"Frank, you"re all to the good there, that must be our goal," Bluff hastened to a.s.sert; for indeed since there was no other similar projection of the sh.o.r.e in sight, it seemed reasonable to believe Cabin Point was before their eyes.
"We"ll soon settle that matter," observed Frank, once more making a start.
They did not have far to go, for the half-concealed and wholly overgrown trail reached the lake close to the wooded cape. Perhaps long before, when loggers had a camp in that region while felling the virgin growth of forest, the point of land was a favorite camp with them. That would account for the trail, and why it had grown up in recent years.
Once on the ground, they began to look earnestly for signs of the abandoned cabin which it was hoped would afford them shelter during their outing. For some little time this search bore no fruit, and Will was beginning to feel quite disconsolate.
"Looks to me as if it was going to be our job to start a brush shanty that will give us shelter for a couple of nights till we can put up a more substantial affair," he told Bluff, who happened to be close to him, looking to the right and to the left in a vain attempt to be the first one to make a pleasant discovery.
Will had hardly spoken when they heard a call from Jerry.
"I might have known it was no good trying to beat his sharp eyes out,"
grumbled Bluff, as though really disappointed because he had failed to locate the cabin.
"What difference does it make who turns the trick?" ventured Will, looking happy again; "so long as it"s done. The end and not the means is what counts. h.e.l.lo! Jerry, have you struck pay dirt?"
"Here it is!" came the triumphant answer, and the others hurried forward, to discover the log structure partly concealed from view by branches of trees, vines, moss, and every sort of green growth.
"No wonder we couldn"t see it easily," expostulated Bluff; "everybody doesn"t happen to have microscopic eyes like Jerry here. I warrant you now I pa.s.sed within thirty feet of this spot several times, and never tumbled to what was so close by."
"One of the first things we"ll do, fellows," suggested Frank, "will be to get busy and cut down a lot of this stuff that keeps us from having a fine outlook over the bay and the big lake beyond."
"How about the cabin itself?" asked Will. "Seems to me the chimney is sort of dilapidated on top."
"That can be soon remedied, and I"ll take care of it," Frank a.s.sured him. "Then this door is hanging on one rusty hinge; we"ll find a way to stand it up again. Let"s step inside and look around a bit; I"m more anxious about the roof than almost anything else, for that"s apt to leak like a sieve until we fix it."
"Go a little slow," Will warned them, "for I"ve known of wild cats or other wild beasts taking up their quarters in an abandoned cabin."
This remark caused Bluff and Jerry to laugh, for they could themselves look back to a ludicrous experience of the kind.
It turned out that the cabin had no ferocious occupant and upon investigation they found that the roof was not very bad after all.
"In one corner only it looks as if the rain had come in," said Frank finally; "or water when the snow melted, which tries a roof more than anything else. Why, given half a day and we shall have a weather-proof top all over. Take note of that big yawning fireplace, will you? I can see what jolly times we"ll have sitting around there on cool nights; and up here we"re apt to have many such."
"We can make bunks against this wall where you can see the remains of two right now," Bluff intimated.
"Until then we"ll spread our blankets on the floor and rough it, which suits me all right," Jerry announced.
Will had lowered his burdens to the floor. He seemed anxious to get settled after some fashion. First of all he opened the new bag. The other boys were still looking curiously around, finding a number of interesting features connected with the lone cabin on the point, when they heard Will give a cry of utter astonishment. Turning quickly they saw him staring down into the bag he had opened, with a look of consternation on his face.
CHAPTER IV
AS BUSY AS BEAVERS
"What under the sun ails Will?" demanded Bluff.
"It"s his bag, don"t you understand?" added Jerry. "Something"s happened to upset him terribly. He looks as if he"d seen a ghost. Ten chances to one now he forgot to put the films in."
"What is it, Will?" called out Frank, who, being busy just then, had only turned his head when the cry bubbled from the other"s lips.
"Oh! Frank, they"re gone!" gasped Will.
"What"s that? Do you mean your films?" demanded the other.
"Yes, oh yes, gone, worse luck! I don"t understand it at all. Seems as though I must be dreaming, Frank!" and Will began to rub his eyes vigorously, as though by that means he hoped to get his proper sight back; after which he stared again at the open bag on the floor.
"You"re dead sure you put them in the bag, are you, Will?" questioned the skeptical Jerry.
"Of course I am!" he was indignantly told. "But I can"t understand where these silly things came from. They don"t belong to me, that"s sure."
"h.e.l.lo! here"s a mystery all right," said Bluff, scrambling to his feet and hurrying over to the other; in which action he was immediately imitated by the other two.
"Well, I declare that"s queer!" burst out Jerry; "a lot of golf b.a.l.l.s, a white sweater, and a pair of rubber-soled shoes! Why, Will, what has happened?"
"I"m sure I don"t know," said the bewildered one, shaking his head sadly. "Here I pack my films and a few other little things in this new bag, and start out. Then when I open it, see what I get! Who"s been playing a trick on me, I"d like to know?"
"Wait a minute," interrupted Frank, just when the injured one was beginning to frown and look suspiciously at Bluff and Jerry; "n.o.body here has had a hand in the thing, Will; but I think I know what happened."
"Then for goodness" sake, Frank, hurry up and tell us!" cried Bluff; "for Will here is beginning to have awful thoughts, and looks at me as if he could eat me."
"Yes, please explain the mystery, Frank, if you can," pleaded Will.
"To my mind it"s as simple as anything could well be," began the other, soberly.
"You remember our meeting on the road with the young chap calling himself Gilbert something or other? Well, I happened to notice that the bag he carried was as near like your new one as two peas could be.
When he hurried away to catch his train in his excitement he must have unconsciously picked up the wrong bag!"
"Then this one belongs to him, does it?" asked Jerry.
"Don"t you remember," remarked Frank, "his saying something about his being runner-up in the amateur cla.s.s of golfers, and that he was going to a tournament right then, which accounted for his haste?"
Will uttered a deep groan. He was evidently very much dejected over the unfortunate accident that had befallen him so early in their outing.
"What tough luck I"ve struck!" he said, as he stared down at the golf b.a.l.l.s, as useless to him as so many stones. "I do hope that chap won"t be so mad when he finds out what he"s done as to destroy my precious films. What if he went and put a match to them? You know they"d flame up something fierce, and it"d be good-bye to all my hard work up in Maine."
"Oh! the chances are small that he"d be so venomous as all that,"
returned Frank, "especially when he must know it was all his own fault."
"But what do you think he"ll do about it?" questioned Bluff.
"If I were Gilbert," suggested Jerry, drily, "my first job would be to hire some caddy with a heavy foot to kick me good and hard. Then I"d set out to get a new sweater and another supply of golf b.a.l.l.s. Later on I"d make it a point to head back this way and hunt you up, to apologize humbly and to hand over your bag intact."
"Well said, Jerry," was Frank"s hearty commendation.
Will picked up a little hope at that. Perhaps after all matters might not be quite so bad as they looked at first glance. Even if he did lose a week of time, there were plenty of other things he could be doing, since he had his camera and flashlight apparatus intact.