a second time. Still there was no response.

"Guess I'll go in," he murmured, and pushed the door open.

The apartment beyond was the living-room of the old cottage and
a glance showed him a smouldering fire in the fireplace. Nobody
was visible.

From the kitchen the boy hunter went into the room beyond and then
ran upstairs.

"See anybody?" called Shep, as Snap showed himself at a broken-out
window.

"No. Call the others."

Shep did as requested, and soon all of the young hunters were
making an investigation of the premises.

"He must have gone away this morning," said Giant. "See how the
fire is still burning."

"I wish I knew where he had gone to," said Snap, with a long sigh.

"Perhaps we can find out if we search closely."

In the cottage they found the remains of some meals the stranger
had had, and also some scraps of paper, including an envelope
addressed to Lusher Barrock.

"I wonder if that is his name?" said Snap.

"More than likely," answered Giant. "Did you ever hear of him before?"

"No."

They tried to put the pieces of paper together, but the effort was
a failure.

"Here is where he did some figuring," said Whopper, pointing to
the board, which contained numerous pencil marks. "Maybe---hullo!
look here!"

"What's up now?" asked Snap, running forward.

"Here is the name of Andrew Felps!"

"Felps!" came from all of the others in a chorus.

"Can that man have been here?" asked Giant.

"I must say, I don't understand this," came from Snap. "But I
have got an idea."

"What is it, Snap?"

"Of course I may be all wrong, but I'll give it to you for what it
is worth. Do you remember what my father said about those papers?"

"That they related to a certain patch of timber land?" said Giant.

"Yes; and that the Felps people wanted to get hold of the patch.
Well, this Lusher Barrock may be hanging around here trying to sell
the papers."

"To sell them?" said Shep, looking puzzled.

"Exactly. They are of no use to him, but they might be of use
to Andrew Felps and his lumber company."

"You mean that by getting the papers Felps might keep your folks
from cutting down the lumber on that tract?"

"Yes, and more. Felps may have some way of getting hold of the
land himself, if these papers are destroyed. I don't know the
whole truth of the case, but I know my father wanted the papers
and he didn't want Andrew Felps to learn that they were missing."

"Snap, I think you ha