Stokes and Marsh had evidently intended to be present. Then the difficulty had arisen. They had attracted the attention of the man they called Crawford.
They knew that he would be alert and watchful. To attack him might injure their plans. So they had chosen the simple course of luring him away by this expedition in the motor boat.
Harry noted that the boat had headed up the lake, and that it was moving quite slowly. It would require more than an hour for them to reach the head of the lake; there they might linger a while, as though attending to some secret business.
One thing was certain: if Marquette tried to surprise them, he would run into trouble; for they knew of his presence. Harry hoped that Marquette would keep in hiding.
It was up to Harry to handle the situation on Death Island. Stokes and Marsh had ignored him in their plans. They believed that he was asleep.
They had no suspicion that he had been in communication with the fellow they knew as Crawford. Everything was set for the arrival of the third party.
Marquette had put himself in a ridiculous position; at the same time, Stokes and Marsh had made a grave mistake.
Their confederate was coming with the assurance that he had to deal with none but Professor Whitburn — an old man, absent-mindedly engrossed in his work. Instead, this unknown arrival would encounter Harry Vincent — aroused and ready for action.
HARRY turned to the path toward the house. He had gone only a few steps when he stopped to consider.
There was no good landing place on Death Island, except this spot near the dock. The person who was coming must necessarily choose this place. Here, in the darkness, Harry could wait, and surprise the intruder.