"We may be mistaken," answered Shep, "but we think we have made a discovery of importance."

"What kind of a discovery?"

"We think we have located the man who set fire to the sawmill and ran away with those doc.u.ments!" answered Giant.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE DESERTED COTTAGE

Giant's announcement filled Snap with keen interest, and he wanted to know at once all Shep and the small youth could tell.

"We went directly up the lake," said Giant. "Took the road around the rocks that Jed Sanborn showed us. We found the nut trees, and----"

"Never mind the nut trees," interrupted Snap. "Tell me about that man."

"Well, back of the trees is a cleared spot---maybe it was a farm some years ago, and in the midst of the clearing is an old, half-tumbled-down cottage. We walked over to the cottage and looked in at the window."

"And we saw a man sitting on a box with a barrel before him,"

put in Shep. "On the barrel he had a board and on the board were spread some papers that the man was looking over. The man was tall and thin, and had red hair and a short, red moustache"

"That tallies with the man who stole the money and the papers!"

cried Snap, excitedly. "Did he limp, too?"

"Slightly, with his left foot."

"He must be our man. But what is he doing around here?"

"I don't know," answered Shep. "As soon as he saw us he jumped up and put the papers in his pocket."

"What did you do?" asked Whopper.

"He asked us what we wanted, and Shep told him we were out nutting,"

said Giant. "Then he asked us who we were."

"Did you tell him?"

"We did," said Shep; "and then we asked him who he was, but he put us off. He said he was out tramping the mountains for his health."

"Did he seem to be staying at the cottage?"

"Yes; at least he had a bag full of provisions with him, and a gun, too."

"Was he alone?"

"He seemed to be."

"Did you see the doc.u.ments he had, closely?"

"Not very," said Giant. "But we saw something of a map on one of them."

"One of the stolen papers was a map of that lumber tract," said Snap, thoughtfully. "Boys, if that is the rascal who set fire to the sawmill we ought to capture him," he continued.

"That's the talk!" cried Whopper. "But we want to be sure of what we are doing. It won't do to arrest the wrong man."

"If we could only get a look at those papers," said Shep, "they would surely tell the tale."

"Did he look like a guilty man?" went on Snap.

"He acted scared when he saw us, and he got the papers out of sight in a jiffy. And he is certainly tall and thin, and has a red moustache and red hair."

"Well, that fits the rascal who is wanted, pretty closely."

"It's queer that he'd come to a place like this," was Whopper's comment.

"Maybe he thinks it is best to keep in hiding, at least for the present."

"But why doesn't he go elsewhere?"

"He may be afraid to show himself in town, or at a railroad station."

The matter was talked over for an hour, and then it was decided to visit the old cottage as early as possible on the following morning.

"And let us take our guns," declared Snap. "And we'll take a rope, too---in case we have to tie him up."

The boys could scarcely sleep that night, so excited were they over the prospect ahead. All of them were up at dawn and procured breakfast as quickly as they could. Then the game-bags were filled with provisions, the guns were overhauled, and Snap got the rope he had mentioned.

"Now I guess we are ready," said Shep.

"Wait till I kick out the fire," said Whopper. "Don't want the place to burn up while we are away."

The fire extinguished, they set off on their journey and were soon a goodly distance from the lake. The snow had disappeared and the day promised to be an unusually warm one. They did not look for any game, and when a rabbit crossed their path n.o.body shot at it.

"We are after other game to-day," observed Snap, grimly.

"If only we have the same success as we had when we caught that n.i.g.g.e.r," came from Whopper. "That was dead easy."

"I don't think we'll catch him asleep," said Shep. "He is a wide-awake fellow, if nothing else."

On and on they went, covering several miles. They pa.s.sed the trees that were loaded with nuts, but did not stop, and soon came in sight of the clearing.

"Now go slow," cautioned Snap. "If he sees us from a distance he may take it into his head to run away."

"Maybe one or two of us had better go forward and investigate,"

suggested Giant.