Ronnie stepped down from the log. “Hi, Bill. I just discovered the queerest thing. You take a look and tell me what you think.”
“Sure thing!” Bill was only too happy to comply. He climbed the log and, shielding his eyes, peered through the crack. A minute later he was down on the ground again facing Ronnie. “Looks like somebody’s been sleeping in there!” he exclaimed.
“Just what I thought!” Ronnie agreed. “And that looks just like the blanket Mrs. Butler lost yesterday. I know it because it’s the one she uses when she takes her nap in the afternoon. I’d know that Indian blanket anywhere!”
“Well! Let’s go in and take a look around,” Bill exclaimed.
“In?” Ronnie was flabbergasted. “Why, I don’t know how he got in! I just looked at the lock, and—and all the shutters are still nailed shut—I think.”
“Couldn’t be!” Bill started out on his own inspection tour. He joined Ronnie a few minutes later, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re right,” he said. “I couldn’t find any way to get in, either. You’d better tell your dad about this, Ronnie!”
“I’ll sure do that,” he said.
“And maybe your grandfather will open up and take a look inside to find out what’s going on.”
“Yea, sure.” Ronnie was still too deep in thought to pay much attention to Bill’s remarks. How had the intruder gotten in? he asked himself over and over again. Mrs. Butler had hung the blanket on the line the day before, and now Ronnie was sure that it was inside the boarded-up building. But who had put it there, and how had he gotten inside?
The boys didn’t give up searching for an answer until they had re-examined the four walls and had even climbed to the roof for an inspection. “Maybe he went down the chimney!” Bill suggested.