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CHAPTER XXXI
A PERILOUS RIDE

“Well,” asked Jack again, “will you go, or do I have to take the trip alone?”

“I’ll go!” cried Nat suddenly.

“And I!” “And I!” “And I!” added Bony, Sam and Will.

“Then let’s get the sled out and look it over,” said Jack.

The old sled seemed to be in fairly good condition. It was roughly but strongly made, as it had to be to stand dragging over the mountain trails. The boys hauled it to the edge of the slope.

“Get on,” called Jack as he began piling upon the flat top his gun and a package of food he had brought along.

“Wait a minute,” proposed Nat.

“What’s the matter now?” inquired Jack. “You’re not going to back out, are you?”

“No, but it just occurred to me that we’d better have some sort of a brake on this thing. If we get going down that mountain we might not be able to stop.”

“We don’t want to, until we get to the camp.”

“But s’pose we get to a ravine, or something like that?”

“Well, I guess it would be better to have a brake or drag,” admitted Jack. “I’ll tell you how we can make one. Get a long sapling, sharpen one end, and put it down through a hole in the back of the sled. When you want to stop, just jab it into the ground, and it will scrape along.”

“Better have two, while you’re at it,” said Sam. “Then we can steer with them by jabbing first one, then the other down. They will slew us around whichever way we want to go.”

“Fine!” cried Jack, always willing to give any of his chums the credit for a good invention. “We’ll do it.”

With a small hatchet, which they had brought with them, two stout saplings were cut, trimmed of their branches and sharpened to points. Then they were thrust down holes in the rear of the sled, near where the wooden runners came to an end.

“Now I guess we’re all ready,” remarked Jack as he surveyed the work. “Get aboard, fellows, for the Snow Sled Limited. No stops this side of Chicago.”

“And maybe not there, if we get going too fast,” spoke Bony grimly.

They had taken off their snowshoes, and piled them on the bob, with their guns and packages of food. Then the boys took their places.

“All ready?” asked Jack as he took his seat in front.

“As ready as we ever shall be,” replied Will, who was a trifle nervous.

“Then push off, Sam,” called Jack, for Sam and Nat had taken their places at the two brake poles. They used them to shove the sled nearer the edge of the hill, and then, as the sled began to move, they slipped the sharpened saplings into the holes again.

Slowly the sled began to go down the hill. At first the slope was gradual, and the speed was not great. Then, as the side of the mountain became more steep, the bob gathered headway, until it was moving along swiftly.

“Hold on, everybody!” cried Jack. “There’s a bump just ahead of us!”

The warning came only just in time, for the sled reached a sort of ridge in the slope, and bounded up in the air. The boys went with it, and as they stayed up a little longer than the sled did, when they came down they did so with considerable force, so that the breath was nearly shaken out of them.

“Ouch!” cried Nat. “I bit my tongue.”

“Lucky it’s no worse,” spoke Jack. “Did we lose anything off the sled, Will?”

“No, but your gun came near going,” for the food and other objects had slid around when the jolt came. “I held on to them,” went on the strange lad, who, from the association of Jack and his chums, was fast losing his odd manner.

“That’s the idea! Well, we certainly are moving now.”

And indeed they were. The sled was increasing its speed every moment, and was now whizzing along over the snow like some racing automobile, but with none of the noise. The snow, by reason of thawing and freezing, had acquired a hard, slippery surface, and the sled, the broad runners of which did not sink in, was fairly skimming along over it.

“Try the brakes!” Jack called back to Sam and Nat. “Let’s see if they work.”

“Put on brakes!” called Nat, giving vent to a couple of screeches in imitation of a whistle.

“That means let off brakes,” said Sam. “One whistle is to put ’em on.”

“What’s the odds?” inquired Nat. “Put your pole down.”

He was already shoving on his, and Sam did likewise. There was a shower of white flakes behind the sled as the sharp points of the poles bit into the snow. There followed a scratching sound, and two long depressions appeared to mark the wake of the bob. Then the speed began to slacken.

“They work all right,” Jack announced. “We’ll try how they steer, now.”

“Off brakes!” shouted Sam, and he and Nat pulled up the poles.

Once more the sled shot forward, coasting down the side of the mountain. Bony sat beside Jack, in front, while Will was in the centre, surrounded by the guns and packages.

“Wow!” exclaimed Bony suddenly. “There’s a bad place just ahead.”

“I see,” remarked Jack. “We must go to one side of it.”

