CHAPTER VII
THE PROWLER OF THE NIGHT
The six youngsters stood looking curiously at one another.
"I wonder who it can be?" muttered Dan.
"Some one who has no business here, anyway," returned Tom Reade bluntly.
"I wonder if it"s some one who did live here, or some one who thinks he"s going to keep on living here?" asked Dave Darrin dryly.
"Just the same, I"d like to know who has been living here," d.i.c.k went on. "For that matter, who would want to live here, in the depths of the woods in winter?"
"Well, we do, for one crowd," Greg reminded him.
"Yes; but we"re boys with a craze for open air and something different,"
Prescott maintained. "Now, if men have been living here, the case is different. Men don"t care about schoolboy junkets. If the man or men who have been living here are honest, I don"t mind. Such men will move on if they find that we"re here, and that we alone have the proper authority to live here. But suppose the men are not honest? Or rough characters?"
"It will depend on how many there are of them," responded Dan, with one of his broad grins.
"Why?" challenged d.i.c.k. "If we had to fight for the right to live in this cabin, how many do you think we could thrash?"
"Oh, I guess it won"t come to that," remarked Tom Reade coolly.
"And I hope it won"t come to that, or anything like it," d.i.c.k replied.
"But just the same, you"re going to be scared until you find out? Is that it?" laughed Harry Hazelton.
d.i.c.k flushed, but he answered honestly:
"Until something happens I can"t tell whether I"m going to be scared or not. Anyway, perhaps I won"t show the greatest amount of fright that is displayed around here."
"Now, you"re answered, Harry," muttered Dave in a low voice, his eyes flashing. "No fellow in this crowd has any right to doubt that d.i.c.k Prescott is all there with the grit when it"s called for."
"Can"t a fellow joke?" asked Hazelton.
"But, while all this talk is going on," chattered Dan, "I"m not growing any warmer."
"All lend a hand, and we"ll get the fireplace cleaned out and the fire going," urged d.i.c.k.
After that they made matters fly. The old ashes and hot embers were taken outside and spread. Logs were laid and coal oil spread over them.
A match was touched, flames leaped up in response to the heavy draft of the broad chimney, and the interior of the old cabin seemed ablaze.
"My, but that"s going to be plenty hot, and some more," chuckled Dan.
"Who"ll chop the ice at the spring and get two buckets of water?" called d.i.c.k.
"I will," Harry answered, and departed, Greg going along to help him. In a short time d.i.c.k had water boiling in a kettle that hung over the fire.
"I don"t suppose anyone cares for coffee?" proposed d.i.c.k, glancing about him.
In a very short time the beverage was ready.
"Aren"t we going to have something to eat, too?" Dan wanted to know, as the young campers gathered at the table.
"What"s the use of spoiling our supper, which is only a couple of hours or so away?" asked Dave sensibly.
Though the coffee was weak, it was hot. The youngsters soon began to warm up, and all became cheery.
"Oh, but this life is going to be great!" sighed Greg exultantly. "Say, fellows, I"m glad I thought of this way of putting in a vacation. Won"t the other fellows in town be crazy when they hear what a great time we"ve had?"
"What I want to know," Harry broke in, "is whether rabbits really do run in the woods in winter? My mouth is made up for some rabbit stew."
"Maybe we can buy a couple of rabbits, then, from some farmer"s son,"
suggested d.i.c.k dryly.
"Buy "em?" sniffed Hazelton scornfully. "Huh! Next thing we know you"ll want some one to come in and do the housework!"
"It would be better done, then, I don"t doubt," laughed d.i.c.k. "Now, fellows, the clock tells us that it"s quarter of four. That means something like an hour more of daylight. I guess we"ve a few things to do, haven"t we?"
"Get supper!" proposed Dan.
"That"s one of the things," nodded d.i.c.k. "Then there"s water to be brought in. In this nipping air I"ll bet there"s already more ice over the spring. Then we ought to bring in a lot more logs for the fire.
It"ll be harder work after dark. And some one ought to get potatoes ready to put on over the fire. Then we ought to select our bunks and get bedding in them. After that we want to tidy up this hard dirt floor.
Some one will need to wash the cups and saucers, and have "em ready for supper."
"Let"s have some system to it, then," urged Dave. "d.i.c.k, you look about and see what"s needed. Then set each fellow to his task--and all the rest will take any kicker down to the spring and duck him!"
"Lemme fix the potatoes, then," begged Dan. That being one of the "disagreeable" tasks, no one objected. d.i.c.k parceled out the tasks, and things were soon humming. While they were still busy, darkness had settled down. But Greg had filled the lamp and the lantern, and had them going, though the big, red fire filled the whole cabin with light.
"Whee! But this is jolly!" cried Greg, as he stood arranging his bedding in the bunk he had chosen.
"It"ll be more like fun to-morrow, though," suggested d.i.c.k, "when we can have a whole, daylight day out in the woods. But I think we"re all going to be mighty comfortable here."
That was the general feeling. The Grammar School boys found themselves filled with contentment.
"How are the potatoes coming on, Danny?" inquired Tom. "I"m so hungry I can hardly stand up."
"Ready in ten minutes more, I reckon," Dan answered cheerily.
"Bully!"
Greg was cutting bread and getting b.u.t.ter out of a gla.s.s jar. Dave had busied himself with opening two tins of meat. They had fresh meat, but the latter was to be used on the morrow when their housekeeping arrangements had been better made. For the present the meat and some other perishable articles of food rested on the ground outdoors, under an overturned box on which three large stones had been placed as weights.
"It"s six o"clock," called d.i.c.k at last. "Are we going to eat on time?"
"I"m all ready with the potatoes," Dan called back.