CHAPTER VIII The Upstairs Window
The boys slept soundly throughout the night, and it was seven o'clockbefore Tim opened his eyes and looked around the unfamiliar interior ofthe Bronson cabin. For a moment he was unable to place himself, and thenthe events of the previous evening came to him. A glance at hiscompanions showed that they were still asleep. The fire had long sincegone out, and the place was cold. He struggled up into a sittingposition.
"It certainly is cold in here," he decided, slipping out of the warmbag. "I'll get our fire going at once. And believe me, I want a morecomfortable bed than that one was!"
He shivered while pulling on his clothes, and it was with satisfactionthat he drew his heavy sweater down over his head. Then he looked aroundfor water in which to wash, but the little that they had was frozen.
"No bath until after I get the fire under way and melt some snow," hethought. "I'll probably need a wash worse after building the fire than Ido now, anyway."
Kent woke up and looked at him sleepily. "Hello, half-size! You're anearly bird, I see!"
"Yes, I am, full-size!" Tim retorted, reaching for his ax. "I'm goingout and gather worms for the rest of you lazy birds!"
"Fine!" Kent approved. "Hurry up and get a fire going, so that I can getup!"
"Anyone who isn't up by the time I come back with wood will get a snowrub," promised the Ford twin.
All of the wood had been used up on the previous night, and Tim wascompelled to go out and hunt for a fresh supply. Accordingly he steppedout onto the hard-packed snow before the cabin, his eyes quickly takingin the lake and the surrounding country. For a moment he paused, takingin the beauty of it all, unconsciously drawing a deep breath ofsatisfaction.
The sun was rising over the tops of the spruce and hemlocks and strikingfire on the sheet of ice. Icicles gleamed from the roof slope of the bighunting lodge. At the edge of the timber a rabbit hopped out into theclearing, looked around with a jerk of his brown head, and then streakedoff into the undergrowth.
"By ginger, it's a dandy morning. And those sleepyheads in there!"
Tim knew that it was warm and comfortable in the sleeping bags, but thebeauty of the new morning was worth looking at. He started off towardthe timber to get his supply of wood, and then noticed a small shackclose to the cabin. Investigating this, he was delighted to find a smallstack of firewood.
"Good luck! This will save me the trouble of cutting a supply rightnow."
He slipped the camping ax through his belt and carried a heaping armfulof wood into the cabin. By this time all of the boys were awake. Kentwas dressing, and Mac and Barry still enjoyed the comfort of the bags.
"I'm glad to see that you fellows have decided to get up at last," Timgreeted them.
"We were afraid to face your wrath if we didn't," Kent smiled. "You gotthat wood in a mighty big hurry."
"Yes, it was ready-made. Found a small supply of it in a shack around onthe other side of the cabin." Tim heaped it into the fireplace andtouched a match to the kindling. The boys watched the flame lick upwardand then spread with a crackling sound to the remainder of the wood.
"That feels good," Barry approved, getting up. "The whole outfit thanksyou, Timmy boy!"
"You can express your gratitude in a more lasting and practical way,"Tim informed him. "Now that I have built the fire, suppose you fellowsmake the breakfast."
"We'll agree to that," Kent said.
Barry began to open the package of bacon. "Tim, as long as you aredressed for the great out-of-doors, suppose you go get that longextension handle for the coffee pot from the sled."
"All right. Where's the sled?"
"Right outside the door," Barry told him.
"I don't remember seeing it there, but I suppose it is," answered Tim,as he made for the door.
Mac rolled up the sleeping bags and put them away. "Do we have to sleepthis way every night?" he asked.
"No, we've got to work out some plan for better beds," Barry replied."This floor is hard and cold."
Tim thrust his head in the doorway. "Say, that sled isn't here!" hecalled.
"Isn't there?" Kent demanded.
"No, sir, it is not. We left it right here by the door, didn't we?"
Barry hastened to the door, followed by the other boys. "Yes, we left itthere, with the long coffee-pot handle and a roll of canvas on top ofit." He looked around the ground and off toward the timber. "It is gone,all right. I'd like to know who took it."