The place was a little hollow in the face of the mountain, and if the sled, which was headed directly for it, dipped down into it, there might be a serious accident.

“Jab your pole down, Nat!” cried Jack, as he calculated to which side of the hollow it was best to pass. “Jab it hard.”

“Hard it is!” repeated Nat, as he bore down on his pole with all his force.

The result was more than they bargained for. The sled slewed suddenly around, and only by clinging desperately to it did the boys manage to save themselves from being spilled off.

“Let go!” yelled Jack quickly.

“Let go it is!” Nat managed to repeat, as he pulled up his pole.

The sled slung around straight again, and continued to slide, but the steering had been successful, for they passed well to one side of the hole.

“I guess a light jab will be all we’ll need to change the course of this schooner,” remarked Bony. “No more of those ‘hard ’a port’ orders, Jack.”

“That’s right. We had a narrow escape.”

On and on they went, Jack watching carefully for holes or rocks, that he might call orders to steer to one side or the other of them. The sled answered her “helm” readily, and, when there was need to slacken speed, the same poles served as brakes.

There was still a long snowy stretch before them, though they had come a mile or more. It was fully five miles to the bottom of the slope, where the valley began and where they knew the mysterious men were encamped.

The course they were on led almost straight down, and, by some curious freak of nature, it was quite like a cleared road down the side of the mountain. There were few trees in the path the sled was taking, and it seemed as if, in ages gone by, a great snowslide or avalanche had gone crashing down the declivity, preparing a path upon which, however, few would have ventured.

Now the speed, which had slackened on a place where the slope was not so great, became faster. The wind whistled in the ears of the boys, and the broad runners were throwing up a fine shower of frozen snow.

Faster and faster the bob went. It was skimming along like a great bird now, and the course was so clear that there was no need of steering.

Suddenly Jack spied, just ahead of them, a great boulder, partly covered with snow. To strike it meant a disaster, and the sled was headed right for it.

“Sam! Sam!” cried Jack. “Put your pole down.”

This would slew the sled to one side. Sam, bearing in mind what had happened when Nat put his sapling down too suddenly, gently dug his point into the snow. But, so great was the speed, that the sled was slewed around almost as badly as before.

But it cleared the rock, and then righted itself.

“Say, but we’re going some,” remarked Bony.

Jack nodded.

“Too fast,” he called. “Put on the brakes, fellows.”

Nat and Sam prepared to obey this order. They bore down on the saplings, but the sled seemed only to go the faster.

“Put on brakes! Hard!” yelled Jack.

“We’re trying to,” called Sam.

He and Nat bore down with all their force. They could hear the ends of the saplings scraping over the frozen snow, but they did not seem to take hold. There was no shower of frozen crystals – no depressions behind the runners.

The sled went faster and faster. Then Nat understood.

“The points of the brakes are worn off!” he cried. “They won’t take hold!”

“Take ’em up and sharpen ’em!” shouted Jack. “We’ve got to slacken up or we’ll be hurt! Sharpen the stakes.”

It was the only thing to do. The points of the poles, dragging over the hard snow, had been worn flat and smooth. It was hard work, putting points on them, aboard the swaying bob, but Sam and Nat, aided by Bony and Will, managed to do it with the hatchet. All the while the sled was skimming along, faster and faster.

“Jab ’em in! Jab ’em in!” yelled Jack desperately.

Nat and Sam did so. There was a scraping sound, as the sharp points bit into the snow, but the speed of the sled did not seem to slacken.

“The snow’s frozen too hard!” cried Nat. “We can’t stop it now!”

“You’ve got to!” yelled Jack. “We’re going like greased lightning!”

But, try as Nat and Sam did, they could not force the newly-sharpened stakes into the ground. Jack, Bony and Will added their strength, but it was of no use.

Faster and faster the sled leaped down the slope. The wind cut the faces of the boys, and the flying particles of snow, freed by the edges of the runners, stung them like needles.

“We can’t stop!” said Nat, hopelessly.

Straight as an arrow flew the sled.

“Look! Look!” cried Will, and he pointed ahead.

There, right in the path, and not a quarter of a mile away, at the foot of the hill down which they were shooting like a rocket, was a patch of blackness.

“It’s a lake! A lake of open water!” cried Jack. “Get ready to jump!”

CHAPTER XXXII
INTO A STRANGE CAMP

It seemed that this was the only thing to do. To remain on the sled, as it plunged into the black water, might mean that they would be drawn down into the depths, never to come up. So the lads prepared to leap from the swiftly-moving sled.

