box was just where I had
left it. I don't see why I should get so nervous over it."

Presently he drew out his pipe, filled it, and sat down in front of the
fire to smoke. As he did this, a slight noise outside the cabin
attracted his attention.

"I wonder what that was?" he asked himself, and, arising, looked out of
one of the cabin windows. Then he went to the door and gazed around. No
one was in sight, and he closed the door again.

"Must have been the wind, or something like that," he murmured. "Or else
I'm getting more nervous than I ever was before. Now that I've got used
to those boys around, it seems dreadfully lonely when they are gone;"
and he heaved a deep sigh.

He remained in front of the fire for the best part of half an hour.
Then, as if struck by a sudden determination, he leaped up, knocked the
ashes from his pipe, and began to put on his snowshoes. He donned his
heavy coat and his cap, locked up his cabin, and strode off in the
direction of the heavy woods in the center of the island.

Although Barney Stevenson was not aware of it, the noise he had heard
while seated before the open fire had betokened something of
importance. Entirely unknown to the old lumberman or to the Rover boys,
Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell had arrived in the vicinity of the two
cabins on the northern point of the island. Both of the youths were
armed, but they approached the cabin occupied by the old lumberman with
the greatest of secrecy.

"It looks like another wild-goose chase to me," growled Slugger Brown,
when they were close to the place. "We've been here three times now, and
the old man hasn't done a thing out of the ordinary."

"Well, we're sure of one thing, anyway," Nappy replied. "He hasn't got
those deeds anywhere around that cabin--or at least no place where we
could locate them."

The bully and his crony had, from a distance, watched the departure of
the Rovers. As can be guessed from their conversation, they had visited
the island several times before, each time taking care that none of the
others should discover their presence. On their trips they had been
strongly tempted to "rough-house" the cabin occupied by Jack and his
cousins, but they had not dared to do this, fearing it might cause the
Rovers to go on guard.

"And anyhow, we're not here for that purpose now," Slugger Brown had
observed. "We want to get those land deeds for my dad and old Lemon."

The two youths had come close to the side o