THE VANISHING CABIN.

“Seems to me you’ve been gone long enough to catch all the fish in the lake,” Bob greeted his brother on his return to the cabin.

“Well, I got a few of them,” and Jack held up the string for his brother’s inspection.

“They’re beauties all right, but it must have been a long time between bites,” Bob declared.

“Not so long at that,” Jack replied. “The truth of the matter is I was frying other fish a good part of the time. But just let me get one of these big ones cleaned and in the pan and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Some ten minutes later, while the big trout was sputtering in the hot fat, Jack told his brother about his meeting with the man in the woods.

“Did the cabin look like it had been build recently?” Bob asked as soon as he had finished.

“Sure did. In fact one end is not quite finished yet,” Jack replied.

“I wonder who owns the land it is built on.”

“I’m not sure but I believe it’s on our land. If it isn’t it’s not very far from it,” Jack said thoughtfully, then, as Bob did not speak at once, he continued. “I probably wouldn’t have thought so much of it and probably wouldn’t have followed the fellow if it hadn’t been for the fact that somehow or other I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that I had seen him before, but I can’t for the life of me remember where or when.”

“You say you think they were talking about us?”

“Yes, I think so,” Jack replied slowly. “You see they talked so fast that I could only get a word now and then, but he kept pointing over in this direction and it’s a pretty safe bet that he was talking about this cabin or about us. But what do you think about it? What do you suppose they have built that cabin there for?”

“Ask me something easy,” Bob replied as he took a pan of biscuits out of the oven. “If you could only remember where you have seen the fellow we might make a guess.”

“Mebbe it will come to me before long,” Jack replied as he turned the fish over in the pan.

While they were eating their supper they discussed the matter but could come to no satisfactory conclusion.

“Do you think there’s any likelihood of those fellows interfering with us to-night?” Jack asked as they were washing the dishes.

“Oh, I hardly think so,” Bob replied. “But if you are afraid we can lock up and beat it for Skowhegan.”

“Afraid nothing,” Jack laughed. “Who said anything about being afraid? I was only wondering, that’s all.”

“I was only joking, of course. I don’t think they will bother us, but if they should we’ve got an automatic here and I guess we can take care of ourselves.”

Several times during the evening they tried to get Edna on the pocket radio but failed.

“Guess she’s gone out somewhere,” Bob said; “or else something’s the matter with the machine.”

But their fears were set at rest when, just as they were about to start to get ready for bed, they heard the buzz of the caller and Edna’s voice came to them. For some time they talked with their sister and also with Mr. Golden, but they said nothing regarding Jack’s adventure, thinking that it might worry the folks.

Bob had just extinguished the light after seeing that everything was securely locked up, and was about to jump into bed when Jack said:

“I’ve got it, Bob.”

“Have, hey? Well I sure hope it isn’t catching.”

“I mean I’ve thought where I saw that man.”

“Oh, that’s different. Where was it?”

“He was one of those men who held us up last spring when we were coming back from Musquacook Lake.”

“You don’t mean it?”

“I do, though. Funny I didn’t think of it before. But it’s as plain as day now.”

“Then they must have gotten away from the revenue officers or else they have broken jail. Good gracious, it looks as though all the bootleggers were escaping, or else you’ve been seeing things.” Bob laughed as he pulled the blanket over himself.

It seemed to Bob that he had hardly fallen asleep when he awoke with a start. He was conscious that a noise had disturbed his sleep, but of the character of the sound he had no idea. For some minutes he listened. The sound of deep breathing from the bed on the opposite side of the room assured him that Jack had not been disturbed. Then, just as he was about to turn over and go to sleep again, the sound was repeated. He strained his ears to listen. Someone was fumbling with the lock on the front door. As soon as he was convinced that someone was trying to gain admittance to the cabin he slipped from the bed and stole across the room. Reaching his brother’s bed he gave him a slight shake at the same time whispering his name.

“S——h,” he cautioned as Jack sat up in bed and started to speak. “Someone’s trying to get in.”

This statement brought Jack up wide awake.

“Where are they?” he whispered.

“At the front door. Listen.”

“Yep, I hear ’em now. Let’s get something on,” and slipping from the bed Jack drew on his trousers and shoes and Bob did the same.

“Now what?” Jack asked.

“Wait a minute till I get the gun,” Bob whispered as he groped his way softly to the table in the living room.

Pulling open the drawer he grasped the revolver in his right hand and stole quietly across the room until he was close to the door. The fumbling with the knob had ceased but, pressing his ear against the door, he could hear the faint sound of whispers. Then the knob was turned again.

“Who’s there?” Bob called loudly.

For a moment there was no reply, then a voice said.

“Open door, queek.”

“Who are you and what do you want?” Bob asked.

“Never mind dat,” was the growling answer. “You open door or we bust her open.”

“So that’s your game,” Bob answered in loud tones. “All right. Go ahead and do your busting, but you’ll get a chunk of cold lead where it’ll do the most good if you do.”

At this threat the boys heard a muttered oath followed by footsteps which soon died away and all was still.

“Guess that kinder took the wind out of their sails,” Jack laughed.

