  For a moment after Tim’s discouraging words the twins stood and stared helplessly out at the darkness of the night. From every angle the situation was a serious one. If the country had been familiar to them, they would have attempted to go out and look for Barry and Kent, but they had only a sketchy notion of the hills and valleys. The wind was blowing the snow around in such a way that even the stoutest woodsmen might have been confused and lost on such a day. To the Ford boys it seemed anything but cheering that their chums were somewhere abroad in the storm and darkness. “I wish I knew what to do,” Mac confessed, after they had stared out into the night for some time. Tim turned from the window and took off his hat and coat. “The first thing we had better do is to get our things off,” he recommended. “It is getting mighty warm in here now. Then we had better get supper ready. They might come in yet, Mac. Maybe we’re only borrowing trouble.” “It may be,” his brother agreed, brightening up. “They may have waited at Fox Point until it blew over and will be here later. But if this keeps up, they’ll have to come here on snowshoes.” “Yes, it is getting deep. Well, what shall we do about supper? We aren’t going to build a kitchen fire, and we won’t eat in that big dining room.” “No, we can make this room our headquarters for about everything,” Mac nodded. “Let’s bring in that table from the kitchen and set it right here by the fire. It will just fit our needs.” Willing to occupy their minds with something besides worry, the two boys went to the kitchen and carried out the small table that Mac had spoken about. It was just large enough for the four of them, and they found clean knives and forks in the drawer, but Tim washed them for the sake of safety. After this was done he put them around the table. “I’ll set four places,” he said. Mac glanced at the clock and noted that it was close to six. “Sure, set four places, they’ll be along soon,” he said, but his voice lacked conviction, and both of them were more alarmed than they would care to admit. “What shall we have for supper?” Tim inquired, beginning to dig among the stores that they had brought over from the cabin. “I was hoping to have sausage,” Mac smiled. “But I guess we had better not count on it. Open a can of pork and beans. I’ll fix the coffee.” For a while they worked silently. The fire was a mass of glowing red coals, and the room was lighted by one lamp. They could see well enough by this light and did not intend to light another one, because they thought it best to save for an emergency. Tim put the beans on to warm, and Mac made coffee. While these things were coming along, the brothers sat on the wicker couch and stared into the fire. “I hope the other boys aren’t cold while we are enjoying this fine fire,” Mac murmured. “They may be around the stove at Fox Point,” Tim hoped. “Sure. On the other hand, we can’t help but realize that they may be out in the woods, wandering around. Hang it all, I hate waiting worse than anything else on earth!” Tim sprang up and went to the window, peering out. “So do I. I wonder——No, the storm is pretty bad, and we had better not get away from the lodge. Listen to that old wind!” Mac couldn’t help listening to it. With a shrill, whistling sound it tore around the lodge and made some of the windows rattle. The fire in the grate was vigorous and glowing because of it. Already the coffee was bubbling, and a tempting odor came from the pot on the coals. Had the other boys been there with them, they would have thoroughly enjoyed it all, but just now its attraction was lost in the air of uncertainty that surrounded them. “I think we moved out of the cabin just in time,” he said. “That little old place is something of an antique, and it was colder than it should have been. I’ll bet the wind is coming in under the door over there.” Tim nodded, looking around the room they were in. “Yes, this surely is a great improvement. Wicker couch and chairs, window seats and well-filled bookcases. How shall we sleep tonight? In the bedrooms?” “I don’t think so. Too cold. This couch will be good for one of us to sleep on, and if we lug the mattresses in here, we can make dandy beds. I have an idea that the sheets and everything else in those rooms would be as cold as ice.” Tim took the pan of beans off of the fire. “These are ready, and the boys aren’t here yet, though it is after six. Want to eat?” Mac shook his head. “Not yet. Let’s wait awhile. We can heat them up again when they come. I’ll go get some more coal.” He put his coat and hat on and took the coal pail. Tim silently handed him the flashlight. Mac went out the door and down the hall, while Tim stared into the fire. Mac did not stay out long, and when he got back he rubbed his hands. “Man alive, but it is cold! Say, the boys have no lantern with them, have they?” “No, only a flashlight.” “They couldn’t keep a lantern going, anyway, on a windy night like this.” Silence again fell between them, and at last it