"Well, whether he thought we were ghosts or not, he certainly shot at us," was Phil's comment. "Ugh! I am glad I didn't get a dose of the shot!"
"And so am I," answered several others.
"That is one more black mark against Mike Marcy," said Luke Watson. "We'll have to remember to pay him back."
"Never mind about paying him back just now," answered Roger. "The question is, What's to do next? That run warmed me up and I'll take cold if I stand here long doing nothing."
"We must get back to the boathouse. Remember, the Soden boys are still locked up in that closet. It hasn't much ventilation and we don't want them to smother."
"I'm not going around by the road," said Henshaw.
"Not on your life!" exclaimed Ben. "I'd rather go down to the river and walk over the ice."
It was finally decided to follow Ben's suggestion, and the crowd continued on their way through the brushwood until the Leming River was reached. They saw or heard nothing more of Mike Marcy and his hired boy, for which they were thankful. Reaching the ice, they set off at a dog-trot for the old boathouse.
"If we only had skates this would be fine," de-
