The Empty Hut

He decided to say nothing. He did not wish to alarm the girl, and he hoped that she had not noticed the footprints. The only thing he could think of was that whoever it was had used the old trick of walking backwards in their own footprints. But why should anyone want to do that? In any case, there was surely no way to predict that they would come here?

There was no fire burning in the fireplace, but there was dry kindling in the grate and a pile of logs beside it. Fred found the tinderbox in his pack, and soon managed to get the fire lit. The room would soon start to warm up.

Only once the fire was alight did Fred take the time to look around the room. There was a bed, a table and a chair. One corner had shelves where food supplies were stored. These were all items that would not perish quickly: salted meat, biscuits and so forth. Whoever had stayed here would have had a monotonous diet. There were also a few bottles of what looked like spirits of some sort. Some long skewers could be used for roasting the meat over the fire. A tin bowl was filled with water - probably melted snow - either for drinking or for washing.

1. There was a book on the table.
2. They had a meal from the supplies and the contents of Fred's pack. By the time they had finished it was getting dark. "You'd better have the bed," Fred said.

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