THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
Mrs. Jandle, the farm woman, gazed at the Rovers and their chums
curiously and they had to explain that Nappy Martell and Slugger Brown
had once been their school chums but since that time had gotten into
all sorts of trouble with the authorities and it was now supposed that
they and their families had lost practically all of their money.
“Well, they didn’t look like tramps, I’ll say that for ’em,” said Mrs.
Jandle. “They were quite well dressed and they offered to pay for their
lunch. But I didn’t let ’em have anything, because, as I said before, I
didn’t like their manner. They were very overbearing.”
“And they always were,” answered Jack. “If they come and annoy you
again tell them that you know all about them and that you will have
them placed under arrest and that the folks at Valley Brook Farm will
appear against them. I’ll warrant that will make them clear out in a
hurry.”
A little later the boys continued in the direction of the place where
they intended to spend the night. A part of the road was rough and they
had covered less than a mile when Fred called a halt.
“I’ve got something in my shoe and I want to find out what it is,” he
announced.
The spot was close to a road that ran through the woods and over a
small hill. Looking around, Randy spied several squirrels running
up and down a tree trunk and went in that direction to take several
snapshots of them.
“I don’t like to discourage you fellows,” announced Spouter presently.
“But if I am any sort of weather prophet, we’re going to have a storm,
and that very soon.”
“The sky certainly does begin to look queer,” answered Jack after a
long look around. “But the storm may pass off to the westward of us.”
“I hope we don’t get it――at least, not if it’s a thunderstorm,” came
from Spouter. “You all know how dangerous those are.”
“You bet we do!” cried Andy. “All of us have been caught out in them
more than once.”
Having cleared his shoes of the stone which in some way had gotten into
it, Fred announced that he was ready to go on and all took up their
loads again and marched to the top of the hill, a distance of less
than a quarter of a mile. By this time a brisk breeze had sprung up,
rustling the bushes and the boughs of the trees, and now the gathering
clouds spread over the face of the sun, making the outlook much darker.
“That storm is coming, all right enough,” declared Randy.
“Right-o!” added Fred. “Here are the first drops now!” and he put out
his hand to verify his words.
“Raindrops as big as quarters!” shouted Gif. “Boys, I’m afraid we’re in
for a soaking unless we get under some kind of shelter.”
“Well, I’m not in favor of standing under the trees,” said Spouter.
“Not if there is any lightning coming.”
He had scarcely spoken when the sky at a distance was illumined, and
a few seconds later came the low rumble of thunder. Then the wind
gradually increased and the rain came down steadily.
“I guess we’re in for it,” announced Jack, shaking his head dubiously.
“I don’t know of a single shelter in this locality.”
“Well, then, let’s take a double one if we can’t find a single one,”
answered Andy, bound to have his little joke.
“If I remember rightly, there is some sort of an old cabin down at
the foot of the hill,” said Fred. “Don’t you remember it, Randy? We
stopped there once when we were out nutting a couple of years ago――the
time we thought we heard an aëroplane.”
“Oh, yes, Fred! I remember that,” cried his cousin quickly. “It’s right
down on the left of the road at the very foot of the hill. Come on,
let’s run for it before the storm gets too bad.”
All were willing to do anything to get under shelter, and they broke
into a run, making their way down the hill as rapidly as their outfits
permitted.
They were less than half way down the hill when a vivid flash of
lightning illumined the sky, followed almost instantly by a loud crack
of thunder. All of the boys dodged instinctively and a moment later
heard another crash behind them.
“Look! Look!” gasped Jack, turning around. All did so and were just in
time to see a tall tree about a hundred yards away fall slowly from the
edge of the forest, landing in such a position that it partly blocked
the roadway.
“Gee! what do you know about that?” panted Andy, his eyes almost
starting from his head. “Why, we came past that spot less than a minute
ago!”
“A――a――narrow escape, I’ll tell the world!” spluttered Fred. “Come on,
let’s get to that cabin! It will be at least some safer than being in
the open.”
By the time the Rovers and their chums gained the foot of the hill the
rain was coming down in torrents. The wind was also rising, blowing
leaves and small tree branches in various directions. Fred and Randy
led the way, leaving the highway at a point where there were a number
of large rocks. They stepped over a broken-down wire fence and then ran
along a footpath, one side of which was overhung by dense bushes now
becoming soaked from the rain.
“Wow!” spluttered Gif presently, as he followed Spouter. His chum had
pushed back a large branch of a bush and this now swept back into
place, catching Gif full in the face and giving him a perfect shower
bath.
