Finally Bobolink burst out with:
“Say, you know Mr. Garrity is one of the owners of these ice-houses, fellows. I guess he must have come up here to-day to see for himself if the old building was as rickety as people said.”
“Huh! then I guess he found out all right,” growled Tom Betts.
“Never mind that now,” said Jack, hastily. “Mr. Garrity never had much use for the scouts, but all the same he’s a human being. We’ve got our duty cut out for us plainly enough.”
“Guess you mean we must clear away this trash with the help of these men here, Jack,” suggested Wallace, eagerly.
“Just what I had in mind,” confessed Jack. “But before we start in let’s all listen and see if we can hear anything like a groan.”
All of them stood in an expectant attitude, straining their hearing to the utmost.
Presently the listeners plainly caught the sound of a groan.