“Sweet temper,” commented McBride. “Regular merry little sunshine, isn’t he?”
“He ought to be made to turn over those trees for Government use,” exclaimed Champ Ferris hotly. “I’ll bet he’s a regular pro—”
“Come ahead and let’s get out of here,” interrupted Cavanaugh hastily. “He won’t sell, and that’s the end of it. No use wasting any more time.”
He turned quickly from the door and led the way toward the path. At the corner of the house he paused for a second to send back a sharp, searching glance at the great pine tree beside the woodshed. Then he passed on, striding briskly along the path without so much as a backward look at the dreary gray house standing out against a background of equally dreary sky.
He entered the fringe of undergrowth that edged the clearing, passed thence into the stretch of woods and kept steadily on for several hundred yards. Then he stopped suddenly and faced the others, his expression alert and eager.
“Listen, fellows,” he said abruptly, in low swift tones. “There’s something wrong back there. Did you notice that pine tree by the shed?”
“Sure. It’s the biggest one I ever saw,” answered Micky.
“I wasn’t thinking about its size,” went on Cavanaugh hastily. “You remember the long limb that runs over the roof? Close by the house there’s a branch that’s lately been broken off and hangs down—probably in the storm yesterday. Well, just under the eaves at a point where that branch must have covered them—two wires come out and run over to the big limb!”
CHAPTER XXVI
THE HIDDEN WIRELESS
“Wires!” exclaimed McBride and Ferris together.