“That’s our only hope,” Kent declared. “Something must happen tonight!”
They spent the afternoon at the lodge, and for supper Mac had his sausage. After supper they chatted and enjoyed their last evening in the hunting lodge. They arranged to take turns watching through the night, and Barry took the first session. While the others slept, he sat in a big chair back in the shadows, his eyes and ears alert. Mac followed him and then the others, but nothing amiss happened, and when daylight came, they were forced to realize that their last chance had passed.
“Nothing doing, we’ve failed,” remarked Barry, somewhat bitterly.
As soon as they had had breakfast they set the lodge in order and then left it, making sure that everything was in its place. At the edge of the lake skates were strapped on, and they struck out briskly. Before the sun had risen very high they had entered the mouth of Buffalo and were going downriver at a good pace. It was evident that they would arrive in Cloverfield soon after dark. But the thought did not make them as happy as it should have. They were deeply disappointed at their failure.
“Maybe we can come back in the summer and camp there,” Tim said, as they talked it over around the fire of their noon camp.
“The summer is a long way off,” declared Barry gloomily. “I wish we had landed him this time. But I guess we lost our opportunity once and for all.”
CHAPTER XIX
An Interview with a Client
As the boys had calculated, they reached Cloverfield well after dark. In discussing it at noontime, they agreed not to pause for an evening meal, but to push on and get home as soon as possible. Accordingly, they kept up a fast pace, and had it not been for frequent detours around snow-covered places and logs, they would have made it by early darkness. But as it was, they did well and saw the lights of their home city before them at 7:30 o’clock. By eight they had reached their homes, and Barry went in after a few final words with Kent. The light and warmth struck him pleasantly as he stepped in the door.
His mother and sister were in the kitchen washing and drying dishes, and his father was just coming up from the cellar, where he had been putting more coal on the furnace. They heard his footsteps along the hall and greeted him eagerly.
“We didn’t know whether you would get in tonight or tomorrow,” his mother said, as she kissed him.