The three boys set about felling the saplings, swinging their axes with a sure arm and hand. Barrows lingered to watch them at work, although Phil was on tenterhooks to have him get away in order that he might impart to his chums the information that he had gained from the sentence he had overheard at the cook shanty.
The poles being cut, four of them were erected in an upright manner to form the main support of the house. At the tops of these, four more were placed horizontally to support the roof. Then in the center of the front, two were erected to form the sides of the door, while at a side two others, in vertical position, allowed the making of a window.
Still the manager made no show of leaving until fortunately for Phil, who would have almost exploded had he been forced to keep silent any longer, he was called by the red headed cookee.
“Now quick fellows, while I have a chance to tell you. I have found one of the traitors in the camp; it is the cookee. He is going to meet some one tonight to hatch something out, and you chaps have one guess as to who it is.”
“Barrows?” hazarded Dick.
“Wrong. Baptiste LeBlanc!”
CHAPTER VI
THE LUMBER CAMP
“The LeBlancs again!” exploded Garry. “I thought that we had seen the last of that outfit. It seems that we are destined to run afoul of them. Fortunately this Baptiste does not know about us, unless he has run across his brother lately. That does not seem likely, for Jean is safely beyond the border still. There are few places where he is safe, for he is wanted in several different parts of the state. Still we must not take anything for granted. We probably were seen by Baptiste when we were instrumental in saving Howells from a bad beating or worse the other night.”
“How are we going to find out where the rendezvous is tonight?” asked Dick.
“It seems to me that the best thing to do is to keep watch of the red headed cookee; that is, you two chaps do that, while I will watch for the man that told him of the appointment. You boys haven’t seen him, so you cannot keep on his trail. You can take turns keeping in the vicinity of the cookee. If possible you might try and make acquaintance with him, although I doubt if you will go very far, since he seems to be a surly sort of a chap. Still, there’s no harm in trying. When it comes time for the meeting, I should say that it would be best only for me to follow them. I can understand what they are saying, and one of us could follow unobserved, where three would be spotted in a minute. You chaps can plead to being tired after your hike and the work of building the shack, and that will give us a chance to get to the new shanty early, and so be unobserved.”