ation. Amy's teeth
were chattering so that Clint squeezed his arm again. Then the light
again flashed, swept the ground for an instant and was as suddenly shut
off, and the footsteps retreated.

The boys eased their cramped positions. A minute passed. Then they
leaped aside from the doorway, for the flood of white light from the car
was again illumining the hut and the engine was humming loudly. A moment
of suspense, and the light swept past them, moved to the right, fell on
a line of bushes and trees, turned back a little and bored a long hole
in the darkness at the bottom of which stretched a roadway. And then,
with a final sputter of racing engine and a grind of gears, the car
sprang away up the road, the light dimmed and blackness fell again. The
chugging of the auto diminished and died in the distance. Amy arose
stiffly from where he had thrown himself out of the light.

"Now, what the dickens?" he demanded puzzledly.

"I can't imagine," replied Clint. "And I don't much care. What gets me
is why we didn't speak to them!"

"That's so," agreed Amy. "Somehow, there was something sort of sneaky
about them, though, wasn't there? Bet you anything they were robbers
or--or something."

"Robbers don't usually travel around the country at night in autos,"
said Clint thoughtfully. "But I felt the way you did about them, I
guess. I sort of felt that it would be just as well if we didn't butt
in! One of them had a club that looked right hefty."

"Let's go out there and see if we can find anything," suggested Amy.

"All right, but I don't suppose we can even find the place in the dark."

They went out very cautiously and tramped about where it seemed that the
mysterious visitors had been, and Amy even got down on hands and knees
and felt over the ground. But nothing of moment rewarded their search,
the only thing either of them discovered being a head-high bush into
which Clint walked. At last:

"Well, this isn't much fun," said Amy. "And I'm cold clear through. Now
we know where the road is, Clint, let's get on it and walk. At least it
will warm us up."

"All right. I wish I knew what those fellows were up to, though. Maybe
if we waited until daylight--"

"And froze to death! Nothing doing," chattered Amy. "Curiosity killed a
cat, and although I don't feel exactly kittenish, I refuse to take any
chances. What time do you suppose it is?"

"About midnight, I guess." Clint drew out his watch, but he couldn't
even di