Yet they would not jump without their guns, and they hesitated a moment while they secured them. Then they moved to the edge of the bob.

But to leap from it, while it was traveling almost with the speed of a railroad train, meant no little risk. No wonder they hesitated, especially as there was no place to land but on the hard, frozen surface of the snow, down which they were sliding.

Still, it was a choice of two desperate expedients, and, as they supposed, they were choosing the lesser evil.

“Here we go!” cried Nat, as he crouched for a spring.

“No! Wait! Wait!” almost screamed Jack. “That’s not water! It’s ice! It’s ice! We’re all right! Stay on!”

He had called only just in time, for, as the sled came nearer to the black patch, he had seen, from the glint of light upon its surface, that it was hard, black, thick ice.

A moment later the sled, striking a little hollow place bounded into the air. It came down with a thump, and in another second was skimming over the frozen surface of a little pond. Straight across it flew, into a snow bank on the other side, where it came to an abrupt stop.

So sudden, in fact, was the halting, that Will, who was near the front end, was shot from the bob, and came down in the bank of snow, head first.

“Pull him out!” cried Jack, as he leaped off.

“Maybe he’s hurt.”

The others hastened to the aid of their chum, and he was soon hauled out. He seemed dazed, and there was blood coming from a cut on his head.

“Hurt much?” asked Jack anxiously.

“No – not much – hit my head on a stone under that pile of snow, I guess. But where are we?”

“Where we started for, I think,” replied Jack. “My, but that was a trip!”

“Petrified pole-cats! I should say so!” ejaculated Nat. “I thought we were goners!”

“Same here,” remarked Sam. “But we don’t seem to have arrived at any place.”

“We’re at the foot of the hill,” spoke Bony. “That’s something,” and he tried to crack his knuckle joints, forgetting that he had thick mittens on.

“Let’s see what’s beyond those trees,” proposed Jack, after they had rested, and he pointed to some dark pines that fringed one shore of the pond. “Bring your guns, fellows, and come on.”

“What about the grub?” asked Nat.

“Leave it on the sled,” replied Jack. “We’ll probably come back here.”

He led the way to the trees, and passed beyond the natural screen they formed, followed by his chums. No sooner had he penetrated the thick branches, than he uttered a cry of surprise. And well he might.

For in front of the young hunters was a strange camp, a large one, consisting of a big shed-like structure, with several small log cabins grouped around it. And the place smelled of gasolene, while from one of the cabins came a noise of machinery in operation.

“Boys!” exclaimed Jack, “we’ve found the place.”

“Yes, and there doesn’t seem to be anybody here to stop us,” remarked Nat.

They stood for a few moments on the edge of the camp, the secret of which they had tried to solve several times before.

“Come on,” said Jack. “Might as well take it all in.”

As he spoke the doors of the big shed swung slowly open. The boys saw a man pushing the portals, but something else they saw attracted their attention, and held them spellbound.

For the “something” was a great bird-like creature in the shed, a creature with an immense spread of wings, and from the big structure there came a peculiar throbbing noise, such as that they had heard in the air over their camp several nights.

“There it is!” exclaimed Nat. “There’s the monster that’s been flying in the air over our heads! They’ve got it captive, and they’re trying to tame it!”

The doors opened wider, the man pushing them with his back to the boys, so that at first he did not see them.

“Wow! Aunt Jerusha’s Johnnie cake!” exclaimed Nat. “See that bird.”

Inside the shed the great creature appeared to be fluttering its wings.

The boys were peering forward eagerly. Suddenly there sounded a shout, and from one of the cabins a figure ran.

“Jerry Chowden!” cried Jack.

Jerry had seen the boys. Pointing one hand at them, he yelled something to the man opening the shed doors. In an instant the man turned, went back into the shed, and the doors swung shut. Then, from other cabins came several men, running toward Jack and his chums. Jerry joined them.

“We’re in for it, now,” remarked Nat.

“Keep cool,” advised Jack. “They can’t hurt us.”

“That’s them! They’re the same fellows!” exclaimed Jerry, as he ran up.

“Glad to see that you recognize us,” remarked Jack calmly. “I was afraid you’d forgotten us, Jerry.”

“Hu! Think you’re smart, don’t you?” sneered the former bully of Washington Hall.

“None of this chinning!” exclaimed one of the men sullenly. “How did you chaps get here, this time?”

“Slid,” replied Jack laconically.

“Don’t get fresh. It might not be healthy.”

“That’s a fact,” went on Jack. “We slid down the side of the mountain on a sled, and landed on your little lake back of the trees.”

