“Of course not, you nut,” laughed Cavanaugh, glancing back. “There’s no such things as haunts, is there, Micky?”
McBride shrugged his shoulders. “I guess not, Cavvy,” he grinned. “I never saw one, anyway.”
“Nor anybody else,” affirmed the patrol leader positively. “Just because old Morford lived alone in the cabin for so long, and was found dead back in the woods, a lot of loafers down town have made up a lovely yarn about his ghost coming back and hanging around the place. It’s all the worst kind of rot.”
“I wonder why it ain’t ever been lived in since?” remarked Chick Conners curiously. “It’s been empty a couple of years, you said.”
“Sure, but who’d want it? It’s miles away from everything, and unless you found another old hermit like Morford, who spent most of his time rambling around the hills, I don’t know who’d have any use for it. Dad stopped there a couple of times while he was out hunting, and I was there once myself last fall.”
“Did you stay over night?” asked Barber.
“No, but I’d just as soon have. There’s not a thing the matter of it except a little damp. The roof’s tight and there’s some wooden bunks, and a dandy stone fireplace. I don’t know what happened to the furniture. I guess it was the homemade kind and was broken up for firewood. With some tables and chairs and cooking utensils and things, it would make a dandy place for the troop to come on overnight hikes. I only wish I’d thought of it before.”
“Well, we’ll have to make the most of it now,” said McBride. “Let’s speed up, Cavvy. It’ll be dark pretty quick, and we’ve got to rustle around for wood.”
“Plenty of time,” returned Cavanaugh. “We’ll be there in five minutes.”
Nevertheless he quickened his pace and for a while conversation ceased as the others followed him closely up the narrow, winding trail. One or two, like Barber, may have been slightly affected by the weird tales they had heard of the shack and its former eccentric owner, but the majority were simply curious for a glimpse of the place and eager to reach their destination and settle down restfully after their long tramp.