it ought to be found where the earth began again, and in that way pick
it up once more."

"And it really led you to a cabin, did it?" Allan asked, as the other
paused.

"Yes, and there had been a fire burning in front of the shack, though I
found only the ashes, as though it had been-hurriedly put out, perhaps
when they first saw us heading toward the island, just before the storm
came along."

"The ashes were still warm, then?" queried Allan, knowing that to be the
logical way a forest ranger always learns about how long past a fire has
burned out, or been extinguished.

"They were, and I could see that the brands had been torn apart, showing
that some one was in a hurry to keep its light from betraying the fact
of any person being camped on Sturgeon Island."

"Just what I'd think myself, Thad."

"After I saw that there was a cabin," continued the scout-master, "I
wondered whether I had better take chances, and crawl up close enough to
hear what they were saying, if so be there were men there. Before I had
gone far in that scheme I realized that it was a little too risky,
because I could hear a moving about, as though several men might be
passing in and out. I also caught an occasional low muttering tone; but
the noise of the waves dashing against the rocks, and the rattling of
the branches of the trees that overhung the lone cabin, kept me from
catching more than a single word now and then.