“Looks like it, but they may be back,” Bob agreed. “What time is it?”

“Almost three o’clock.”

“Well, I guess we’d better stay awake,” Bob advised. “It’ll be light in another half hour or so.” Evidently Jack had been right, for they heard nothing more of the intruders.

“We’ve got lots of time. It isn’t five o’clock yet. Let’s go and take a squint at that cabin. What do you say?” They had just finished washing the breakfast dishes and Bob made the proposal as he was washing out the drying towel.

“I believe you’re a mind reader,” Jack declared. “I was just about to propose the same thing.”

“I suppose it’s a fool move, but I would like to know what those fellows are up to.”

“Same here. Come on.”

“We’re pretty near there,” Jack whispered a few minutes later as he grasped Bob by the arm. “See that big pine just ahead there? Well the cabin is just this side of that.”

Cautiously they crept forward till they were crouching behind the bush which had sheltered Jack the evening before.

“Take a peep just round this bush and you’ll see the cabin,” Jack whispered.

“Guess you’ve got your wires crossed,” Bob whispered a moment later as he drew his head back. “I can’t see any cabin.”

“What do you mean, can’t see any cabin? Let me look.”

A moment later Jack drew back and Bob had all he could do to keep from laughing as he caught the expression on the younger boy’s face.

“What do you know about that?” he gasped.

“Did you see it?” Bob whispered.

Jack looked about him.

“This is the place. I’m dead sure of it. See here’s a twig I broke off,” he whispered.

“But what about the cabin?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. What about it? It was there last night and this morning it’s gone. Just vanished into thin air.”

“Are you sure you’ve got the right place?”

“Of course I am. Didn’t I tell you I remember breaking off that twig? Just give me a good hard pinch will you? Ouch! I’m awake all right,” and the boy began rubbing his arm where Bob had pinched him.

“Bob, I know it’s an awful hard thing to ask you to believe but as sure as I’m alive there was a log cabin right out there just this side of that big pine last night. I tell you I saw it and I heard the door slam when they closed it.”

“Well, let’s look around a bit and see what we can find,” Bob proposed as he stepped out from behind the bush. “I don’t believe there’s anybody around here now.”

Jack seemed somewhat dazed as he stepped out from behind the bush, and as for Bob, he hardly knew what to say. He had the utmost confidence in his brother, but his statement to the effect that there had been a log cabin on the spot, where they now stood, the day before, was, to say the least, staggering. Not only was there no cabin in sight but a careful examination failed to reveal the slightest evidence that there had ever been one there.

“It beats me,” Jack declared, as he leaned against a tall spruce and looked at his brother. “I wonder if I’m getting loony in my old age,” he said in a tone so solemn that Bob burst out laughing.

Bob’s laughter seemed to relieve the tension and, after a moment’s pause Jack asked,

“Honest injun now. Bob, what do you make of it?”

Bob hesitated for an instant before replying. He knew that Jack would lay great stress on what he might say and he wanted to be sure and say the right thing.

“To tell the truth, Jack boy,” he began finally, “I’m up a stump to know what to think. I know you’re not in the habit of seeing things ‘what hain’t’, but this time it sure looks as though a trick of vision had been put over on you. That is if you are not mistaken about this being the place. You can see for yourself that there’s no cabin here now and, so far as I can see, there never has been one.”

“Guess I’ll have to see an eye doctor when we get down to Skowhegan,” Jack laughed weakly. “This is the place all right and I saw, or thought I saw a log cabin, right where I’m standing, only last night. That’s all I know about it.”

“And I guess we’ll have to let it go at that for the present at any rate,” Bob said putting as much consolation into his voice as possible.

But little was said as they made their way back to the cabin. Each was busy with his own thoughts.

When they reached the cabin they at once set to work and dressed the remainder of the trout and packed them in a small wooden box which was fastened securely to the rear of Bob’s motor cycle.

“Now just as soon as I get locked up we’ll be ready to start,” Bob declared as he led the way into the cabin.

But as he opened the door they heard the buzzing of the radio instrument which they had left on the table.

“That’s Edna,” Jack cried as he picked it up. “Hello.”

“Goodness, but I’ve been trying to get you for about an hour,” Edna’s voice came from out of the ether. “How soon are you coming down?”

“Lets’s see. It’s half past eight now. We’ll be there in time for dinner if nothing happens. Tell Jane we are bringing a big mess of trout,” Jack replied.

“Well there’s a man here to see you. Says his name is Jim Carson and he’s a revenue officer.”

“Jim Carson! He’s the man who was hunting the moonshiners up on Mount Bigelow last summer,” Jack declared. “What does he want?”

“Wants to see you, and he’s in a hurry so you’d better get a hustle.”

“Hustle is our middle name when Jim’s after us,” Jack laughed. “Tell him we’ll try to make it by eleven o’clock.”

“What do you suppose Jim wants?” Jack asked turning to Bob who was standing close by listening to the conversation.

“Ask me something easy, but he can have it if it’s anything we can give him, that goes without saying,” Bob replied and Jack nodded assent The officer was sitting on the front porch when, at five minutes past eleven, the two boys dismounted in front of the house.

