Holding up the black paper, on which the white writing stood out in bold relief Tom read aloud:
“Be warned in time! Go back before it is too late! You are near to death! Go back!”
“Bless my shoelaces!” cried Mr. Damon. “This is getting serious.”
CHAPTER XV—THE LANDSLIDE
Gathered about the young inventor, the three men looked at the warning. The writing was poor, and it was evident that an attempt had been made to disguise it. But there was no misspelling of words, and there were no rudely drawn daggers, or bloody hands or anything of that sort. In fact, it was a very business-like sort of warning.
“Rather odd,” commented Mr. Jenks. “Black paper and white ink.”
“White ink is easy enough to make,” stated Mr. Parker. “I fancy they wanted it as conspicuous as possible.”
“Yes,” agreed Tom, “and this warning, together with the antics of the thing in white last night, shows that they are aware of our presence here, and perhaps know who we are. We will have to be on our guard.”
“Do you think that fellow Munson, whom we left in the forest, could have gotten here and warned them?” asked Mr. Damon.