Unmindful of the cold, they were all outside, standing in a group aroundthe spot where the sled had been left the night before. The snow was toosolidly packed to reveal any marks of the runners.
"Well, that means that somebody was around here last night while we wereall sleeping," Barry remarked. "When I threw some water out before Iwent to bed, I saw the front runner, so the sled was here at that time.Anybody hear anything?"
No one had. As if by common consent they all turned and looked at BluffLodge, standing solidly in the rays of the morning sun.
"When are we going to look through that place?" Mac asked.
"Sometime today," Barry promised. "But first we want to see if we canget our sled back." He studied the ground around the front of the cabin."Not a mark."
"Look here!" cried Tim, who had been doing some hunting on his ownaccount. "Somebody looked in the window at us last night!"
He pointed to a row of fingerprints on the ledge of the window, and theboys crowded around in excitement. There were ten fingermarks in thesnow that clung to the outside sill.
"I wonder if those prints were there before we came," Mac mused. "Thatsnow is hard."
"They have been made by somebody who leaned down hard," Kent decided,studying the marks. "You can see where the snow broke under his fingers.I didn't look at this window ledge before, so I don't know whether theywere here before or not."
None of the boys had noticed the marks, but all of them were inclined tobelieve that whoever had stolen the sled had peered in the window andhad made the prints. They were gripped with a feeling of mystery.
"Things are starting pretty quickly," Barry said, somewhat grimly.
Mac glanced inside the cabin door and then sprinted forward with ashout. "Hey! The coffee is boiling all over the place!"
The accident to the beverage was more of a benefit than an evil, becausethe boys had been standing in the cold air long enough to feel somewhatchilled. At Mac's frantic whoop they crowded back into the building, andKent rescued the blackened pot, scorching his hands in the act.
They lost no time now in dispatching breakfast, and during the meal theydiscussed the trend of events. The fact that someone had been close tothem during the night put them on their guard, and they determined tomake a search for the missing sled at once.
"We need that sled," Tim declared. "When we go back to town we don'twant to have to pack all the stuff on our backs."
"We can do it if we have to," Barry reminded him.
"Of course, but who wants to? I'm wondering if the one or ones who tookit did it for a joke or because they needed it."
"Might have been some of Wolf's crowd," Mac suggested.
"We don't even know if they are anywhere near us," Kent protested.
"If they are, I wouldn't put it past them," Mac went on.
They hastily cleaned the dishes and then left the cabin, locking thedoor after them. Another attempt was made to pick up the trail, butthere simply was no track to follow.
"Nothing doing, we'll just have to hike along and see what we can see,"Barry decided.
The rest of the morning was spent in a fruitless tramp through thewoods. They entered the timber back of the cabin and made a big circlearound to the east, going along for several miles until they came out onthe ice of the lake. During this time they passed only one home, wherethey talked for a moment with some poor children, who were the only oneshome at the time. In all respects it was a deserted mountain country.
; They got back to the cabin at noontime and dragged a dead limb up beforethe door, planning to chop some firewood a little later. Dinnerconsisted of a large rabbit that Mac had shot on the morning trip, andafter the meal was over the mystery hunters went to work. The twins andKent began to wash the dishes, and Barry went out to chop the tree thatthey had dragged in.
The plan for the afternoon was to make another search for the sled, thistime on the other side of the hunting lodge. The country in thisdirection was much wilder than that on the side where the Bronson cabinstood, and just beyond Bluff Lodge they could see the ragged side of anold granite quarry. It was also part of the afternoon program to explorethe lodge.
Barry worked on the limb with a sharp, long-handled ax, and soon thepile of stovewood mounted beside him. After a time he paused to rest,leaning on the handle of the ax. The vigorous exercise had made him feelwarm. His eyes traveled over to the lodge, and he scanned the place withinterest, until one fact struck him forcibly. Quickly he straightenedup.
His gaze was fastened upon an upper window in the low loft space of thelodge. This window was partly open, and, as Barry looked, a certainconviction came to him.
"It's a queer thing about that window. I've looked over there severaltimes, and I can positively testify that it wasn't open before!"