“You never did it!” exclaimed the man incredulously.

“Well,” said Jack slowly, “if you don’t believe it you can go back there and look at the lake.”

“Yes,” added Nat, “and if that doesn’t convince you, you can go look at the mountain, and see the sled.”

The man turned, and spoke a few words in a low voice to one of his companions. The latter set off toward the fringe of trees.

“Now, what did you chaps come here for?” went on the spokesman.

“To see your big bird fly,” replied Jack.

The man started.

“We haven’t any big bird,” he said.

“Looks mighty like one, in that shed,” went on Jack.

The man scowled. Then he resumed.

“Weren’t you warned to keep away from here before? Weren’t you told that your horses would be shot if you came?”

“Yes,” answered Jack, smiling a bit, “but you see we haven’t any horses with us now.”

“Hu! That’s a mighty poor joke,” sneered the man.

“I don’t think much of it myself, but it was the best I could make under the circumstances.”

Jack was as cool as a cucumber, while the man was visibly losing his temper.

“Lock ’em up!” burst out Jerry Chowden. “That Ranger fellow and Nat Anderson are always making trouble.”

“Say, when I want your advice I’ll ask for it,” said the man curtly. Just then the individual he had sent off to report about the sled came back.

“It’s there,” he said.

“Hum!” murmured the other. Then, turning to the group of men about him he said: “Better take ’em, and put ’em in one of the vacant cabins for the time being. Then I’ll decide what to do with them.”

“You haven’t any right to touch us, or detain us!” exclaimed Jack.

“We haven’t, eh? Well we’re going to take the right, just the same. You put your head in the lion’s mouth, and now you are going to be lucky if he doesn’t bite it off. Lock ’em up, men.”

Several of the roughly-dressed men advanced toward the group of boys. Jack’s chums looked to him for advice. He had gotten them into the difficulty, and it was up to him to get them out.

“See here!” exclaimed our hero boldly. “Don’t you lay hands on us. We are camping on this mountain, and I happen to know that it’s government land, and that any one has a right to travel all around it. We have just as much right here as you have, and if you annoy us I’ll appeal to the law.”

“There ain’t no law out here, sonny,” said one man. “You are suspicious characters, anyhow. Better not make a fuss now. We’re too many for you. Next time mind your own affairs and you’ll not get into trouble.”

The men had seized Nat, Bony, Sam and were advancing toward Will and Jack, who stood a little to one side of their chums.

One man laid hold of Jack, and our hero tried to wrench himself free. But the man was too strong for him.

Suddenly Will looked across the camp. He saw the man again coming from the big shed. For a moment it seemed as if the lad had seen a ghost, his eyes stared so. Then, with a cry he sprang forward, and ran toward the person near the big shed.

“Catch him!” shouted the man who had directed that the boys be made prisoners. “He’s locoed – crazy!”

“Andy will look after him! He’s running right into his arms,” said some one, and sure enough, the man did catch Will in his arms. The next moment the two disappeared inside the big shed.

Jack and his chums looked at one another.

“He must have gone suddenly out of his head,” said Jack. “That blow he got when he landed in the snow bank has crazed him.”

CHAPTER XXXIII
HELD CAPTIVES

“Now then, you chaps; are you going to come along quietly, or will we have to use force?” demanded the man who had hold of Jack.

“It depends on what you’re going to do with us,” replied the captain of the gun club.

“Well, I don’t know what we are going to do with you,” answered the man. “It will depend on what Andy says.”

“Who’s Andy?”

“That man who just captured your friend – the lad that tried to get away.”

“Look here!” burst out Nat. “If you hurt Will, or any of us, we’ll have you arrested. Hoptoads and hornets! but you haven’t any right to treat us this way.”

“Say, sonny, don’t use such big words, or you might break an arm or leg,” spoke the man sarcastically. “I’ve told you once that you hadn’t any right to come here, but now that you’re here, you’ll have to put up with the consequences. You’ll have to stay here, until Andy decides what to do with you.”

“Well, you’d better go ask him to decide at once,” suggested Sam. “We’ve got a long way to go back to camp, and we want to start.”

“Now just take your time,” advised the man. “You’re not running this.”

He took off his cap, and scratched his head in perplexity. He had a shock of thick, red hair, and for want of a better name, since he had not announced it, the lads dubbed him Sandy.

“Was that Andy, as you call him, who went in the big shed with Will?” asked Jack.

