She made a quick motion with the rifle, though she did not lift the muzzle, which still pointed downward. There was no mistaking the implied threat or the fact that the boys were not wanted. Mac felt angry at their unfriendly reception, but he felt it best to retreat at once.
“All right,” he said. “We only wanted to buy a little coffee. We weren’t going to ask you to give it to us. Come along, Tim.”
“We got no coffee. We got not’ing,” the woman repeated, and the twins turned and walked off, their eyes on the alert for any sudden move. But the woodsman and his wife stood by the flickering fire motionless.
No word was spoken until they were around the rock bluff, and then the boys looked at each other. “What do you make of that?” Tim asked.
“Well, I’ll be hanged if I know,” Mac cried. “Wasn’t that the limit? They acted as if we were a couple of criminals.”
“That’s probably what they are,” Tim advanced. Mac came to a halt.
“Why, of course! He said something about following them. I’ll bet those two are a couple of bad eggs. Maybe we’re lucky we got away from them.”
Tim urged him on. “Let’s get back to the camp,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “See what the other boys think about it.”
When they stalked into camp a delightful smell of pork and beans greeted them. Kent was piling fresh wood on the fire, and Barry was stirring a fork around among the beans. The sled had been cleaned off and was ready to serve as a table.
“Hello, what luck?” Barry hailed. “Get any coffee?”