Eddie took his time getting to the cove. Sandy chased back and forth into the surf after bits of driftwood which he kept dropping at Eddie’s feet, and which Eddie threw back into the water.
By the time he reached the cove, Eddie wished he hadn’t dawdled along so slowly. The sun had dropped fast, and was already squashing down against the horizon.
“Come on, Sandy,” he said, starting for the foot of the bluff. “We’ve got to hurry.”
He started up the narrow winding trail. Sandy scurried ahead and finally stood, panting heavily, on top of the bluff, waiting for Eddie.
The shack was still plainly visible in the waning light. Eddie started along the path. In most places it could hardly be called a path, except that there were dim tracks to follow. The heavy growth of brush and weeds tore at his clothes. He kept his arms tucked in close to his body to keep from getting scratched. Sandy had no difficulty whatsoever in racing back and forth through the thick scrubby growth. All of his running had tired the cocker spaniel enough that he wasn’t yipping and barking as he so often did.
Within a few minutes Eddie was to be very thankful for that.
As he had suspected, the faint trail ended at the door of the old abandoned fisherman’s shack. In the eerie light of dusk, Eddie remembered Teena saying that it looked almost haunted. It certainly did. Broken shutters dangled from boarded-up windows. Gaping holes in the roof yawned at the darkening sky. The warped and twisted wooden siding made the whole structure look as though it were about to cave in.
Eddie approached the shack cautiously. He figured his curiosity would be satisfied if he took just one look inside.
His hand was poised over the latch on the door when a slight scratching sound from inside froze it in mid-air. It sounded like someone scratching a match.
Even as he stood there with sudden fear prickling along his spine, a small flare of light seeped through one of the cracks between the warped boards of the door. It was a match! Eddie sucked in his breath and drew back. His first thought was to turn and run.