"Oh, Flossie! There's a house!" he shouted.
"Where?" demanded the little girl.
"Right over there! Among the trees! Down near the shore!"
Freddie pointed and Flossie, looking, saw dimly through the fog the outlines of some sort of building.
"Let's go there and they can telephone to daddy that we're here," said Flossie. "I guess we're all right now. And maybe Bert and Nan will wish they'd come on a balloon ride with us."
"Maybe," agreed Freddie, as he tramped along with his sister under the rubber blanket toward the building on the shore of the lake.
But alas for the hopes of the children! When they reached the place they found that what Freddie had thought was a house was only an old empty cabin. It had once been used by campers or by fishermen, and at one time may have been a cosy place. But now the glass in the windows was broken, the door hung sagging by one hinge, and inside there was a rusty stove which showed no signs of a warm, cheerful fire.
"There's nobody here," said Flossie sadly, after they had looked inside and had seen that the shack was deserted.
"Well, but it doesn't rain so hard inside as it does outside," remarked Freddie. "Let's go in. This blanket makes me tired."
The rubber covering was rather heavy for the little children, and they were glad to step inside the cabin. Even though the roof leaked in places, there were spots where it did not. Picking out one of these spaces, Freddie moved some boxes over to it, and he and his sister sat down, tired and wet, but feeling better now that they were within some sort of shelter.