CHAPTER VII.
THE MYSTERY OF THE CABIN.
Max, in whose ability to understand all such things they felt so muchconfidence, spoke those surprising words, the others showed more or lessastonishment.
One by one they had to bend down, and put his assertion to the test, bypoking a finger gingerly into the little pile of gray ashes. EvenBandy-legs would not rest satisfied until he had thus copied the exampleof the others.
"Warm-say, it's _hot_, fellers!" he exclaimed, as he hastily snatchedback his hand, and commenced to blow the ends of his fingers. "Anyhow, Iguess I must 'a' just rooted out a live coal, for it burned like thedickens."
"Well, we know one thing that we didn't before," asserted Owen.
"Two, you'd better say, for they both sting like fun," grumbledBandy-legs, rubbing his injured fingers vigorously.
"Yes," said Steve, "somebody's been in this old cabin, and not so verylong ago, either; for they must have made a little fire about dawn, tofry a part of a partridge by. And if that's been all the poor critterhad for his breakfast, I'd like to wager, now, he must be hungry yet."
"I'm glad of one thing," ventured Bandy-legs.
"That you didn't get three fingers scorched; is that it?" asked Steve.
"Naw!" answered the other, indignantly, "Tell you what it is, boys; Ididn't believe much of it when they said it was ghosts up here onCatamount Island. Now we know there ain't none around."
"Well, how do you know it, Bandy-legs?" asked Max.
"Because ghosts--whoever heard of them wanting a fire, either to cookwith, or else keep warm? Still, that awful howl we heard last night--Ikeep wonderin' what it meant, fellers?"
No one attempted to answer Bandy-legs. They believed they had aboutexhausted that subject while sitting around the camp fire on theprevious evening, before starting to go to their blankets; and did notfeel like reopening the question.
"Let's get out of this," suggested Steve, with a shiver.
"Second the motion," declared Toby, speaking straight again.
"Unless Max wants to hang around a little longer, in the hope ofstriking a clew that might tell us something about this queer old place,and the mysterious party that's been sleeping here," Owen followed with.
"Oh, I think I'm done looking around in here," the one mentionedremarked, with a shade of disappointment in his voice; for Max dislikedto give up any object he had set out to attain.
"We might run across some tracks outside," suggested Steve.
"I meant to give that a try," Max explained; "but somehow I don't feelas if we'd have any great success there; because, when we came in Inoticed that the ground was kind of poor for showing footprints--rocky,and covered with dead leaves that have drifted in here right along."
But all the same Max spent some little time hovering around, now down onhis knees and closely examining the ground; again looking up at theswaying limbs of the overhanging trees, as though knowing that theycould explain the mystery, if only they might speak.
"Any use, Max?" called out impatient Steve, presently; for he had beenfretting at the delay for several minutes now.
"Give it up," returned the other, turning his back on the strange cabinwith its green roof and lichen-covered walls.
"Which way now?" asked Steve, evidently pleased that they were going tomake a move of any sort; for inaction galled him always.
"Back to camp?" queried Bandy-legs, hopefully; because he believed thatwas the one comfortable spot on all that island, and regretted everhaving left it; though they could never have tempted him to remain incamp alone; not on that island with the evil name, at any rate.
"Well, after starting out, we ought to poke around a little farther thanwe've done this far, I should think," Max replied; "still, I'm ready todo whatever the majority say; three against two has always been ourrule. How about it, boys?"
"G-g-go on!" exclaimed Toby, promptly.
"Same here," from Steve.
"Count me in," came from Owen, smilingly; for whatever Max thoughtright, his cousin could usually be depended on to back up.
"And I move we make it unanimous; because I don't just like being theonly one on the other side," Bandy-legs ended up with.
"That settles it, then; so come along, and we'll keep on to the upperend of the island," Max suggested, leading off, gun in hand.
"Oh, wait, I've forgotten something!" cried Bandy-legs, running back.
Steve groaned aloud.
"I just knew he'd remember that blooming old fish spear again!" hedeclared. "I saw he'd forgotten it, but I didn't say a word; because hekeeps turning the thing around so that a fellow don't dare call his lifehis own. See here, Bandy-legs, let me knock off a few feet from thatlong pole. Then mebbe you c'n handle the spear better."
