THE
AUTO BOYS'
MYSTERY
By JAMES A. BRADEN
AUTHOR OF
"THE AUTO BOYS," "THE AUTO BOYS' ADVENTURE,"
"THE AUTO BOYS' CAMP," "THE AUTO BOYS'
BIG SIX," "FAR PAST THE
FRONTIER," ETC.
FRONTISPIECE BY ALFRED RUSSELL
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK
THE AUTO BOYS' MYSTERY
1CHAPTER I
PROLOGUE
The Auto Boys had been camped on the unfrequentedshore of Opal Lake for several days.At first hunting and fishing were the only enliveningfeatures of this, their unusual summerouting.
Opal Lake, far up in the big northern woods,had at this time no other campers. True,there was an abandoned clubhouse on a nearbypoint not far from where Phil Way, BillyWorth, Dave MacLester and Paul Jones selectedthe spot for their Outing Camp. But, untilwithin a day or two, even the clubhouse hadseemed to be as it looked, deserted.
But a smoke being seen one day, the boys had2become curious. Without actually entering thehouse itself, they had made individual or collectivetrips that way. Also strange soundshad been heard, and even human presence hadbeen detected. Finally Paul, the youngest ofthe boys, made a cautious trip thither and evenentered the house where he had heard voices,and otherwise had detected that real folks wereundoubtedly there; though why they were therePaul could only guess. Perhaps they were insearch of a bag of money, said to be twentythousand dollars, stolen three years before andsupposed still to be hidden somewhere in thatregion.
Strange men had been seen near the end of agravel road which the Longknives Club (ownersof the now abandoned clubhouse) were then constructingfor their own use and convenience.The unexpected loss of this money caused thework to stop, while the workmen, including aSwedish foreman, Nels Anderson by name, remainedunpaid to this day.
3Aside from the clubhouse, the nearest inhabitantsto the boys' camp were this same Andersonand his family, who lived in a small clearingfive or six miles away on the trail leading toStaretta, a small town perhaps a dozen milesfurther on. This was the nearest town to OpalLake which was, indeed, a veritable "Lake ofthe Woods."
When Paul Jones, finally escaping throughthe cellar window, left the clubhouse withoutbeing discovered, he ran across in the dark anothersomebody who vanished, uttering strangeand savage oaths. Paul also made himselfscarce in another direction and happened uponChip Slider, whose merry response to Paul'sgreeting caused both soon to become so friendlythat Paul took Chip to their camp, where awarm meal soon loosened the boys' tongues andthere was a general interchange of opinionsabout game, fish, the big woods, and at last theabandoned house on the point.
Here the boys learned from Chip that a man4named Murky was also in the woods and supposedlyafter that lost or stolen satchel, thoughtby many