“Now don’t start that list of questions,” objected Jack. “Ask Tom.” George turned a gaze on his other chum. “Of course Skeel may have been here,” admitted our hero. “We were never in this cabin before, and we don’t know how it looked, or how it was arranged. But if they were here, they don’t seem to have done much damage, and if they had a meal, they washed the dishes up after them.” A look in the kitchen showed that it was in order. This cabin was built just the same as was No. 1, and the arrangements and furnishings were practically similar. “Well, Skeel or no Skeel, I’m going to have something to eat!” cried Tom. “Come on, fellows, make yourselves at home.” This they proceeded to do, making arrangements to get a meal, for there was plenty of wood for the stove as well as a pile of dry logs for the fireplace. A blaze was not unwelcome, for it was growing colder, and there were signs of a storm. As our friends sat about the cozy, crackling blaze on the hearth they were unaware of three men, on the edge of the little clearing in which the cabin stood--three men who were gazing at the smoke curling up from the chimney. “Yes, there they are!” grumbled the one known as Whalen. “There they are in their cabin, nice and warm, and with plenty to eat, and we’re out in the cold. I don’t like it, I say! I don’t like it!” “Now, don’t get rash!” observed Professor Skeel, for he was of the trio. “What is a little discomfort now compared to the satisfaction we’ll have later?” “I wouldn’t mind so much, if I was sure of that,” said Whalen sullenly. “But it ain’t noways sure.” “I’ll make it sure,” said the hoarse voice of the other plotter. “Have you decided on a way to get him into our hands?” asked the former teacher eagerly. “Have you a plan, Murker?” “Yes, and a good one, too!” was the answer. “It’s come to me since we’ve been fiddling around here.” “And can we get him--get Tom Fairfield--where we want him?” asked Professor Skeel eagerly. “That’s what I want to know.” “Yes, I think we can,” answered Murker, an unpleasant grin spreading over his evil face. “I haven’t all the details worked out yet, but when I get through, I think we’ll have him just where we want him. Not that I want him particularly,” he went on. “I never knew him before you fellows got me into this,” and when he classed Professor Skeel as a “fellow,” the latter did not object. It showed to what depths the really talented man had fallen. For Professor Skeel was a brilliant scholar, and would have made his mark in educational circles, had he chosen to be honest. But he took the easiest way, which ends by being the hardest. “I don’t ask you to take any interest in Tom Fairfield, once you help me get him in my power,” went on the former instructor. “I’ll attend to the rest. But I want him alone. I don’t want to have to handle any of the others.” “I should say not!” exclaimed Whalen. “We’ll have our hands full, if we try to take care of all four of ’em.”