"I don't know---hiding, I suppose," answered the doctor's son as he peered around sharply for a sight of the reptiles.

The three boys waited for fully two minutes, not daring to make a move. The vines lay where they had been cast, and between them lay Giant's gun, which he had dropped when trying to leap to safety.

"I guess we had better get out of this locality," said Snap at length. "I have no desire to be bitten by a rattlesnake!"

"Indeed not!" answered Giant. "But my gun---I don't want to leave that behind."

"Do you want to go down for it?"

"Not for a thousand dollars!" answered the small youth vehemently.

"Why, a rattlesnake bite is deadly poisonous!"

"I know that as well as you do, Giant."

"You might make a cast with your fishing-line," suggested the doctor's son.

"I will."

Giant always carried several lines, and selecting one of these, he made a loop and to it fastened a small sinker for a weight. Then he made a cast for the gun and secured it.

Slowly and cautiously, and keeping on the highest rocks they could find, the three young hunters commenced to retreat. They moved back at least fifty yards, and then made a wide detour along the hill skirting the watercourse. All this took time, and when they thought themselves safe it was growing dark.

"This doesn't look as if we were going to get to the cabin very fast," remarked Snap. "How much farther have we to go?"

"A good half mile," answered Shep.

"Then we might as well go on, even if it is night," put in Giant.

"Perhaps we can catch that crazy fellow asleep and make him a prisoner. He ought to be arrested for stealing our things."

Presently the doctor's son came to a spot that looked familiar, and a minute later he pointed to a notch cut in a tree.

"That is my blaze," he said. "I made it so as to remember where the cabin was located. We'll be there in a few minutes more.

Better keep quiet."

The others understood, and after that they advanced without speaking, unless it seemed necessary, and then only in a whisper. The sun had gone down, and it was as quiet as it was lonely.

The doctor's son was in the lead, and presently he halted and pointed ahead. There was the dilapidated cabin, just as it had been when visited by Shep and Whopper.

"See anybody?" asked Giant in a low voice.

"Not a soul."

"Supposing we walk around the place first?" suggested Snap.

The others agreed to this, and they circled the lonely structure at a distance of twenty yards. n.o.body appeared, nor did they hear any sound from within.

"I may be mistaken, but it looks deserted to me," said Snap.

"Well, we thought it was deserted, too, until that fellow shied things at us," answered the doctor's son.

At last, growing a bit bolder, the three lads walked slowly up to the cabin, Snap and Giant with their guns ready for use and the doctor's son with a stout stick he had cut. Thus they reached the doorway, which was wide open. Shep looked in, shielding his head with one arm, for he did not know but what he might become the target for anything the strange creature living there should have in hand.

The place was pitch dark inside, and for the moment the doctor's son could see nothing. But as his eyes grew accustomed to the gloom he saw a broken table and an old bench, and several discarded articles of culinary ware.

"Do yo---you se---see him?" whispered Giant. He was so agitated he could scarcely frame the words.

Shep shook his head, and, growing still bolder, stepped into the lonely cabin. With added caution his two chums followed. They tiptoed their way through the two rooms and back again.

"He must have gone out," said Snap at last.

"Shall I make a light?" And as the others a.s.sented he struck a match and lit the pocket lantern he had brought along.

The rays of the small light revealed a curious scene to them. In a corner, where it had been hurled, lay Shep's gun. It had been discharged and the buckshot had gone through one sleeve of the shirt that had been stolen and which likewise lay in the corner.

There was some blood on the shirt, and bloodstains led across the floor to the doorway and outside.

"Must have shot himself," was Snap's comment.

"Yes; and ran away after he did it," returned Giant.

"See anything of my watch?" asked Shep.

"No; and I don't see my belt or my camera, either," answered Snap.

"Or my sock," put in Giant.

The inner room of the cabin was littered up with a variety of things, the wings of birds, feathers of chickens, sh.e.l.ls of eggs, bones, bits of tree branches, an old iron chain, a tiny square looking-gla.s.s, badly cracked, some stale bread and cake, cores of apples and pears, and a great ma.s.s of other trash.

"He's a regular pig," was Snap's comment.

"Wonder if he'll come back to-night?" was Giant's question.

"Perhaps, unless he was fatally wounded," answered Shep.

They made a thorough search for the missing watch, camera, and other things, but without success. Shep would not touch the shirt, and left it where it was. But he took the gun, and after examining it proceeded to load up the empty barrel.

"We'll go into camp near here," said the doctor's son. "And keep watch for the missing person, whoever he is."

They got supper and went into camp close to the rear of the cabin.

They took turns at watching throughout the entire night, but nothing came to disturb them. Early in the morning they visited the cabin again, but found nothing new to interest them. Coming out, Giant started up two rabbits and quickly shot the game.

"Say, that will bring him back, if he's in this vicinity," cried Snap. "Perhaps it would have been better-----"

He stopped speaking, for as he spoke they heard another gunshot from the woods between them and the river. Then came a call that sounded somewhat familiar.

CHAPTER XXVII