“That’s him. He’ll have to decide what to do with you, for I’m blessed if I know. He’s the boss.”

“Then go ask him,” demanded Jack, backing up Sam’s suggestion.

“I can’t,” was the reply.

“Why not?”

“Because Andy has given orders that no one but himself is allowed inside that shed, except on certain occasions.”

“Is he afraid the big bird will get away?” asked Nat.

“What big bird?” inquired Sandy quickly. He took a tighter grip of Jack’s arm, and the other men in the group, each of whom held one of the young captives, seemed waiting for Nat’s reply.

“Oh, we know you’ve got some kind of a monster bird in that shed,” went on Nat. “We heard it flying over our camp, and we came out here to see it.”

“Is that all you came for?” asked Sandy.

“That’s all,” put in Jack. “We wanted to solve the mystery of the strange noises, and the queer marks in the snow.”

“What queer marks in the snow?”

Jack told Sandy what he and his chums had seen, relating in detail how they had tried, on several occasions, to penetrate to the camp, and how, at length, they had made the trip on the sled.

“Now why don’t you go tell Andy, who seems to be the head of this crowd, what I say, and ask him to let us go?” went on Jack. “We meant no harm, but we’d like to see the bird.”

“So you think it’s a bird; eh?”

“Yes, or perhaps some prehistoric monster.”

Sandy laughed.

“You’re right in thinking Andy is the head of this camp,” he said. “We’re all working for him, but, as I said, he won’t let one of us go inside that shed without his orders. Since your friend went in there he’ll have to stay until Andy brings him out. Then you can make your own plea. Until then I’m going – ”

“If you’re going to hold us prisoners, you’d better think twice about it,” went on Jack. “My father has friends out West here, and I shall telegraph him of this outrage as soon as I get away.”

“Now go easy,” advised the red-haired man. “I’m not going to harm any of you, but I’m not going to let you get away until Andy has seen you. You’ll have to stay here, but we’ll make you as comfortable as possible. I guess you can stay in one of the cabins. There are some of them empty, as a number of the men have left.”

“Then we’re captives?” asked Jack.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it that,” spoke Sandy with a grin. “Just consider yourselves our guests. We’ll treat you well, and give you plenty of grub, such as it is.”

“We have some of our own,” Bony said.

“You haven’t any right to detain us,” declared Sam.

“We won’t discuss that again,” said Sandy. “Now be reasonable. S’pose I did let you go. You couldn’t get back to your camp to-night, over the mountain, and without horses. You’d have to camp in the open. Isn’t it better to stay in one of our cabins, where it’s nice and warm? Besides, it looks like a storm.”

Jack could not but admit that this reasoning was good. They had not counted on getting back, after their trip on the sled, but it was obvious that they could not coast back to camp, and if they had started to return, they would have had to pass the night in an open camp, no very pleasant prospect.

“Well,” said Jack at length, “I guess we’ll have to stay. But I don’t like the idea of being considered prisoners.”

“Well, don’t think of it then,” advised Sandy with another grin. “Now, you’re free. I let you go. Where will you head for?”

He released Jack’s arm, and motioned for his companions to do likewise for the other lads.

Jack looked about him. Clearly there was no place to escape to. Besides, it would never do to go off and leave Will in the hands of the enemy. There was nothing to do but to stay.

“Now, then,” went on Sandy, “you can go to that cabin over there,” and he pointed to a large one. “You’ll find some bunks there, a good fireplace, and some grub. Or you can use your own provisions, just as you like. All I ask is that you give me your word of honor that you’ll not leave without telling me first. It may be that Andy won’t want you detained at all, but I’m taking no chances. Will you promise?”

“Will any harm come to Will?” asked Jack.

“You mean the lad who ran into the shed? I can’t say. I know Andy will be very much put out at his going there, but I don’t believe he’ll harm him. Now, will you give me your parole, or will I have to lock you up?”

Jack hesitated a moment.

“I haven’t any right to speak for my chums,” he said.

“Then take a few minutes to talk with them. We’ll leave you alone for five minutes, and you can give me your answer then.”

Sandy and his men withdrew a short distance, leaving the boys in a group by themselves.

“Well?” questioned Jack. “What shall we do?”

“I don’t see what we can do but give him our promise,” replied Sam. “It will be better to be by ourselves, and comparatively free, than to be locked up somewhere. Besides, we haven’t discovered the secret yet.”

“That’s so,” agreed Nat. “I want to see what’s in that shed.”

“And we may be better able to help Will, by being somewhat free,” added Bony. “I’m for giving our parole.”

