No one was in sight.
"That's queer. I wonder if they entered that building in the rear?"
For fully ten minutes Hal hung around, but neither Hardwick nor Ferris put in an appearance.
A wagon was leading up on one side of the yard, but presently this drove off, and then all became quiet.
Watching his chance, when he thought no one was observing him, Hal entered the gate of the lumber-yard and hurried down to the building in the rear.
There was a window beside the door to the place, and Hal gazed inside.
An elderly man was present. He was seated beside a hot stove, toasting his shins and reading a morning paper.
"They didn't enter the office, that's certain," said Hal to himself. "Now, where did they go?"
Suddenly he stopped short. Was it possible that Hardwick and Ferris had discovered that they were being followed, and had slipped through the lumber-yard merely to throw him off the scent?
"It certainly looks like it," thought Hal. "I'll sneak around the back way, and see what I can discover."