“Two gallons a month. I use it sparingly.”
“How do you heat the cabin?”
“A small wood stove.”
“Beryl carried that in?”
“Yes, it’s a three foot tall round top loader. Weighs two hundred pounds. It was her only load that trip. Very efficient stove. Runs twenty four hours a day in the winter. Keeps the cabin toasty. The harder issue is smoke management.”
“How’s that?”
“Can’t have visible smoke. Planes are flying overhead all the time looking for forest fires. Can’t have a little column of visible smoke attracting attention.”
“How do you manage that?”
“It’s quite complicated, actually. The wood has to be very dry. The fire is small but hot. A complicated chimney system disperses the smoke, then it filters through dense, tall trees. Eventually, no smoke is visible.”
“Water?”
“Nearby natural spring.”
“Do you bake? Have an oven?”
“I have an outside stone oven like the Chinese railway workers used. A mound of stones with a fire that heats the stones and creates an oven. Yes, I bake bread.”
“A smoker for meat?”
“Yes, part of the chimney system. The wood smoke from the stove cures meat.”
“Do you hunt?”
“Every day. Rifle and bow.”
“You bow hunt?”
“Yes.”
“Lights?”
“Candles. Kerosene lantern. One battery operated light. The wood stove has a glass panel that provides light, a nice, warm glow.”
“Batteries?”
“I have a small solar station away from the cabin with a southern exposure. It recharges batteries for lights and a Kindle I use for reading.”
“Internet?”
“Not yet. But it would be possible to set up a satellite feed. I could have a satellite phone too if I wanted one. But I don’t. We used them in Afghanistan in remote mountain locations.”
“I’m guessing you’re not going to tell me how long it takes to walk there.”
“Lucky guess.” If Molly knew how long it took to walk there, she could estimate various locations within that distance. She knew he wouldn’t divulge that until he was ready to tell her where it was.
“So how’d you find it?”
“I cheated.”
“How’d you cheat?”
