different times, and it seems to me that some person or persons are skulking through the woods and, for some reason known only to themselves, keeping out of sight of honest men."
"He knows all about that affair at the cabin," Will concluded. "Now," he went on, "I wonder why he's so very much interested in these strangers, whoever they are?"
"Oh, come on!" Tommy exclaimed. "Don't stand here all day! We've got to get back to the cabin before it gets too dark to make our way through the woods."
The two boys took a couple of steps forward at a venture, without knowing whether Antoine would oppose their leaving the cavern.