So they crept back to their former position and waited with what patience they could summon until daylight stole over the forest.
“I hate like the dickens to wake Bob and Kernertok so early,” Jack whispered. “But I feel it in my bones that something is going to happen before long.”
“What you call a hunch, eh?”
“Something of the sort.”
“You did just right, son,” Bob declared a few minutes later, after Jack had apologized for calling him and Kernertok so early. “We don’t want to lose a single bet now.”
After a brief whispered conference it was decided to separate two and two and keep a close watch at both the front and back of the cabin.
“Jack, you and Kernertok stay here where you can see the rear, and Rex and I’ll get round where we can see the front. If either sees anything the whip-poor-will call will be the signal. All right?” Bob asked.
“All right is right,” Jack nodded his head.
Bob and Rex crept slowly toward the lake and soon found a position where they had a fair view of the front of the cabin without much risk of being seen. They could hear nothing of the groans and Rex whispered that he hardly thought they would be able to hear them at that distance. For over an hour they watched, and both boys were beginning to get uneasy, when suddenly the door opened and a man stepped out, and a moment later he was followed by two others.
“I thought as much,” Bob whispered. “You remember them, don’t you?”