Chapter 24
About a quarter of a mile from the old ranger's station was the driveway to the only house on Gwen Lake. It belonged to the family that had formerly owned all the land that was later entrusted back to the state as a wilderness preserve. Daniel had volunteered to go check out the house alone. The others were happy to send him off while they rested their blistered feet and tired legs. For the first time in a long time, they had full bellies; full of cans of expired vegetables and a couple of tins of tuna. At least nobody had died yet, or showed symptoms of food poisoning.
The large yellow house was sitting in the middle of a big open yard on the edge of the lake. There was no cover, no out-buildings, no shrubbery, nothing but a long driveway of crushed slate, and an acre of over
