It was the turn of Chot and Tom to stand the first "trick" of night guard duty, and this was to be from ten to twelve o'clock. Rick and Sam would take the second watch, from midnight until 2 o'clock in the morning, and the Scout Master, and Sam's brother, Pete, who had come over after supper to ask if he couldn't share in the fun, would be on guard from two until four o'clock. After that it would be the turn of Chot and Tom again.
"Hark!" exclaimed Rick, as he and Sam were preparing to turn-in to the bunks where they were to sleep. "I thought I heard something!"
They all listened, but the only noises were those made by the chirping of the crickets and the songs of some late-staying Katy-dids.
"I guess the junk man's horse moved around," suggested the Scout Master with a smile. "Don't be too quick to give an alarm, when you're on watch, if you hear an odd noise. First try to find out what it is."
Then, as night settled down over the lonely log cabin, and the others went to their bunks, Tom and Chot began their tour of guard duty. They could spend it outside or inside the cabin as they chose, and, as it was rather cool, they would probably be most of the time inside.
"But you can hear if the junk man comes back," said Mr. Taylor. "And, if he does, sound the alarm."
And so the watch of the night began. Rick found it hard to go to sleep at first, not being used to this bunk style of bed. But Sam and his brother Pete were soon breathing heavily and regular, which showed they were not lying awake. As for the Scout Master, he seemed to have dropped off into slumber as soon as he wrapped up in his blanket.
But at last Rick's eyes closed and he, too, was soon, if not in Dreamland, next door to it.
But while the boys were in the old log cabin, quite a different scene was taking place in the ramshackle house where the sailor had taken Ruddy, tying the dog outside. When the second sailor appeared, making so much noise that the others were afraid, for some reason or other, Ruddy had whimpered in lonesomeness and fear.
"What you going to do with that dog?" asked Jed Porter, the second sailor.