“No,” Murphy said in answer to Scott’s question, “I have not been there ever since you left, but I spent the night there. Where were you last night?” he repeated. He seemed to be excited.
“How do you know that I was not at home?” Scott asked suspiciously.
“You’d be some paddler if you got up here this time of morning,” Murphy laughed.
Scott had not thought of that. “I camped down there in the woods a couple of miles, near the edge of the swamp.”
“Did you hear the creaking of a chain about nine o’clock?” Murphy asked with suppressed excitement.
“I thought I did,” Scott replied cautiously.
“So did I,” Murphy exclaimed emphatically. “It was rather faint but it could not have been anything else. There was something doing out there in that swamp somewhere. I took a sneak out that way, but could not find anything.”
There was no doubting Murphy’s sincerity. He was fairly quivering with excitement. His knowledge of the country and his familiarity with the ways of the loggers would be of great help and Scott threw his suspicions to the winds. Moreover, he wanted somebody with whom he could talk. “I heard it the night before, too,” he confided.
“Did you?” Murphy exclaimed eagerly. “I was not here that night. What are you going to do now?”
Scott explained what he had already done and suggested that Murphy join him in completing the examination of the rest of the shore line. Murphy was more than willing.