Mr. Rorth raised his eyebrows a bit and looked straight at Ronnie. “Well, that is convincing.” He thought about it for a moment. “Tell you what, Ronnie. I’m going down to the village later this afternoon to see if Mr. Caldwell got settled all right. I’ll take a look at the old office building on the way.” 44 “The crack is in the south window and you can peek in through there.” 44 “Never mind the crack. I’ll bring the key—if that old lock will still turn. Last time I looked it was wrapped with a cloth to keep it from rusting.” “Not any more it isn’t,” said Ronnie. After lunch Ronnie gathered together some tools and lumber to use in building a sign for the highway. With these under his arms, he stopped by the grape arbor where Phil was lying in the hammock. “You coming down?” he asked, hoping he would so he could carry some of the load. Phil eyed the lumber and tools. “I’ll be down after my siesta,” he said. “Nobody with any sense exercises during the heat of the day.” By resting his load on the ground every few hundred feet, Ronnie reached their new office without too much trouble. Bill hadn’t shown up yet, so Ronnie stretched out in one of their chairs, making plans for the afternoon while he waited for his friend. But after five minutes he grew restless and decided he’d kill some time by taking another peek through the shutter into the boarded-up building. He slipped out of the office and made his way toward the building. Soon he was standing on the log and peering through the crack. “Oh, no!” he exclaimed suddenly. “Now what’s Dad going to think of me?” The blanket, candle, and flashlight were no longer in sight. 45 Chapter 6 “That man,” Ronnie told himself again and again as he trudged back to their office, “that man I saw this morning running from the boarded-up house is the person who slept in there last night.” And “that man” had looked an awful lot like Mr. Caldwell, even seen from a distance and hidden somewhat by the early morning shadows. Ronnie groaned. He sure did hate the thought of the teasing he’d get when his father inspected the building and found nothing there. Bill was waiting for him when he
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