“Well, you boys didn’t lose any time getting here.” The officer laughed as he grasped their hands.

“I guess we did hit it up a bit,” Bob grinned. “When the United States Government calls we want to be ‘Jonnie on the spot’ you know.”

“Just excuse us one minute till we put these wheels around back and get this box of trout unpacked and we’ll be with you. Of course you’ll have to stay to dinner and we’ll show you what real trout tastes like.”

They were back on the porch in less than ten minutes and the officer at once plunged into the reason for his visit.

“I’ve got a big job on hand,” he began, “and I thought perhaps I could get you boys to help me out. I’ve been working at it now for over a month without any success. You see there’s an enormous quantity of liquor being brought over the border. We’ve confiscated a lot of it in different places and more than one man has gone up for a good long term but we haven’t yet been able to find out just where it is brought across nor who brings it. Also we don’t know how it is being done. In fact about all we do know is that it comes and that there must be quite a gang concerned in it.”

“You say you don’t know just where it is brought across,” Bob said as the officer paused. “But do you have any idea?”

“Well we are pretty sure that the most of it at any rate goes through Jackman and for that reason we think it must be somewhere up that way.”

“How many men have you on the job?” Bob asked.

“There’s only Lou and myself. You remember Lou, don’t you.”

“Sure do and he’s a mighty fine fellow,” Jack answered while Bob nodded assent.

“He’s all of that and then some,” the officer declared. “Best man I knew of for a job of this kind, but they’ve got us stumped so far.”

“And what do you think we can do?” Bob asked.

“Well, you see it’s like this. You boys know the country up that way and Lou and I figured that if you’d go up there and let on that you were on a fishing trip or camping or something of the kind that, being boys, no one would suspect you and that you might succeed where we have failed. You see if you could find out where they bring the stuff across we could probably nab them.”

“Well, I’m sure that we’ll be glad to help you if you think we can,” Bob declared after a moment’s pause. “That is, provided Father doesn’t object.”

“Good,” the officer said, and a relieved look came to his face. “I hope I’ll be able to persuade your father to let you make the try.”

Just then Mr. Golden himself came up the walk and Bob quickly introduced him to their visitor.

“I feel as though I had known you for a long time,” Mr. Golden smiled as he took the other’s hand. “These boys of mine have had so much to say about you.”

They resumed their seats and the officer lost no time in acquainting Mr. Golden with the object of his visit.

“I hardly know what to say,” he said as soon as he had finished. “These boys of mine are great when it comes to getting into adventures, though I must acknowledge that they always seem to land on their feet like a cat,” and he smiled as he glanced proudly at the two boys. “But I’m afraid this is pretty risky,” he continued. “Some of those men are pretty desperate characters.”

“You are right there, sir,” the officer acknowledged, “but I think that the fact that they are boys will protect them.”

“Sure it will, Father,” Jack broke in. “Please let us go. Just see how our country needs us.”

Mr. Golden’s eyes twinkled as he turned to his younger son.

“So do Mother and I,” he said fondly. “But there’s the dinner gong. We’ll see what Mother has to say about it after dinner. Did you bring down any trout?”

“We sure did, and if they’re as good as those we had for supper last night you’ve got a feast ahead of you,” Bob declared as he got up and followed his father into the house.

Nothing was said of the matter until desert had been served, and then Mr. Golden explained the matter to his wife. At first Mrs. Golden shook her head, declaring that she would never give her consent, but both Bob and Jack knew how to coax her most effectively and finally she agreed to leave it to their father’s judgment. Both boys felt sure then that the victory was as good as won and they were not long in winning their father over.

“But I want it understood that you are to be very careful and not get into danger,” he insisted.

“We’ll be very careful,” both boys promised, and Bob added: “We’ll remember what you said about the cats and be sure to land on our feet every time.”

“I hardly know what directions to give you,” the officer declared a little later after Mr. Golden had returned to his office and they were once more sitting on the porch. “There’s a big summer camp about six miles from Jackman which is almost on the border line between Maine and Canada. Now I think it will be a good plan for you to go there and engage board for a week or two. It’s fine fishing there according to reports and you can do enough of it to avert suspicion. You can make that your headquarters and take trips on your motor cycles as you think best. Of course the government will pay your expenses and if you are successful I think I can assure you that Uncle Sam will not be ungrateful.”

“We wouldn’t want anything more than our expenses,” Bob declared, and Jack agreed heartily. “How soon can you start?”

“We’ll go tomorrow, won’t we, Bob?” Jack replied eagerly.

“I don’t see why not. We can get ready in an hour or two, I guess,” Bob answered.

“That’ll be fine,” the officer assured them. “Now I have already arranged things so that you can always get in touch with me with as little delay as possible. You see, I took it for granted that you would go in for it,” he smiled. “Here is an address and a telephone number. There will always be someone there night and day who will know where I am and how to reach me.”

The officer left soon after, saying that he had to catch the afternoon train for Bangor.

“But I’ll see you again within a few days if nothing happens. And remember, I don’t want or expect you to take any chances where there will be any danger,” were his parting words.

“Well, I can feel it in my bones that we are in for a big time,” Jack declared gleefully as they waved him good-bye.