"Is that your cabin?" asked Sammy. "No, my shack can't compare with that in build," answered the hunter. "That's an old deserted mansion. It used to be a[Pg 69] sort of hotel, or boarding house, but it hasn't been used as such in a good many years. It didn't pay. [Pg 69] "I'm a sort of care-taker of it, and I have one or two rooms fitted up that I use when my shack gets filled. But the rest of the place is deserted, except for the bats and rats." The boys came to a stop in front of the old house. It was bare and gaunt, and looked lonesome. On most of the windows the sagging shutters flapped dismally. Somehow there seemed an air of mystery about the place. Sammy Brown's spirits rose. "Fellows!" he cried, "maybe the mystery is in here!" [Pg 70] [Pg 70] CHAPTER IX SAMMY'S QUEER FIND CHAPTER IX SAMMY'S QUEER FIND "Ha! Ha!" laughed Mr. Jessup. "My sister was right about you, Sammy! You're always on the lookout for something odd." Sammy was a little put out by the attention he had drawn to himself. But for all of that, he was not going to back down. "Well," he said, "I only thought that if queer things had been going on around your camp, Mr. Jessup, maybe the person who had been taking your things would be hiding in here." "So you're sure it's a person, and not a ghost; eh?" asked the hunter, with a smile. "I don't believe in ghosts," declared Sammy. "Good boy! Neither do I. But I'm sorry I can't agree with you that the mystery is in this old mansion." "Why?" asked Sammy, who liked to stick to a point. "Because the hermit and I, so far as I know, are the only ones on this part of the island. If there was anyone else here Maybe would have routed him out long ago; wouldn't you, Maybe?"
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