The Mystery Hunters at the Haunted Lodge

  CHAPTER XIV New Quarters

  The twins watched the departure of their chums and then turned back intothe house. Mac closed the door and walked over to the fire, rubbing hishands.

  "It doesn't do to get far away from the fire these days," he grinned.

  "Not for long," his brother admitted. "We had better get over to thelodge and start a fire there. That place is going to be cold."

  "Yes, and it will take some time to warm it up, too. Did Barry leave thekey?"

  Tim took it from his pocket. "Here it is. Let's take some of the stuffand go on over there."

  They put on coats and hats and, taking a few things with them, left theBronson cabin and crossed to the lodge. Tim unlocked the front door ofBluff Lodge, and they went in. The interior of the lodge was cold, andtheir breath stood out in dense white clouds. Without lingering in thehall they went directly to the big living room and put their equipmenton the window seats.

  "The first thing we had better do," Mac suggested, "is to get the firegoing. This fireplace looks like a good one, and it shouldn't take long.Want to put paper in while I go haul a load of wood on the sled?"

  "We haven't got the sled," Tim reminded him. "Barry and Kent have it, soyou'll have to carry some over."

  "That's so, I had forgotten. They took the sled to bring home thewell-known bacon."

  "Or your sausage," Tim grinned.

  "It won't be mine alone. You know that you like it yourself and so dothe other boys. Well, I'll be back in a few seconds with some wood."

  "We haven't got much of it," Tim said. "We'll have to cut some more."

  "I know it. That is the biggest job we have."

  Mac left the lodge, and Tim busied himself piling some newspaper whichhe had brought in the fireplace. There were some ashes left from aprevious fire, and he cleaned them out and carried them in a pail to thekitchen, where he unlocked the back door and took the pail out to wherethe bushes grew in a wild tangle. Here he dumped the ashes and thenlooked around. The door of the Bronson cabin was open, and he could seeMac inside.

  Returning to the lodge, his eyes lighted on a small shed joined to thekitchen. It was one part of the lodge that they had not inspected, andhis curiosity was aroused.

  "Wonder what that place is. But I suppose it is locked up."

  He tried the knob on the door that led to the small shed and found thatit was locked. The key ring for the lodge was still in his pocket, andhe took it out, examining the keys closely.

  "The key to this shed may be on the ring. Nothing like trying."

  He fitted two keys to the lock on the shed, and the second one fitted.One turn and the lock slipped back. He pulled the door open and peeredinside. Then he gave a whistle of surprise and pleasure.

  "Coal, by ginger! Half a shed full of coal. I must tell Mac about this."

  He did not linger long out in the crisp air, but returned to the livingroom of the hunting lodge. Just as he reached the fireplace, Mac came inwith a load of wood.

  "This is the last of it," he announced. "We'll have to cut some morebefore it gets dark, and we'll have to hustle to it because it isgetting darker all the time. We're in for a storm."

  "We'll have to cut some wood," Tim told him. "But I made a greatdiscovery, Mac. There is a shed joined to the kitchen, and it is halffilled with coal. That means an end to our wood-chopping."

  "It doesn't belong to us," Mac interposed, practically.

  "I know, but if we pay for what we use, it ought to be all right. In thelittle time left for us to stay here we won't use much. Come on and lookat it."

  He led his brother to the coal shed, and Mac inspected it. "I suppose itwill be all right," the sandy-haired twin nodded. "If it isn't, Barrywill tell us when he gets back here. At any rate, we can use it to warmup the room in there, and it will do the job quicker than wood will.Let's take a bucket of it in the house."

  "This coal explains why they use grates in the hall and the livingroom," Tim said, as they filled a coal pail that hung close by.

  Returning to the living room of the lodge, they quickly built the fire.The flames licked their way up through the paper and over the wood, andwhen this had caught fire in good style they put some coal on. As thefire blazed out in a comforting manner, the brothers stood and watchedit with satisfaction.

  "The first fire in this room for many a day," remarked Tim.

  Mac grinned. "That ghost or spook must be a cold-blooded fellow,prowling around here in rooms as cold as these are."

  Tim glanced out of the window. "Mac, it is snowing again, and I have ahunch that it is going to snow hard. Let's get some more wood in beforethings close down."

  "I guess we had better. Some of that limb over at the cabin is left, andwe can get our supply off of that."

  The twins took their axes and hastened to the limb before the cabin.Falling to with a will, they soon had the wood supply mounting. Thestorm increased as they worked, until they could scarcely see for thewhirling flakes. For some time they were silent, saving their energy forthe task before them, but their minds were on the same subject. Macleaned on his ax for a breathing spell.

  "I'm afraid that the boys will have a hard time finding their waythrough this storm," he said.

  Tim stopped chopping and looked anxiously toward the forest, which couldbarely be seen. Both boys had a goodly quantity of snow on theirshoulders and hats.