"Oh, that's awful kind of you, Steve; I was just thinking of trying todo that myself, when you saved me the trouble," remarked Bandy-legs,sweetly, as he suffered Steve to take the long pole out of his hands,place it on two stones, and by jumping smartly on it at the weakestpart, manage to sever some four feet of the spear shaft.
"Now you can handle it better; and for goodness' sake keep it away frommy back," Steve went on to say; "there's no telling what you might do,if you got excited all of a sudden; and I wouldn't like to be taken fora big carp, or a sucker either."
So they turned their backs on the queer cabin, and once more plungedinto the tangle of vines and vegetation, making their way slowly onward.At times they could not even see the sun that they knew: was shiningabove the leafy canopy over their heads. But Max seemed to have nodifficulty whatever in keeping along a straight course.
"Don't see how he does it," muttered Bandy-legs, as he fumbled with alittle compass he carried all the time nowadays; for having been lostonce upon a time in the woods, he was determined not to take chancesthat way again.
"Oh, there are plenty of ways for keeping a course you set, even whenthe sun is behind the clouds," Max told him. "It's a poor hand thatdepends alone on seeing sun or moon to know his way in the forest. I cantell from the bark on these trees which is north; then the green moss onthe trunks tells me the same thing; and even the general way the treeslean points it out; for you'll notice that nine out of ten, if they bendat all, do so toward the southeast; that's because all of our heavywinter storms come from the northwest."
"All that's mighty interesting, Max," remarked Steve; "wish I knew asmuch as you do about traveling through the woods, and the things afellow is apt to meet up with there. The more I hear you tell, the moreI make up my mind I'm going to take lessons in woodcraft; but I neverseem to fully catch on."
"Well, it comes easier with some persons than with others," remarkedMax, who was too kind to say what he really thought; which was that inhis opinion boys, or men either for that matter, who are hasty andimpetuous by nature, never make clever hands in the woods, where patientlabor at times is the only method of solving some of the puzzling thingsthat confront one.
"Now we're getting near the upper end of the island," remarked Owen, awhile later.
"How do you find that out!" asked Bandy-legs, looking around himhelplessly, as if he really expected to see signposts to the right andleft, informing the traveler of the lay of the land.
"Why," answered Owen, "you see, the trees are getting lower, and not sothick, as the soil doesn't seem so rich down near the water. I can seethrough the upper branches here, and we couldn't do that before.Besides, I've been keeping tabs on the distance we came, measured bypaces; and I reckon we just must be near the other end of the island bynow. Max said it was about two hundred and fifty yards from top tobottom."
"Oh, is that it?" was all Bandy-legs remarked; but he beamed admiringlyon Owen from that moment, as though he might be sharing the halo ofglory that was hovering over the head of Max.
They did come out on the shore a couple of minutes later. Looking up theriver it was easy to see where the stream became narrow again, afterspreading out into the broad bay where Catamount Island was situated.
/> "And to think we've just got to go back that same way," sighedBandy-legs, dismally.
"Perhaps not," remarked Max, who had a frown on his face, as of newconcern. "I was just thinking that we'd better keep right along thebeach here, boys, and get back to camp as soon as we can. I reckon we'vebeen gone more than a full hour now; and that we may have done a foolishthing to come away, and leave things unprotected."
"Whew, that _was_ silly of us, sure enough!" ejaculated Steve; "and yetit never struck me that way till you mentioned it, Max. Yes, let's loseno more time, but get a move on us. Looks like we might have easywalking all the way, and get there in next to a jiffy."
"If so be those Shatters and Toots and Beggs are around, haven't we leftthings nice for them, though?" commented Owen. "If we're lucky enough toget off scot free this time, you won't catch us doing just that sort offoolish thing again."
"They might steal our grub!" gasped Bandy-legs, to whom such a thingwould be in the nature of a terrible calamity, since he did like goodeating above almost anything else.
"What about our canoes?" said Max, sternly, very much provoked athimself for having made this slip, when the others all seemed to look tohim to provide against any such mistake in judgment.
They hurried as much as the rough nature of the shore line allowed. PoorBandy-legs was put to it to keep up with his more nimble companions; andcame puffing along in the rear, sometimes tripping over the pole of hisfish spear, but holding on to the same with dogged determination.
And so, in the course of a little time, they rounded the point thatstood out just above where they had fixed their camp, and thus came insight of the beach upon which they had landed when reaching CatamountIsland the afternoon before.