“It’s a wonder he wouldn’t open the door or at least call out,” Kent growled.
Barry took Kent’s flashlight and flashed the beam around. The shed was backed up against a dirt section of the quarry wall, and the windows were boarded up. It was impossible to look into the little shelter. He walked around on the far side and found that conditions there were the same. Then they once more stood before the door and listened.
Barry kicked the door. “Is anybody here?” he shouted. “We’re two boys that have lost our way, and we want to ask directions.”
The only answer was a profound stillness from the inside of the quarry shed. The boys looked at each other, and angry thoughts leaped into their minds. They had been adrift in the cold and storm so long that this lack of common humanity on the part of the man whom they had seen enter the shed aroused them.
“He’s hiding in there and won’t answer,” Kent cried. “We ought to kick the door in!”
“I’d like to know what he’s hiding for,” Barry said. “He must have some reason for not wanting to talk to us.”
CHAPTER XVII
The Black Shadow
Losing his temper for the moment, Kent launched two heavy kicks against the door of the quarry shed. The sound boomed out across the big cleared space, and the boys listened expectantly, hoping that this vigorous summons would bring results. But no answer came to them.
“Let’s break in,” Kent proposed. “We can’t freeze to death out in the open, and besides that, I’d like to tell that man inside what I think of him. We can crash that door down.”
For a moment Barry was swayed by the idea. It seemed to them as though they had been cold and lost for ages, and the prospect of warmth and shelter from the driving wind was alluring. But as he considered it, he shook his head.