“i told you that fellow was the boss of the gang,” bob declared after the little man had disappeared from his sight.

“well, didn’t say he wasn’t did i?”

“no. but i think you thought i was wrong.”

“but he seemed to have so little to say.”

“oh, he’s a deep one all right if he is the leader.”

“i’ll say he is.”

“what do you think we’d better do now?”

“you say. your the head of this expedition.”

“there’s no head to it,” bob retorted. “you have just as much say as i do.”

“i know it, dear boy, but i know that your judgment is better than mine.”

“thanks, old man,” and bob gave his brother’s hand a hearty squeeze. “now i’d like mighty well to know where that fellow is going and who he’s going to meet but it’ll be terribly risky to follow him. i tell you he’s a keen one and if either or both of us ever get into his hands again it’ll go hard with us and we won’t get away so easily.”

“mebby you call the last time easy but i thought it was pretty strenuous myself.”

“i mean comparatively. it was hard enough while it lasted.”

“i’ll say it was.”

“well, what do you say? shall we take the risk and follow him?”

“why of course,” jack replied quickly as though there were no other course. “that’s what we are here for, isn’t it?”

“good boy. i thought you’d say that. now, jack, i really think that this is the most serious thing we’ve ever been up against and we’ve simply got to be careful and take no unnecessary chances. we must not get caught. but we’d better get started or he’ll get so far away that we’ll lose him. we’ve got to skirt the top here and keep in the woods. it would never do to show ourselves on that open space.”

“think we’ll be able to trail him?”

“i hope so but it’ll be no cinch. i wish kemertok was here. he could do it easily but i reckon it’ll take all our knowledge of woodcraft.”

“but you managed to follow us the other day all right.”

“i know but four leave more of a trail than one and those branches you broke off helped a lot.”

“only trouble was tiny caught me at it and gave me a cuff side the head that made me see stars and i didn’t dare try it again.”

while they were talking they had been going rapidly through the woods and now were on the other side of the peak where the man had disappeared.

“he went down just about here,” bob said. “i noticed that he went just to the right of this spruce.”

“but he was mighty careful to leave no trail so far as i can see,” jack declared.

“i expected that. this ground doesn’t leave much of an impression and we’ll have to do some hunting.” for some time they searched and at last jack found a foot mark a short distance down the mountain.

“that shows that he probably went straight down,” bob declared as he examined the mark.

but search as they might they could find no other trace.

“guess we’ll have to go it blind for a while at least and trust to luck,” bob said. “if we wait much longer he’ll have so long a start that we’ll never find him. we’ll go straight on down and keep our eyes peeled for clues.”

but it was not until they reached the foot of the range that they found another clue. then jack called his brother’s attention to a broken twig on a small bush.

“it’s a sure thing that that was broken not much over an hour ago. see, it is still wet with sap,” he said as he felt of the broken place.

“you’re right,” bob agreed. “it sure was careless in him but a lucky thing for us. we’re on the right track so far at least. now where do we go from here?”

“it’s six to one and half a dozen to the other, i guess, unless we can find another mark.”

“which we’ve simply got to do. it was a fairly sure thing that he came directly down the mountain but where he went from here is another thing.” luckily, a few minutes later jack found another broken twig and bob was emphatic in his praise.

“that gives us a pretty good idea of the direction he took and it’s fair to believe that he’ll keep in a straight line. now the question is whether or not we can do the same.”

to keep a straight course through the trackless forest requires a degree of skill which few men possess. but the boys had learned the art from long training under their indian tutor who was an adept. so it was with considerable confidence that they struck off. to their great satisfaction they found signs from time to time which showed them that they were on the right track. a broken twig here and the faint print of a foot there where a damp spot had retained the impression, were clues which were unmistakable to the trained eyes of the boys.

“he stopped here to get a drink,” bob declared about three o’clock as he pointed to a small spring at the foot of a big pine. “see, here’s where he kneeled down.”

“can you tell anything about how long ago he was here?”

bob knelt down and examined the marks closely.

“it’s pretty hard for me to judge, but from the way the leaves are pressed together, i should say that it wasn’t much over an hour ago. it’s not very damp right here and they ought to loosen up in a little more than that length of time. that’s according to kemertok and you know what he says about such things is usually correct.”

“i’ll say it is. then, if that’s right, we must be gaining on him a little.”

“i think we are and we want to keep our eyes peeled because he may be nearer than we think. and believe me we want to see him first.”

by five o’clock bob calculated that they had made nearly fifteen miles since they had been trailing the little man.

“i’d sure like to know whether or not he’s going to reach where he’s going to to-night,” bob said as he leaned against a tree and wiped his face.

“that last statement was a trifle involved but i think i get your meaning. sorry i can’t give you the answer.”

