The man had a sudden idea. “Did ye see anything in the woods as ye come along?” Anne shook her head. “I heard a shot,” she said, “that was what frightened me, so I ran. Perhaps it was you?” she had spied a rifle lying on the beach beside the stranger.
“Mebbe,” said the man shortly. “Shootin’ fish. No luck, though. Didn’t see anything else in the woods, did ye?”
“I saw a house that looked as if somebody was in it,” said Anne truthfully. “Smoke was coming out of the chimney.”
“Fergit it!” said the man sharply. “Smoke? You was dreamin’. Or else it’s ha’nted. Yes, that’s it; that house is ha’nted! Old hermit lived there once. Nobody remembers it; but it’s so. I wouldn’t speak of it to nobody, if I was you. Bad luck!”
Anne thought he talked strangely, and wondered if she had a crazy man to deal with. But his next words reassured her. “I s’pose I could take ye a piece of the way home in my boat,” he said rather dubiously. “Ye got to get away somehow.”
“Oh, thank you!” cried Anne gratefully. “They will be so worried about me at Camp.” He rowed her out to the boat in a light dory that served as his tender. “Jump in,” he said roughly, taking her by the arm to steady her.
“Where shall I sit?” she asked, looking around the boat, for there was no seat of any kind. Evidently this was no passenger-boat. “Set right down in the bottom,” commanded the man. And though it neither looked nor smelled clean, Anne obeyed the look in the man’s eye. From where she crouched she could see nothing but blue sky. The stranger steered standing. His back was towards her and his hat hid his face completely. He spoke no word as the boat chugged along into what seemed to Anne the middle of the ocean, so entirely was all sight of land hidden from her. Once she started to climb to her feet, to see where they were going.
“Set down!” roared the man, who seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. And after that Anne kept still. It seemed to her that the boat threaded a very winding course; but she could not really tell. Indeed, all water-courses had to be more or less crooked in this part of the world, on account of the many reefs and islands.
They went for a long time, perhaps fifteen minutes, before the man spoke to Anne. “Ye’ve made me a lot of trouble,” he said crossly. “Don’t do it again!”
“Indeed I won’t,” said Anne fervently. “I’m sorry.”