“No—for a very good reason. As your next of kin Rayner and his father would step in if you died. The fellow has been working to that end all the time—he’s working now! And he’s cunning—most damnably cunning. The way he arranged your father’s death proves that, and if Miss La Farge here is right, and Adrian Rayner is the man behind the gun, then we’re in a hole. The fellow will show us no mercy. He——”
“S-s-s-h-h!”
As she gave the warning, Miss La Farge lifted a hand, in signal for silence, and bent forward in a listening attitude. The other two listened also, but heard nothing save the splutter and hiss of the logs on the fire.
“What is it?” whispered Bracknell.
“Some one walked round the cabin. I heard him quite plainly. Ah—again.”
They listened. Crunch! crunch! came the sound of footsteps in the frozen snow outside. All round the cabin the steps passed, slowly, as if some one were making an inspection, and whilst they still sat listening, the steps receded and passed out of earshot. They looked at one another and Bracknell was the first to break the silence.
“A pretty cool customer, whoever he is! He was spying out the land.”
“Yes!” answered Miss La Farge in a half whisper.
“I wonder what he will do?” said Joy.
“Nothing, if he is wise,” answered Bracknell slowly. “Having walked round he’ll have made the discovery that we keep our wood at the rear of the cabin, and he’ll easily guess that we have no great stock inside. He has only to wait until the necessity for replenishing the stock arrives, and then he can get one of us at any rate.... He’ll know we have no dogs, and that we are tied to the cabin——”