“so am i. are you tired?”

“well, i’m not exactly what you’d call rested but i guess i can keep going awhile longer.”

“well we’ll camp as soon as we come to a brook or spring.”

it was about a half hour later when jack, who was some feet in the lead, held up his hand in warning. bob stopped and in a moment jack had come back to where he was waiting.

“what did you see?” bob asked anxiously.

“another one of those vanishing cabins, that is, it looked just like the others.”

“see any body?”

“not a soul, but there’s smoke coming out of the chimney.”

“then there’s some one there of course.”

“that was what i meant to imply.”

“well, i guess it means that we’ve got to the end of our journey for to-night and it also means that we’ll have to eat a cold supper.”

“that’s it. say something cheerful and then spoil it all. but i say, bob, i’m going to keep an eye glued to that cabin and if it vanishes i’m going to see it go.”

“all right. hope you succeed. but let’s look around and find a good place to camp. we don’t want to be too near and then again we don’t want to get so far away that you won’t be able to see it when it goes up.”

“so you think it goes up, eh?”

“up or down, take your choice. i guess one’s about as likely as the other.”

they had been talking in subdued tones and now they adopted bob’s suggestion and began to look for a good place to spend the night. they found it after a search of a few minutes. about two hundred feet back in the woods from where jack had seen the cabin was a thick clump of bushes nearly round and some twenty feet in diameter. bob forced his way into them and in the center was an open space small to be sure but plenty large enough for them to stretch out at full length.

“i’ll bet we could stay there a month and never be seen,” he told jack as he emerged.

it was, as jack said, rather a dry supper they had that night but both agreed that it would not be safe to build a fire.

“i say, bob, do you suppose they raise any bigger mosquitoes anywhere in the world than these are?” and jack gave his face a slap.

bob laughed.

“they’re pretty good sized but a fellow was telling me a few weeks ago about some that he saw up at moxie lake. he said that the proprietor of a camp there had six of them trained to ring the dinner bell. it seems that the bell was worked by a rope and at exactly meal time they would all light on the rope and their weight would pull it down. then when it was down they would fly off and let it swing back again.”

“some mosquitoes,” jack laughed, “but i’ll bet it wouldn’t take more than three of these fellows to ring that bell. lucky we brought along some citronella. and here goes for an application.”

“how about standing guard to-night, bob?” he asked a few minutes later.

“how about that eye you were going to keep on the cabin?”

“that’s so. but there’s no need of both of us watching at the same time, and to-night i’m going to take first trick.”

“yes and then when i come to look for you you’ll be gone.”

“well, i reckon i’ve got a pair of lungs, and judging from past experience, i’m safer awake than asleep.”

“there may be something in that,” bob agreed slowly as though he had something on his mind. “all right, you take the first watch and call me at twelve, or sooner if you get sleepy.”

“wouldn’t wonder if we had rain before morning,” jack declared a few minutes later as he glanced up at the sky which had become overcast.

“looks like it. if it does rain before twelve you’d better crawl in and let the old cabin disappear by its lonesome.”

it was nearly eight o’clock when jack, having located a position where he could command a fair view of the cabin without danger of being seen, settled down to his long vigil. soon it was so dark in the forest that he could see little more than the outline of the cabin and by the time an hour had passed even that had faded. then soon after it began to rain, gently at first and then harder until it had settled to a steady downpour.

“guess i might as well give it up,” he thought. “i can’t see a thing and it’s a cinch that if there’s anyone in that cabin they’ll stay there and not be prowling about the woods.”

he had seen no light in the cabin but he knew that that was no indication that there was no one there. men go to bed early in the big woods unless they have business to keep them up and it would be nothing unusual for them to go before it was dark enough for a light. it took considerable groping about before he was able to locate the place where bob was sleeping. he had a flashlight with him but did not dare use it for fear that the light might be seen by some one in the cabin.

“we’re taking no chances this time,” he muttered as he searched.

he was pretty wet by the time he had located the clump of bushes, but fortunately the night was warm and he did not mind it. bob was curled up beneath a thin rubber blanket which was large enough to cover them both, and in another minute he was sharing it with him without having disturbed him.

bob awoke promptly at twelve o’clock, having set his mental alarm clock, as jack called it, for that time.

“hope jack had sense enough to come in,” he thought as he heard the rain. “good boy,” he added as he heard his deep breathing.

the rain was still falling when they awoke the next morning and there was no indication that it would clear soon.

“cheerful, isn’t it?” bob grinned.

“oh, well, it might be worse,” jack replied struggling to pull on a soggy shoe. “think we dare risk a bit of a fire for breakfast?”

“hardly, and i doubt if we could find anything dry enough even if we did dare.”

