Tim called their attention to a pump on the back porch. “Here we are, melting down snow, and a good pump close to us.”
“Bet it is frozen stiff,” Barry objected.
“Even so, if some hot water were poured down it to prime it, I believe that we could use it,” Tim said.
“Well, let’s get on upstairs,” proposed Barry. “We came over here to see about that window.”
They went down the hall and through the living room to the big hall. Barry led the way up the stairs until they came to a door. This was not hard to open, and they found themselves in the attic or loft space of the hunting lodge.
It was a large open space and seemed to be almost empty. A broken bobsled was over against one slope of the roof, and two dusty saddles hung from nails. There were only two windows in the upper section of Bluff Lodge, and one of them was slightly open. Barry crossed the floor of the attic and shut the window, peering out.
“Look at those prints in the snow,” he said. “It seems as though someone may have crossed the roof and come in this window. There is enough roof for anyone to walk on.”
“Then those tracks were made some time back,” reminded Kent. “We haven’t had any snow lately. You can see how the snow melted down into the tracks.”
“Yes, no doubt of it, the tracks are old,” Barry agreed.
Two chimneys rose straight through the attic, and Mac wandered around restlessly. The chimney from the lower hall took up little space, but the living-room chimney rose several feet to push its way through the roof. Mac walked around this brick column while the others looked out of the window toward their cabin.