"We may be mistaken," answered Shep, "but we think we have made a discovery of importance."
"What kind of a discovery?"
"We think we have located the man who set fire to the sawmill and ran away with those documents!" answered Giant.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE DESERTED COTTAGE
Giant's announcement filled Snap with keen interest, and he wanted to know at once all Shep and the small youth could tell.
"We went directly up the lake," said Giant. "Took the road around the rocks that Jed Sanborn showed us. We found the nut trees, and——"
"Never mind the nut trees," interrupted Snap. "Tell me about that man."
"Well, back of the trees is a cleared spot—-maybe it was a farm some years ago, and in the midst of the clearing is an old, half-tumbled-down cottage. We walked over to the cottage and looked in at the window."
"And we saw a man sitting on a box with a barrel before him," put in Shep. "On the barrel he had a board and on the board were spread some papers that the man was looking over. The man was tall and thin, and had red hair and a short, red moustache"