The place was in excellent repair when he died.

It is still, I imagine." There was a breathless silence as the lawyer ceased speaking.

How the thought of that log cabin, out in the deep forest, appealed to the imaginations of such Grammar School boys as these! "Well, sir ?" asked Greg breathlessly, at last.
"Young men, if your parents should consent to your going on such a wild, madcap picnic in mid-winter, I would let you have the use of that cabin.
But you may have the use of the cabin at any other time, as long as the cabin remains in Mrs.Dexter's name, so I would suggest your going in the spring or summer." "Oh, pshaw!" leaped to Greg Holmes's lips, but he choked back the exclamation.

What use would boys have for a log cabin in summer, when there was a chance to use it in mid-winter?
Besides, the summer seemed a long way off.
"Is there any water near the cabin, Mr.Ripley ?" asked Tom Reade, who possessed a practical head in such matters.
"Yes; a spring, within perhaps twenty or thirty feet of the doorway," nodded the lawyer.

"Inside the cabin is one of the big, old-fashioned fire-places----" "O-o-oh! A-a-ah!" gasped the youngsters in chorus.
"There are also eight bunks in the place, each with a straw or dry-leaf mattress," continued Mr.Ripley.