"Not a bit of it!" exclaimed Bert, and the others agreed with him.
Leaving the game he had shot, Henry Burdock started off again through the storm-swept woods, while Bert and the others made themselves at home in the cabin. Mr. Burdock had showed them where he kept his food, and the boys and girls enjoyed a midnight lunch, for it was now after twelve o'clock.
It was about three in the morning when the hunter came back, to find his young friends asleep. He let himself in quietly, and not until daylight, when they awoke, did he tell them of his trip.
He had reached Snow Lodge safely, there to find Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey almost distracted over the absence of the children. Mr. Bobbsey and Sam had searched as well as they could, and they were just going off to arouse some nearby farmers and make a more thorough hunt when Mr. Burdock came in.
That his news was welcome need not be said, and Mrs. Bobbsey wept for joy when she knew that her children and the others were safe. They wanted the young hunter to remain until daylight, and go back with them in the sled, but he said he would rather go on to his cabin now. Perhaps he did not feel that he should remain in Snow Lodge, from where his uncle had driven him in anger years before.
Mr. Burdock gave Mr. Bobbsey directions how to find the cabin, and, as soon as the first streak of daylight showed, the lumber merchant and Sam set off in the big sled. Flossie and Freddie were not awake, or they might have been taken along.
And a little later Bert, Nan, Dorothy and Harry were safe in Snow Lodge once more.
For some days after this the weather was stormy, so that the young folks could not go far from Snow Lodge. But they managed to have good times indoors, or out in the big barn.
Then came another thaw, and a freeze followed some days later, making good skating. One afternoon Bert proposed to Harry that they go for a trip on the ice-boat.
"But not too far," cautioned his father. "We don't want you to get lost again."