“Somebody there now,” he commented briefly.
He led the way toward the boathouse. The others trudged silently after him.
Near the little building, Frank suddenly stopped and raised his finger to his lips. He had heard voices. With renewed caution, the boys stole forward. In the lee of the boathouse, they halted. Frank listened. He had heard the murmur of voices from some distance back. He pressed close to the boards.
“Well,” he heard a voice saying, “it’s none of my business, so I’m not going to worry about it.”
Then there was a second voice.
“I’m not worrying. I’m just wondering.”
“We have our money. That’s all that should concern us.”
“Nothing wrong in wondering what he’s up to, is there?” said the other. “I think there must be something important around that old cabin.”
Frank turned to the others. “Tad Carson and Ike Nash!” he whispered.
He turned to the wall of the boathouse again.
“I tell you, he wouldn’t pay us for bringing him out to Cabin Island so often unless there was something behind it,” Ike Nash was saying.
“That’s all right. What if there is something behind it?” returned Carson. “It’s none of our affair. He pays us. That’s all we want. If Hanleigh cares to spend his time prowling around this island, why should we worry, as long as we get our money?”
The Hardy boys and their chums glanced at one another in surprise.
Hanleigh!
The man who had ordered them away from Cabin Island on their previous visit! The man whom Elroy Jefferson had said wanted to buy the place!
“I don’t see why he won’t let us go up to the cabin with him,” grumbled Nash. “What does he want to keep secret from us?”
“That’s his business,” snapped Tad Carson. “If you go asking questions, then you’ll just spoil everything. Leave well enough alone.”
“Well, what are we going to do now? That’s what I want to know.”
“Stay where we are. He told us to leave the iceboat and wait here until he came down from the cabin. Those are his orders. We get paid for obeying orders.”
“Fine place to stay in!”
“What did you expect? A palace? We’ll stay where we are. He said he wouldn’t be long.”
“He’s been up in that cabin for half an hour already. What’s keeping him?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” snapped Tad Carson. “He’s paying us to wait here for him, and we’ll wait.”
Without a word, Frank Hardy turned away and motioned to the other boys. In the deep snow they moved silently from the boathouse.
“Hanleigh’s up at the cabin now,” said Frank, when they were beyond earshot. “I think we’d better go up and find out what he’s doing.”
“Right!” approved Chet.
In single file, the boys went back up the slope in the direction of the cabin at the north end of the island.
VIII
Suspicious Actions
“Well, I guess that explains why Tad Carson and Ike Nash were heading in this direction the day Hanleigh ordered us off the island,” Frank Hardy said, when the boys were out of earshot.
“They were on their way to bring Hanleigh back to town,” agreed Joe.
“He’s been using their iceboat to get back and forth to Cabin Island.”
“Wonder what’s the big idea,” remarked Chet. “They don’t seem to know what he’s up to.”
“No, but we will—and mighty soon. We’re responsible for the cabin now, so it’s up to us to find out what Hanleigh is doing there.”
Biff looked dubious.
“He won’t tell us, you can depend on that. Probably he’ll tell us to clear out of here.”
“What if he does? We now know he hasn’t any authority. I’ll tell you what we ought to do, fellows,” said Frank. “We should try and catch our friend Hanleigh off his guard. If we detour around through the woods, we can come out at the back of the cabin. He’ll never hear us coming through the snow. We’ll take a peep through one of the windows and see what it’s all about.”
“That’s a long way around,” grumbled Chet.
“It won’t take us far out of our way. The snow isn’t very deep. We can make it easily enough. Come on.”
Under Frank’s leadership, the boys set out into the woods, trudging through the snow, detouring in order that they would not emerge at the front of the cabin. At last they were within sight of the little building. It seemed utterly deserted, but the boys were quite convinced, from what they had overheard at the boathouse, that Hanleigh was somewhere in the immediate neighborhood. They advanced cautiously.
At the rear of the cabin was a small window. They made this their objective. In the light snow their footfalls made no sound.
Frank took the lead. The others stood back for a moment while he went ahead, pressing close to the cabin wall. When he was at the window, he peeped in carefully. Frank gazed into the interior of the building for a short time. Then he turned and beckoned to his companions.
They came forward. Together, the boys looked into the cabin.
The interior design of the building was simple. One long room, with a huge stone fireplace, ran the length of the cabin. Bedrooms and a kitchen led off to the side. From the rear window the boys could see every detail of the main room, and as they now looked they could see a man standing before the fireplace.
Although the man had his back turned to them, they had little doubt but that he was Hanleigh. Frank and Joe nudged one another in excitement.
Hanleigh was quite unconscious that he was being watched. He stood before the fireplace, a long, slender stick in his hand. He stepped forward, measured a section of the stone chimney, stepped back and regarded the measured part, got down on his hands and knees and measured the base. Once in a while he shook his head in disgust and muttered something that the boys could not overhear.
The boys were puzzled. Why should Hanleigh be measuring the fireplace in this abandoned cabin?
In their