“All right,” agreed Jack. “I think, myself, that will be the best plan. I wonder what in the world can be in that shed?”

“And I wonder what’s happening to Will in there?” added Nat. “We must find out, if possible.”

“We’ll give our parole,” called Jack to Sandy, and the red-haired man approached the group of boys alone, having motioned to his companions, on hearing this, that they could resume their occupations.

“That’s good,” answered the red-haired man, apparently much relieved. “Now you can go over there and make yourselves at home. You say you have some grub of your own. Fetch it, and get busy. Nobody will disturb you.”

“And you’ll speak to Andy about us, as soon as you can; won’t you?” asked Nat.

“Sure thing. You’re only in the way here, if you’ll excuse my saying so, and the sooner you’re off, the sooner we can go on with our work.”

The boys went to where they had left the sled, got the packages of food, and, with their guns, which had first been taken from them, and then restored, as they gave their parole, they went to the cabin Sandy indicated.

The red-haired man seemed to pay no further attention to them, but entered another cabin, near the big shed, while none of the other men were now in sight. Jerry Chowden had also disappeared.

“They’ve left us to ourselves,” remarked Jack.

“Yes,” added Sam. “I wonder what their ‘work’ can be?”

“It’s got something to do with that gigantic bird, I’m sure,” said Nat. “Queer, though, it doesn’t make some sound.”

“Maybe it’s dead,” suggested Bony, absently cracking his finger knuckles.

“No, for we saw the wings moving when the doors were open,” said Jack. “They were evidently just going to let it out, when they saw us.”

“But what puzzles me,” went on Nat, “is why Will ran off in that queer fashion.”

“And why they’re keeping him in that shed,” added Bony. “Why don’t they let him come here with us? We’re all in the same boat, as far as coming here is concerned.”

“Maybe they’re going to make an example of him,” suggested Nat.

“An example? What do you mean?” asked Jack.

“Well, you know they’ve got a terrible big bird, or some monster in there. Maybe they’re going to feed Will to it – offer him up as a sort of human sacrifice, you know. Maybe these men worship that strange bird.”

“Say, you’ve been reading too many dime novels,” cried Jack. “Offer Will for a sacrifice! You’re crazy to think of such a thing, Nat!”

“I don’t care. Didn’t the old Aztecs make human sacrifices?”

“Yes, but these men aren’t Aztecs.”

“How do you know?”

“How do I know? Of course they aren’t! They’re Americans, all right.”

“But they’ve got some queer secret in that shed,” declared Nat obstinately.

“True enough,” admitted Jack, “and we’re going to discover what it is, if possible. But now let’s get something to eat. I’m hungry.”

They found a good fireplace in the log cabin, and plenty of dry wood, and soon had a roaring blaze going. They prepared a simple meal, finding a sufficient supply of dishes in the place, and after eating heartily of the food they had brought along, they felt better. It was getting late in the afternoon, and they prepared to spend the night in the hut.

“I wonder if Budge and Long Gun will worry about our not coming back?” asked Sam.

“No,” replied Jack, “for I told Budge I didn’t see how we could return, in case we were successful in getting to the mysterious camp.”

“Well, we got here all right,” remarked Nat, with an uneasy laugh. “The question is, how to get away.”

“And rescue Will,” added Bony.

“Yes,” continued Jack, “I don’t like the way he acted. I’m afraid his brain was affected by the blow on the head, following the fright at coming down on the sled. He isn’t very strong, and it wouldn’t take much to upset him. Besides, he’s been worrying about finding his uncle, and about the mean way his guardian has treated him. I certainly hope nothing has happened to him in that shed, but I can’t understand why that man Andy should keep him there.”

The boys passed rather an uneasy night, not only because of their strange surroundings, but on account of worrying over the fate of Will. Nor were they altogether easy regarding themselves.

“Well, we’re still alive, at any rate,” observed Jack, as he arose the next morning, and helped to get a simple breakfast. “Did any of you fellows hear anything in the night?”

“It seems to me that I heard people sneaking around the cabin,” said Bony.

“Same here,” added Sam.

“Guess they didn’t altogether trust us,” came from Nat. “They looked in on us every once in a while. I wonder how Will slept?”

“Guess we’ll have to wait to have that answered,” remarked Jack. “If I see Sandy I’ll ask him – ”

He stopped suddenly, and looked from a window.

“Here comes Will now,” he added.

“And that man Andy is with him!” exclaimed Sam. “Maybe now we’ll solve the mystery.”