"We didn't tell any lies about it. He took it for granted that the outlaws were arrested. All we did was to look wise and let him keep on thinking so." The boys chuckled at the recollection of the ease with which the dull-witted Slim had been duped.
"If only the rest of them are that easy!" said Frank.
"No such luck. I'm thinking this Black Pepper will give us trouble before we are through. He seems to have Lucky Bottom pretty well under his thumb."
"He has the sheriff buffaloed, at any rate, by the looks of things. If Bart Dawson hadn't shown up when he did I don't think Slim Briggs would have been put in jail at all."
The trail now led toward a clump of trees, and here there were evidences of recent habitation. Some of the trees had been chopped down, presumably for firewood, and the stumps rose above the level of the snow. There were numerous footprints about the little grove and in some places the snow was closely packed down. As the boys drew closer they caught a glimpse of a small cabin in the midst of the grove.
"We'll go easy from now on," said Frank quietly. "Some of them may have come back."
The boys went cautiously forward, keeping to the shelter of the trees as much as possible. Every few moments they would stop and listen.
But they heard not a sound. There was not a voice from the cabin. The only noises were the rustling of the trees in the wind. Quietly, the Hardy boys stole up toward the cabin. It stood in a little clearing in the wood. At the edge of the clearing they waited, but still they heard nothing, and finally Frank was satisfied that the place was, in fact, deserted.
"No one here," he said, in a tone of relief. "We'll take a look around."
They advanced boldly across the clearing, directly toward the door of the cabin. It was half open. Frank peered inside.