Dirk went back to his gloomy thoughts, which were now turned toward his companions, who had set out so blithely with him on the Long Trail. Were they even now mourning his death and Brick’s, as victims of a canoe accident? He recalled his clumsiness the first time the _Sachem_ was launched—no doubt they thought him still a lubber who would upset his craft and drag his friend with him to the watery depths. But Mr. Carrigan was wise; and though their captors were cunning, they had left several clues that might be read. For instance, the provision-sack had been tightly lashed within the canoe; Sagamore Wise-Tongue would think it strange that it had worked loose when the canoe overturned. They had left no tracks, except a trampled spot in the bushes on Flint Island, but perhaps, perhaps the Lenape men had not given up hope. Their stock of food was gone, but they would find some way to exist, even in the wilderness——
He woke from his reverie. Mink had again jumped to his feet, nose in air. Dirk sniffed too. Something stronger than the heavy odor of the cabin was sifting through the chinks in the logs. It smelled like the lodge at Lenape, in the evening with the whole tribe gathered around the fireplace——
With a wild cry, the Indian threw open the door, leaped across the threshold, and slammed it behind his retreating form. A frozen instant of hushed wonder—the smell became undeniable—a smell of charring timber——
Dirk dashed for the window, but Brick was before him. Together, the boys stared through the dirty pane. The forest showed them no danger signals, but from over their heads came the thuds of a scrambling body and the low hiss of flames in dry shingle-boards.
Brick turned to his friend, his freckled face aglow with renewed hope.
“This cabin must be afire, Dirk!” he muttered, trying to keep down the exultation in his heart. “Gollies, listen to that! The roof must be blazin’ like sixty!”
It was true; rising above the beats of his heart, the listening Dirk could hear the crackling of hungry flames.
“Our chance!” Brick’s eyes were dancing. “Come on! Old Mink sure will be busy for a minute, and he won’t think about us. Now’s our chance to make a getaway!”
The two captives were out the door of the burning cabin in an instant, and broke wildly for cover in the thickets beyond the clearing.