For a moment both boys were silent each trying to find some solution to the problem.
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” Bob finally proposed. “I’ll make a detour round back and mebby I can find a way to get up to the house without leaving any tracks. He may have a path out the other side or at the back. If I’m not back in about ten minutes you will know that I’ve found a way.”
Jack could think of no better plan so he agreed and Bob started. Jack leaned against a tree and waited. Slowly the minutes passed.
“I guess he found a way,” he thought as his watch told him that the ten minutes were up.
Meanwhile Bob, making a wide detour approached the cabin from the back as, contrary to the usual custom, it faced away from the lake. As he had hoped, a well beaten path led down to the lake.
“This is luck,” he thought as he slipped off his snow-shoes and stood them against a big pine.
Quickly he ran up the path and, as he had thought, found that there was a back door. It was not locked and without hesitation he opened it and stepped inside. The cabin was not a large one and had but one room, which was living room, dining room and kitchen all combined. For a moment, as he stood still and listened, a feeling of intense disappointment swept over him, the room was empty of anyone so far as he could see.
Had they had their long trip all for nothing?
But just then he heard a slight sound which seemed to come from a bunk which stood on the opposite side of the room.
“You didn’t make a very long trip.”