“Sorry. But I had to get past somehow,” cried Spouter.
“How much farther to go?” demanded Andy.
“Not much farther,” answered Fred. “I only hope the old cabin hasn’t
fallen down since Randy and I were here before.”
Presently, just as there came more lightning and thunder, those in
advance turned a corner of the path and came to a small clearing. In
the center of this was on old and dilapidated cabin built, evidently,
years before by some lumbermen. The front door to the cabin stood
partly open and one of the windows was minus both the sash and the
shutter it had once boasted.
“Anybody around?” sang out Jack.
“Don’t see anybody,” answered Fred, and shoved the door still farther
back. Then he plunged into the cabin and one after another the others
followed.
If the outside of the place looked dilapidated, the inside was just as
bad if not worse. The floor was thick with dirt and so were the walls,
and in the upper part a number of birds circled around wildly in an
endeavor to get out by way of several small openings.
“Not much of a place to stay in, but a whole lot better than nothing,”
was the way Gif expressed himself.
“Perhaps we’ll have to stay here all night,” remarked Jack, as he shook
the water from his cap.
“I hope no tree comes down and hits this place,” remarked Randy. “A
good big tree could knock this cabin as flat as a pancake and leave us
under the ruins.”
“You’re a cheerful bird, I don’t think,” answered Spouter. “Just the
same, I don’t think there is any danger of a tree hitting the cabin.
All the big ones around here have been cut off and the second growth
doesn’t amount to much.”
The boys stacked their outfits in the middle of the floor where only a
few drops of rain could get at them and then stood by the broken-out
window and the doorway looking at the storm. Fortunately the rain was
driving from the rear of the place, and as this seemed to be more or
less tight only a small quantity of water came into the cabin.
“I’d hate to stay in such a rank place as this all night,” said Fred,
as the downpour continued, punctuated every now and then by flashes of
lightning and cracks of thunder. “But what are we going to do if this
storm keeps up?”
“Oh, it may stop before night comes on,” answered Jack. “Anyway, we’re
simply out for sport, so we might as well make the best of what comes,”
and he smiled grimly.
Presently the lightning and thunder seemed to die away and the fury of
the sudden storm abated. Yet the rain came down steadily and the boys
felt it would be foolish to try to go farther until there was more of a
let-up.
“We’d get wet to the skin in no time and all of our outfit would get
wet, too,” said Jack. “We may as well content ourselves here.”
Getting somewhat tired of standing straight up watching the storm, the
boys began to move around the deserted cabin. They found the lower
floor consisted of four rooms, one evidently having been used for
a kitchen, another for a messroom, and the other two for sleeping
quarters. In the latter rooms there were a number of rough bunks
against the walls, some still containing straw and other material used
for bedding.
“I wouldn’t bunk in one of those places for a farm,” said Fred to Andy.
“I’ll bet they’re full of vermin.”
“Looks to me like a dandy place for snakes,” was Andy’s answer. “I’ll
wager there are plenty of snakes under the flooring of this building.”
Once or twice the boys had heard some strange sounds not unlike the
barking of young dogs. On account of the thunder and the noise made by
the falling rain, they had not been able to trace these sounds and had
thought they must come from a distance.
“Listen!” cried Jack presently. “Do I hear a dog?”
“Sounds like a terrier,” answered Gif. “But I don’t know where he is.”
Having poked around the cabin, Andy and Fred pushed open a door in what
had been the kitchen of the cabin. Here there was a lean-to meant for a
pantry, and beyond this another small structure evidently intended for
the housing of firewood.
“Beeswax and onions!” exclaimed Andy presently. “Look here, fellows!
What do you make of this?” He pointed from a doorway of the pantry
which led into the woodshed. He had a flashlight in his hand, and this
he now played on a large box in a corner of the shed. Here in a pile of
rubbish were several small animals, all barking in a peculiar fashion.
“What are they――dogs?” questioned Spouter, coming up.
“Dogs nothing!” cried Fred. “Don’t you know what they are? Foxes!”
“That’s what they are,” answered Jack, giving a careful look. “Some old
mother fox has been using this corner for her den.”
“Say, if that’s so, we’d better look out for the mother fox!” exclaimed
Randy, in alarm. “No wild animal will allow any one to molest her young
without a fight.”
“Yes, and a stiff fight, too!” added Gif.
Gif had scarcely spoken when there was a wild barking and snapping
outside of the old cabin. Then came a sudden leap through a wide-open
window and the next instant the six boys found themselves confronted by
a full-sized and very angry looking mother fox.