“all right. you’re the doctor, but some hot coffee sure would hit the right spot about now.” breakfast was, as jack put it, a rank failure so far as any enjoyment of the meal was concerned.

the rain had settled into a slight drizzle, just enough to keep them damp without being actually wet. “i’m going to take a squint at the cabin,” jack announced as soon as he had finished eating.

“bet it’s gone,” bob ventured.

“i’d want too big odds to take that bet.”

“well, hurry back and make your report.”

he was back in less than five minutes.

“you lose,” he announced.

“you mean the cabin’s still there?”

“right the first time.”

“looks like it don’t vanish in rainy weather.”

“it didn’t this time, anyhow.”

“see anybody?”

“not a soul and there was no smoke.”

“kinder looks as though they left in the night.”

“or else there was no one there when we got here.”

“but we saw their smoke last night.”

“i know, but they might have gone off and left a fire in the stove.”

“possible, but unlikely.”

“well, i suppose the only thing to do is to watch until we’re sure.”

“i guess.”

they took up their position behind the bush which sheltered them from the rain to a slight extent and waited.

“‘rain before seven, clear off before eleven,’” jack whispered. “but it don’t look much like it,” he added glancing up at the sky.

“the wind’s changing though. it was in the east till a few minutes ago and now it’s nearly south. if it keeps on till it gets into the northwest it’ll probably break.”

“here’s hoping.”

an hour passed. no sign of life in or about the cabin was visible. the rain had, however, stopped and the wind was blowing strongly from the west.

“sun’ll be out in less than an hour,” bob promised.

“can’t come too soon to suit me.”

another half hour went by.

bob was about to propose that they creep up and risk a peep in at the window when suddenly the door of the cabin opened and a man stepped out. he stood for a moment looking up at the sky as though speculating on the weather. he was a short thick set; man, evidently a half-breed, and so far as bob could remember, a man whom he had never seen.

“take a peep and see if you can place that fellow,” he whispered to jack as he drew back his head.

“never saw him before,” jack declared after he had studied the face.

“evidently a new actor on the scene, at least so far as we’re concerned,” bob whispered.

“and the plot thickens.”

“it’s so thick now that it won’t run,” bob smiled.

when he looked again the man had disappeared and the door of the cabin was closed.

“well, one thing’s settled. there’s someone there all right, and there’s no knowing how many others,” he whispered.

“and there comes the old sun,” jack exulted as the rays broke through the clouds.

two more hours, which seemed as jack declared, like so many weeks, passed without any other sign of life about the cabin. then came from far off in the deep forest the call of the whip-poor-will.

“that’s their signal,” jack whispered. “wait a minute and you’ll hear the answer.”

almost at once the door opened and this time the little man whom they had trailed the day before stepped out followed by the thick set stranger. the former gave the hoot of an owl and a moment later the signal was answered by the whip-poor-will.

“he’s getting that bird down a bit better. guess he’s had his whistle tuned. if i hadn’t heard it before i’d let it pass for the real thing,” jack declared after the men had returned to the cabin.

“i wonder why they seem so scared of showing themselves.”

“i was thinking that very thing myself,” bob replied. “i doubt if there is a human being except us and their crowd within twenty miles of here. still they may know a lot that we don’t.”

“we’d better be getting back to our den. whoever it was that signaled is probably coming here, and judging from the sound, we’ll be just about in his path.”

they had been back in the midst of the clump of bushes where they had passed the night only a little more than a half hour when they heard voices off to their left and a few minutes later three men passed so close to them that they could almost have touched them.

“wonder if we’d know any of the newcomers,” jack whispered as soon as they had passed.

“i didn’t dare to take a peep, they were so close.”

“well mebby we’ll see them later.”

they waited another half hour and then crept up to their spying place. bob parted the bushes carefully and the next moment drew back with an exclamation of surprise.

“gone, eh?”

“clean’s a whistle.”

“can you beat it?”

for a moment neither spoke again then jack said: “i never believed in spooks but if this thing isn’t spooky then i’ll eat my hat.”

“it does seem spooky that’s a fact,” bob returned soberly. “but you know there’s no such thing, not in the twentieth century, and there’s an explanation to it if we can only find the key.”

“but for a full grown log cabin to vanish into thin air right before your eyes so to speak. don’t tell me it isn’t spooky. why, they used to hang folks for less than that.”

“hold on there, son. you’re getting your figures of speech mixed. they never used to hang log cabins.”

“mebby not. but log cabins didn’t used to vanish like that either,” and jack passed his hand over his eyes as though he were dazed.

“we shouldn’t have let it out of our sight for a minute,” bob mused. “but always before it has gone in the night.”

“night or day doesn’t seem to make much difference to that bird,” jack declared.

“well we might as well go and view the remains, that is provided there are any to view.”