  "I have been thinking the same thing," he admitted. "You can hardly seethe woods from here. And they don't know the way very well."

  "Maybe they can see better in the woods than we can out here in theopen," said Mac hopefully. He began to chop again with vigor. "Let's getthrough here and get back in the lodge. By golly, we can hardly seeanything ourselves, and we might get lost without much trouble!"

  They carried their wood into the lodge and then returned to the cabinfor a final load of their camping equipment. Satisfied that they now hadeverything, Tim locked the door and trotted across the open space to thehunting lodge. He paused at the door for a final look at the white,storm-tossed world about him, and an anxious frown gathered on hisforehead.

  "How I wish Kent and Barry were back here! I don't see how they canpossibly find their way in a storm like this one."

  More troubled than he cared to admit, Tim joined his twin before thefire in the large grate. "Might as well take off our coats and makeourselves at home, hadn't we?" he asked.

  "I was just thinking about priming that pump on the back porch. I'mtired of snow water."

  "So am I. But I'm afraid that pump is frozen solid."

  "No doubt of it, but some good hot water poured in it ought to break itloose. It is warmer today than it has been most of the time. Want to tryit?"

  "I guess so. How will we heat water? There is nothing to hang a kettleon."

  Mac examined the fireplace closely. "No, there isn't. But we could setthe kettle right on the coals. Wouldn't hurt the kettle any."

  "Let's look in the kitchen and see what we can find there," Timproposed. "We could start a fire in the stove and heat our water there."

  "I guess we had better not use up our wood on a kitchen fire," Mac shookhis head. "For tonight we can get along with this grate fire. We don'tknow how long this storm will last, so we will have to be careful."

  They traversed the long hall to the kitchen and examined the pots andpans that hung on hooks under the shelves. From the closet beside thecook range Mac brought out a curiously shaped pan. It was flat on oneside and had a long handle to it. A hook curved out from the flat side,and there was a hinged cover for it.

  "What the dickens kind of a pot is this, Tim? I never saw one like itbefore."

  Tim looked it over with interest. "Hanged if I know," he began, thensuddenly his face lighted up. "Why, Mac, this must be a pan to hang onthe grate. This hook goes over the top grate bar, and you can heat waterin it. Just the thing we need!"

  "That's just exactly what it is," Mac nodded. "I'll get some
snow, andwe can melt it down and then try our luck on that pump."

  They filled the grate pan with snow and then took it in and hooked it onthe top bar of the grate. There was now no doubt in their minds that theutensil was meant for its present use.

  "While that is melting and heating, let's get the lamps in here," Timsuggested, and they brought the oil lamps in from the bedrooms. Therewas very little oil left in them, and the boys had only a scanty supplyin their lanterns.

  "We'll have plenty when Barry and Kent get here," Mac remarked, lookingout at the storm. But the scene that met his eye was not a reassuringone. If anything, the storm was increasing.

  "That snow has melted down and will soon be hot water," Tim said, aftera glance into the grate pan. "Guess we'd better get another pan of snowand keep melting it, because that pump will have to be primed more thanonce."

  This was done, and as the water became hot the boys kept adding snow. Atlast the pan was filled with boiling water, and they poured it into thetea kettle, and after refilling the grate pan with snow they set off forthe back porch to try their luck with the pump. Tim carefully poured theboiling fluid down the neck of the rusty iron pump shaft. Steam arose asthe hot water came in contact with the ice.

  "If we do get this thing going, we'll have to prime it every morning,"Mac predicted, standing first on one foot and then on the other andmoving about to keep warm.

  "Yes, no doubt of that. Gosh, it is getting colder. Good thing thisporch shelters us from some of the wind."

  They poured pan after pan of boiling water down the pump shaft withoutattaining the end they were seeking, and were about to give it up as abad job, when Mac felt the pump handle move with a sucking sound. Hepressed harder.

  "I think she's coming!" he cried. "Put another dose in."

  Tim did so, and the water came pouring up, bringing with it a mixture ofice and rust flakes. The brothers worked the handle vigorously, and soona stream of clear water flowed out.

  "Hurrah, we made it," Tim exulted. "Thought we weren't going to,though."

  "So did I. That water looks good. Wait until I get a glass from thekitchen, and we can have a good drink of it."

  They filled some pails with the water and then returned to the house.Darkness was beginning to settle, and their spirits became more and moredepressed. It was close to five o'clock, and the blackness of night soonclosed entirely over the lodge. Tim lighted a lamp, and they werecomfortable as far as light and warmth were concerned. But their mindswere far from easy.

  "No use talking, the boys have either stayed at Fox Point or they arelost," Mac sighed, as they looked out of the window into the thickblackness.

  "I don't believe they stayed," Tim shook his head. "I'm afraid that theystarted on the return trip and got caught. The tough part is that if wego out to look for them, we would probably be lost in a short time,too!"