“Hager’s Hole?”
“Some call it Calico Cave.” The clerk rang up the sale and packed the groceries into sacks for convenient carrying. She did not seem inclined to carry on the conversation.
“Please tell us what you know about the cottage,” Judy requested earnestly.
“Really, I don’t know a thing. I shouldn’t have said a word. It’s just that it seems sort of queer about the tenants.”
“Did anything happen to them?”
“Oh, no,” the woman answered. “But the last couple stayed only two days. They moved out in the middle of the night. Since then Mr. Krumm hasn’t been able to find another renter.”
Chapter 3
HAGER’S HOLE
THE sun had lowered behind the spruce trees as the camp station wagon unloaded three sober-faced Scouts and their leader at the doorstep of Calico Cottage.
“I’m not certain that we should stay here,” Miss Ward remarked uneasily. “All this talk we’ve heard about the place makes me wonder if I’m acting wisely to allow the group to remain overnight.”