“Somebody has got a fire in there—that’s sure,” he whispered. “I’m going to work my way around to the kitchen side of the building.”
With added caution the two youths crept along among the trees and over the rocks until they gained a point where they could look into the open kitchen of the bungalow. Here they saw an old gypsy woman moving around as if preparing a meal.
“I’ll bet that’s Mother Domoza, in fact, I’m almost certain of it,” whispered our hero. And he was right, it was indeed the gypsy woman who had caused so much trouble to the folks in Crumville.
The two chums crept closer, and were then able to see what Mother Domoza was doing. She had prepared some things to eat over a small rusty stove in the bungalow, and now she placed this food on a couple of tin plates. Then, with the plates in one hand and a tin kettle of water in the other, the old woman left the kitchen and entered the front part of the bungalow.
“Do you know what I think?” said Roger excitedly. “I think she’s been getting some food ready for the girls!”
“I’m going to follow her and find out,” answered Dave, with sudden determination.
“But, Dave, we want to be careful! If those other fellows are around——”
“I know, Roger. But I was thinking that possibly we could get into the bungalow without being seen. It is a big rambling affair, as you can see, and it must have a lot of vacant rooms.”
Our hero led the way across a little clearing, and then entered the kitchen of the house. Going to one of the doors, he listened intently and heard Mother Domoza ascending a creaking pair of stairs. Then he heard a door slam, after which, for the time being, all became silent.
Not daring to speak for fear of being overheard, our hero tiptoed his way across what had been the living room of the bungalow and then to the narrow stairs which led to the upper floor. Roger came close behind him, and soon the pair stood on an upper landing. All was bare, the entire building being devoid of everything but a few heavy pieces of furniture, evidently left there years before because the owner did not think they were worth carrying away.