“Looks as though somebody didn’t want us around here,” Buck said.
“I’m afraid that is the whole point,” nodded Ted, speaking in a low tone. “But we have every right to be here and no one is going to make us go. The bad part about this whole thing is that we can’t ask any of these little fellows to stand guard at night. They’d fall asleep and be scared to death in the bargain. Neither can you and I do all the watching, so we’ll have to just trust to luck and be on the lookout.”
But the balance of that night passed quietly away. The two leaders tried to sleep lightly and some of the boys slept fitfully and fearfully, but there was nothing to disturb them and when the morning came the events of the night did not seem so black as they had seemed at the time.
After camp chores had been completed the two older boys and a small squad set out to make a thorough search of the immediate neighborhood, but nothing was found although their search was an exhausting one. It was finally given up as a bad job and the afternoon was devoted to swimming. That evening and night were undisturbed and for the first time since they had struck camp everyone got a good and satisfactory sleep.
On the following day they took a hike, leaving a reserve force back at the camp under Buck. Between themselves they had agreed that one of them was to stay in camp if the other was out of it, and Ted felt safer knowing that the camp was well protected. They made a long trip of it, climbing the mountains, finding a deep valley and a cave and when it was growing late in the afternoon they came back, tired but satisfied. Ted had purposely led them around by the old house where he had first watched the man with the lantern and as soon as the boys saw the place they wanted to explore it.
Nothing suited Ted better and they roamed all over the house, finding it of great interest. It had evidently been furnished at the time of its abandonment, for there were beds and bureaus, tables, chairs and a sofa in the house, all the worse for the wear and tear of the elements which had found unobstructed entrance through doors and broken windows. It was not a farm house, for there was no barn near it and it appeared to be more on the style of a private house. On one corner, just above the front porch, there was an octagon tower or cupola and they entered that from the front bedroom, obtaining from its glassless windows a fairly good view off across the mountains. Whoever had lived in the place had left it fully furnished and the storms of a few years and one or two visiting and curious persons, possibly small boys, had made a wreck out of the glassware and the furniture.
Ted looked around carefully to see if there was any clue as to why the man with the lantern should have lowered the thing into the chimney but he could learn nothing definite. There were several open fireplaces in the house and he could see no reason why anyone should want to lower a lantern to them. When they finally left the place he had obtained a working knowledge of it but was none the wiser as to the intentions of the mountain prowler.
The others were preparing the fires for supper when they returned and everyone helped in the process of getting the evening meal. Buck and the camp squad planned a hike on the following day while the others took their turn at guarding the camp.
Once more the night passed without incident and they were beginning to feel reassured. If someone did not desire their presence they had undoubtedly tired of the attempt to oust them and they were now able to enjoy the camping trip unmolested.
Buck’s squad went for their hike on the following day and came in late in the afternoon. They had taken an entirely different direction and they had but one incident of importance to report. In a sheltered valley about a mile away they had come upon something that excited their curiosity.