The two Cubs climbed the stairs and entered the dark Cave. Dan groped his way to the table and lighted the wick of the kerosene lamp.
In its flickering light, the room somehow did not appear exactly as he had left it. His chair lay overturned. Papers on the table were very disordered. Dan did not recall having left them so.
Not wishing Ross to see the coded message upon which he had been working, the boy looked about for it. But the paper was not on the table. Nor could he find it anywhere on the floor.
Even the scratch papers on which he had written various combinations of letters, had disappeared.
“Lose something?” Ross inquired as his gaze traveled about the well-furnished room. He added admiringly: “Nice diggings you have here! Wish our Den had a cave.”
Dan, thumbing through the loose papers on the table, made no reply.
“What’s wrong?” Ross demanded.
“I’m looking for some work I was doing when you broke in here,” Dan answered reluctantly. “Ross, you didn’t—”
“How could I have taken anything?” the other demanded. “You were hot on my heels every minute.”
“Yeah, that’s right, Ross. You were alone when you came here?”