ing!"

The interior of the place was made of rough boards, rudely thrown
together as if by an amateur. Why the person who had made the little
cabin had not laid boards for his floor, nobody could tell. Perhaps he
had run short of lumber or perhaps he preferred the hard earth floor.

As Vi had said, in one corner some boards had been nailed up to form
shelves, and there were several tins of canned goods upon the shelves.
Quite evidently this must be the queer owner's pantry.

Besides this, the cot, the table, and an oddly-shaped chair, which had
evidently been made from an old soap box, made the only furnishings of
the place.

"I wonder," said Billie, looking about her while a sort of awe crept into
her voice, "what the person is like that lives here. He must be very
queer, to say the least."

"Oh," cried Vi, all her old fears coming back again. "Girls, I'd almost
forgotten the Codfish. Do you suppose--"

"No, we don't," said Laura shortly, wishing that the very mention of the
Codfish would not send the cold chills all over her. "Goodness, just
listen to that rain," she added, shivering. "I guess we're in for a night
of it."

"But we can't stay _here_ all night," said Billie anxiously.

"Suppose the owner should come back," added Vi, her teeth beginning to
chatter.

"Well, he could only kill us if he did," said Laura gloomily.

"Besides, there are three of us to his one," said Billie, trying to speak
lightly. But Laura spoiled the attempt by adding more gloomily than ever:

"How do we know there's only one of him?"

"Well it doesn't look as if a whole family resided here."

"That's so too--but there may be two, at least."

Again the girls looked around the queer place. They saw a few tools as if
somebody had spent time in woodworking. There were shavings and parts of
cut tree branches and strips of bark.

"I'll wager he's a queer stick--whoever he is," was Billie's comment.

"And what will he say if he finds us here, prying into his private
affairs?" came from Laura, with something of a shiver. "Oh!"

All uttered a little cry as a crash of thunder reached them. Then the
rain seemed to come down harder than ever.

"Just listen to that!"

"It's good we are under cover. If we weren't we'd be drowned!"

The rain came in at one corner of the shelter, forming a pool on the hard
floor. But it did not reach the girls, for which they were thankful.

"I wonder how long it will last," sighed Vi presently.