was seven o’clock. Tim looked around the room and then got up. They had put the lamp out and had been sitting in the light of the fire. “Mac, they aren’t coming, so you and I had better eat something. I know you don’t feel much like eating, and neither do I, but it will do us good to pack something solid away inside of us.” “I never felt less like eating,” growled Mac. “I know it. I realize just now how you feel. But we might need our strength later on, and we can do more for the boys on a full stomach than we ever could on an empty one.” “You’re right,” his brother nodded. “If we only knew something! It is the uncertainty that makes it all so hard.” Once more they warmed the beans and coffee, and when the food had been placed on their plates and the beverage in the cups, they began to eat. It was a hasty and a silent meal, for they were oppressed, and neither of them possessed any appetite to speak of. The two empty places at the table haunted them, and they found it hard to keep various alarming thoughts out of their heads. “I think we ought to light a lamp and put it in the window, as a guide for them,” Mac proposed, when they had finished their meal. “Sure thing,” Tim agreed. “They may come along late, and any kind of a light will be a help to them. We haven’t got much oil, but we’ll use all that we have in a lamp for them.” Mac picked up a taboret and put it on the window seat. “Put the lamp on top of that,” he directed. “That ought to shine for quite a distance. If the oil runs out, we can go until daylight without any. We’ll get enough coal in here to last all night, and we won’t have to build a new fire in the morning. If they haven’t come in by that time we’ll have to go after them, storm or no storm.” Tim placed the lighted lamp on the taboret, and the boys felt that they had done all that could be done under the circumstances. Mac sat on the couch in a reclining position, and his brother squinted at the titles on the backs of the books in the bookcase. “I’ll try a little reading,” he announced. “Don’t know how successful it will be.” Mac yawned and slid a little lower. “I’m too tired and worried to read,” he said. “Better not get hold of a spook book.” “It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Tim replied. “I need something exciting to keep me awake and take my mind off of things.” He finally found a book that suited him, and, drawing a chair close to the lamp on the taboret, he started to read. Mac sank lower on the couch and soon fell asleep. Tim read on. It was a little colder over near the lamp than he wished for, but he didn’t want to take the lamp away from the window. A sudden clear tapping on the window back of him caused Tim to start violently and almost drop his book. It came on the glass of the window at the end of the room and not where the light was. Tim jumped up joyously, sure that the boys had returned. “Hey, Mac! Wake up! The boys are here!” Mac bounded to his feet. “They are? Where?” Tim was at the dark window, peering out. “They just knocked here. I can’t see them, but they just tapped on the glass while I was reading. Almost scared——There!” “They are at the back door,” Mac whooped, seizing his flashlight. “Come on, we’re the committee of welcome.” “We’ll surely welcome them,” Tim agreed, as they made their way along the hall to the kitchen. Mac quickly turned the key in that door and drew back the knob. The door opened, but no one was there. The boys looked around the porch and flashed the light into every corner, but without success. “I was sure that knocking came from the back door,” Tim exclaimed, when they failed to find anyone. “So was I. Maybe they are trying to put something over on us.” “Maybe,” admitted Tim, doubtfully. “But I should think they would have had enough of being out in the cold. Well, they aren’t here. We had better go in. Your flashlight is getting weak.” “It’s about shot.” Mac locked the door, and they walked slowly down the hall toward the living room. It had just occurred to them that they were in what was known as a haunted lodge, and various thoughts were crowding into their minds. In the living room they looked uncertainly at each other. “I doubt if the boys would play any such foolish stunts,” Tim remarked. “I doubt it, too. Of course, it’s a good opportunity to have a little fun with——” “Listen!” Tim cried, holding up his hand. There were three distinct thumps on the side of the lodge, and then all was quiet. Then a loud and insistent knocking came on the front door. The twins looked at each other with startled eyes. Then Tim took the lamp, and they started for the front door. Mac took up the poker as they passed the fireplace. “I’ll open the door,” he said, and while Tim held the lamp he turned the key and pulled the knob. The door came open with a rush, and the wind snuffed the lamp flame out in a twinkling, and yet not so quickly that the Ford twins could make out the fact that there was no one near the front door. |
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