“The boys may not get him, and if we lose him this time we’re sunk! If I had my hunting rifle I’d go back along the tunnel and call on him to surrender, but I haven’t a thing, and I imagine that the man is armed or at least able to put up a good fight. It would be suicide to follow him through the passageway. But I must get back!”
There were just two ways open to him: through the underground tunnel or by way of the woods. Of course the secret passage was the quickest route, but it was also the most dangerous. Barry decided not to risk it.
“It will take me a little longer to dash through the woods, but it will be a heap safer,” he reflected. “If I went through the tunnel and met the spook face to face, I’d never be able to get away, and I’ve simply got to get back and warn the people at the lodge!”
Rising from his stooping position, Barry began to run toward the shed. He did not like the idea of having to pass it, for the man might have found out that someone had been in the passage, and might have returned to investigate the vicinity of the quarry. There was a chance that the black shadow might step out of the shed just as he passed, and if that happened things would not be well for the boy. But there was no help for it, and he sprinted past, glancing sideways in some alarm and ready to increase his speed if need be. The door of the shed, however, remained closed, and no one challenged him as he sped past.
“Good luck!” he exulted, as he left the quarry and plunged into the woods. “I made that all right, and now if I can get to the lodge just about as soon as he does, everything will be all right.”
He did not take the exact path that he and Kent had taken on the night of the big storm, since they had gone in a roundabout way, but, relying on chance, he cut across the timber belt in a straight line, hoping that he was not making any mistake. Running was not easy because the snow was loose and the under snow had melted and then frozen again, making slippery footing. Occasionally his foot hit the root of a tree or a stone, and once he dropped on one knee and only saved himself from a complete fall by his outflung hands. But he struggled on, determined to reach the ones in the lodge as soon as possible.
When he reached the edge of the trees he saw the man in black sneaking from the tool house toward the rear porch of the lodge. At the same time something happened that caused the black shadow to stop and flatten himself against the wall of the house and made Barry halt in his run.
There was a sudden stir and some shouts, and then Coach Jordan and the other boys came running across the porch and jumped into the snow. Watching with bewildered eyes, Barry thought for a moment that they had somehow discovered the presence of the black shadow, but they did not come along the side of the lodge building, but dashed across the snow in the direction of the Bronson cabin. Barry followed them with his eyes, and then he noticed that the sleighs were gone. The situation began to dawn upon him.
“Somebody has taken the sleighs, and the boys are after them. Carter Wolf said he was going to do something to break up our party, and I guess he’ll do it in one way or another. Some of those sleighs are borrowed, and I hope they don’t smash them up in any way.”
He wondered what the man in black would do and once more looked in his direction. The prowler had been as completely surprised as Barry had been, and while the boys were running he remained perfectly still, pressed close against the wall. But now he had glided in swift retreat to the back porch, which afforded more shelter.