“I didn’t think you’d been here long,” said Granger, “for if you had I’d been likely to have seen you before. How long do you plan to stay?”
“A week or so; perhaps two; if everything goes all right. My name is Grant. Won’t you come up and meet the rest of the fellows?”
“Sure,” beamed Granger; “I’d like to.”
He followed Rod, who presented him to the others. Apparently he was a languid sort of a chap with a dreamy eye, and, for all of his seeming frankness, it was not long before the boys fancied they could perceive something mysterious in his manner. He told them he was occupying the old log cabin quite alone, his doctor having advised him to spend as much of the summer as possible in the open air. Nevertheless, although he was somewhat slender of build, he did not have the appearance of a person in poor health. Springer, seeking to draw him out, soon discovered that he knew very little about fishing and fishing tackle.
“Oh, I’m a greenhorn,” laughed Granger; “but I enjoy the sport just the same. It’s about all I have to do besides read, and a man gets tired of reading after a while. I have amused myself, however, by picking up some information concerning the legends hereabouts. You know this is really a most romantic spot, as well as one of the prettiest sheets of water to be found in all New England. If people looking for a summer’s outing just knew about it, they’d pack the Cliff House over there until it would be necessary to build an addition.”
“The lake would soon be spoiled if rusticators overran it,” was Grant’s opinion.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” retorted the visitor. “In one way, perhaps you’re right, but it would mean tremendous business and a lot of money for the hotel people. They took a big chance when they put up that house over there and sunk so much money in it. You see there’s a certain disadvantage in the fact that they’re so far from the nearest railroad point, although to many people that would seem like an advantage. The first two years they lost money hand over fist, although they advertised extensively in the regular manner. This is the first season that they have really done a fair sort of business, and I understand the business is increasing.”
“You sus-seem to be interested in the hotel,” said Springer.
“Oh, not at all, not at all,” returned Granger. “I’m simply telling you what I’ve heard, and it’s by the way of gossip, you know. We must have something to talk about.”
“Sir,” said Piper, “I reckon maybe you’ll pardon me if I inform you that we’re not much interested in the affairs of other people who have rashly ventured into the remote regions of these virgin wilds. It is only their ignorance or their foolish bravado that has led them thus to expose their lives to the perils of the primeval forests, and were the Wampanoags to take to the warpath, it is not at all improbable that the foolhardy palefaces over yonder would be butchered to the last man, woman and child.”