* * * * *
They searched the "hotel" from garret to cellar. They searched the barn, boat-shed, out-houses.
While this was going on, Clinch went into the kitchen.
"Eve," he said coolly, "the State Troopers are after that fellow, Hal
Smith, who came here Saturday night. Where is he?"
"He went into Harrod's to get us a deer," she replied in a low voice.
"What has he done?"
"Stuck up a man on the Ghost Lake road. He ought to have told me. Do you think you could meet up with him and tip him off?"
"He's hunting on Owl Marsh. I'll try."
"All right. Change your clothes and slip out the back-door. And look out for Harrod's patrols, too."
"All right, dad," she sad. "If I have to be out to-night, don't worry.
I'll get word to Smith somehow."
Half an hour later Lannis and Stormont returned from a prowl around the clearing. Lannis paid the reckoning; his comrade led out the horses. He said again to Lannis: