“That’s that!” exclaimed Biff cheerfully.
“He didn’t have a leg to stand on, did he?” added Chet.
“I don’t think we’re through with Hanleigh yet,” said Frank thoughtfully. “He isn’t the sort to back down so easily at the first sign of fight. I have an idea that we’ll see him on Cabin Island again before very long.”
“Let him come,” said Chet. “We have the authority. All he has is nerve. Let’s put the ice-boats up in the bay and get our stuff unloaded.”
The boys turned and went back toward their ice-boats.
“Just the same,” muttered Joe, “I’d like to know what he was up to, measuring that fireplace so carefully.”
Joe’s thought was echoed in the minds of all. There was some mystery about Hanleigh’s visits to Cabin Island.
CHAPTER IX
Night on Cabin Island
It took the boys the greater part of the day installing themselves in the cabin on the island and “getting everything shipshape,” as Chet expressed it, by nightfall. After they had made the boats secure they were obliged to make numerous trips from the shore to the cabin, bringing up supplies, but by the time the early winter twilight fell they had managed to make the place very cosy and habitable.
They were too busy to discuss the strange affair of Hanleigh. Mid-afternoon had brought a rising wind that sent sheets of snow scurrying across the frozen surface of Barmet Bay and they saw that a storm was approaching, which made them more anxious to get settled by night.