“better wait a bit. they haven’t had time to get very far away yet and there’s a chance of one of them coming back for something. a few minutes more or less won’t make any difference to us and it might save us from getting caught.”

so, for another half hour they waited but nothing happened and at last bob declared that he thought it safe to investigate. but, as he more than half expected there was absolutely nothing to investigate.

“you said a mouth full when you said clean as a whistle,” jack declared as they stood on the very spot where the cabin had been. “they don’t leave as much as a toe nail behind them.”

jack was quite correct in his assertion for there was not a particle of evidence to show that a cabin or any other sort of a house had ever occupied the place.

“well, what’s the answer?”

for several moments bob made no reply. he was thinking and jack was wise enough not to interrupt him.

“one thing seems fairly certain,” he volunteered finally.

“that’s better than nothing. what is it?”

“why, it must be that we are somewhere near where they do business, else there wouldn’t be so many of them round.”

“sounds reasonable. and then what?”

“i guess dinner’s about the next thing. how does it strike you?”

“right where i live.”

after a short search they found a spring a short distance away and for the first time in over twenty-four hours they ventured to build a small fire using such bits of wood as would make the least smoke.

“jack, i hardly like to do it but i’m going to ask you to stay right here and let me do a bit of scouting by my lonesome,” bob said as soon as they had eaten.

“why alone?”

“simply because one stands less risk of getting caught than two.”

“well i can’t say i like the idea much but what you say goes.”

“i’ll be back before dark if nothing happens,” bob promised as he started off.

beyond the place where the cabin had stood the trees grew far apart and there was no underbrush, making traveling easy but leaving no traces. thus he was unable to find any signs of anyone having passed. this did not discourage him as he hardly expected it. he made rapid time relying on his keen hearing to tell him should he overtake the men he was trailing. he was not sure by any means that he was going in the right direction but he was taking a chance on keeping near the border line. he calculated that he had made nearly ten miles when the forest began to be more dense. tall spruces and straight pines grew closely together and there was now considerable underbrush making it necessary for him to slow up.

this, however, did not worry him as he reasoned that, if he had to go slowly, so would the men in front of him, that is, if they were in front.

“i ought to be pretty near up to them by this time,” he told himself as he stopped to listen a little later, “that is provided i’m on the right track.”

several times during the last half hour he had seen marks which told him that someone had passed that way not long before but he could not be sure that it was his party. but the signs had encouraged him to keep on and suddenly he heard the sound of voices just a short distance ahead. he stopped to listen. from the sound several men were talking although he was not near enough to catch any words.

“sounds as though they were having a dispute about something,” he thought as he softly crept nearer.

it was evident that the party ahead had stopped, perhaps for the night, and he hoped to get near enough to be able to hear what they were talking about. he had taken about ten steps when he heard a loud snap and something gripped him firmly by the leg. he knew only too well what it was. he was caught in a bear trap, probably set by some trapper and either lost or forgotten.

fortunately his stout legging furnished considerable protection and he was quite certain that it had not broken the bone. but it hurt so that for a moment he nearly fainted. but he resisted the giddiness with all his strength and soon the pain became less.

“i’m in a pretty pickle,” he thought, “unless i can spring it open.”

before trying, however, he listened a moment. he could still hear the men talking but now their voices were growing fainter and he judged that they had started on again. for a moment he hesitated whether or not to call and take his chances of getting away from the latter. but his knowledge of their character quickly decided him. “better take a chance with the trap than with them,” he thought.

he waited until he could no longer hear them and then reaching down he seized the jaws of the trap, one in each hand and, exerting all his strength, tried to force them apart. but to his dismay he was unable to so much as move them. a bear trap is made to hold once it has caught its prey, and his heart sank as he realized his inability to extricate himself.

“if i had only taken jack with me,” he moaned as he sank down on the ground.

for a few minutes he rested. the leg did not pain so much now, only a dull ache. he knew that the jaws were shutting off the flow of blood. after a bit he felt stronger and renewed his efforts but they were in vain. then he looked about to see if the trap was fastened and found that it was locked by a strong chain to a nearby tree.

“no chance of dragging it,” he thought. again he rested and thought. miles away from anyone except his enemies and even they were doubtless out of hearing by this time, and night coming on, he realized that his position was most serious. glancing down at the jaws he saw that blood was beginning to soak through the legging. it was, however, not bleeding fast enough to cause him any anxiety on that score.

“guess i’d better keep as still as i can, though,” he thought. “the more i wiggle round the deeper those jaws will bite and first thing i know i’ll be bleeding to death.”

dusk was beginning to fall and he knew that in a short time darkness would be upon him. he thought of jack back there anxiously awaiting his return and wondered what he would do when he failed to show up.