But, for all that, there had been visitors at the cabin on two different occasions. These visitors were in no way connected with each other, although they had the same object in view, as we shall presently see.
The first to come was a party of three boys—the same ones that George had met at the spring a few days before, and who had exhibited so much surprise and alarm at his sudden appearance.
Two of them carried bundles under their arms, and the third was provided with a spade.
That they did not want to be seen by anybody was evident. They spent an hour or more in reconnoitering the premises. Having at last fully satisfied themselves that George was nowhere in the vicinity, they made their way behind the cabin, and the one who carried the spade set to work to dig a hole in the ground.
This being done, the other two deposited their bundles in it, the earth was thrown upon them, and finally dead leaves were spread evenly over the spot, to hide all traces of their labor.
“That’s about the idea,” said one of the party. “We’ve put evidence enough there to remove all suspicion from ourselves.”
“I don’t think much of it,” said another. “If those bundles should be discovered before the rest of the work is done, it would spoil everything.”
“So it would,” admitted the first speaker. “But we must not wait long enough for that. We must pay our visit to Stebbins’ some night this week. Besides, I don’t see that these bundles are in any immediate danger of discovery. The constable won’t go to prowling about there until we put him on the track.”
“And we must do that as soon as we can,” said the one who had not spoken before; “for the sooner George is compelled to leave this neighborhood, the better it will be for us. If he should happen to stumble on our headquarters during his rambles, we might find ourselves in a pretty mess.”
The boys left the cabin as cautiously as they had approached it.