“Can’t you swipe a bottle or two?” asked Spotty eagerly. “I know what it is, for didn’t we have a high old time with some of it over at your camp in the swamp back of Turkey Hill?”
“I’d forgot about that,” laughed Lander. “We did have a racket, didn’t we, Spot?”
“Yes, and I had a headache the next day. Your old granddad’s cider is stout enough to lift a safe.”
“Oh, he knows how to fix it. He doctors it up with charred prunes and brown sugar and raisins, and mixes a little of the real corn juice in with it. A swig or two of that stuff is enough to make a feller feel frisky as a colt. Maybe I’ll be able to get hold of some to-morrow. Say, Spot, I wonder if my old camp is still standing?”
“Guess it is,” answered Davis, “though the log we used to cross over on is gone, and you can’t get to it very easy.”
“We can get to it all right now the swamp is froze up. That was a corking place, and I had some fun there till I got caught. We’ll have to take a look at it, me and you, the first chance we get. Maybe your friend Grant would like to come along.”
“Just now,” said Rod, “I’m particularly interested in acquiring the art of skating. What’s this camp you’re talking about?”
“A little old log cabin I built on sort of an island in the middle of the swamp back of Turkey Hill,” explained Lander. “It made a great place for fellers that was congenial to sneak off away from people and have fun. There was a sort of path through the swamp, and, by cutting down a tree and dropping it across the worst place, we could get over to the island slick. I had that old joint fixed-up fine, too, with bunks and blankets and an old stove; and you should have seen the stock of provisions I put in—everything a feller needed to live comfortable and feed well for a month or more.”
“Where did you get all that outfit?”
“Oh, I got it all right,” answered Bunk evasively, while Spotty smothered a chuckle. “If it hadn’t been for that sneak, Barker, who come prying around, I’d never had any trouble. Why, the great detective, Sleuth Piper, was fooled completely. He was all balled up on the big sensation that had everybody in Oakdale talking, and his deductions about it would have made a horse laugh.”