"This will be health to him," said the girl. "This news would put life in him if he stood on the verge of the grave."
"Very well. He shall be told," said Christopher. "He shall be told, and at once."
XXXVII
The movements of the brig which hung so close to shore, and which prowled up and down so mysteriously, greatly interested Anthony Stevens. Late in the day, after the episode of the wrecked long-boat, he saw the vessel at anchor a few miles out and just to the south of the shoals; a small boat had put out from her and was weaving in and out slowly apparently searching for a channel to the inlet.
She was still there next morning, riding at anchor, and before noon two boats had put away from her and engaged in the same weaving in and out. At evening Anthony baked his bread on the coals and roasted a fish; he ate his supper at the window and then tidily washed and put away his gear. He read for an hour or two by candle-light; and about ten o'clock, when he'd made up his mind for bed, he stepped out for a breath of cool air. The night was quiet; the sky carried thousands of stars; through a space between two dunes he could see the surf, thick with phosphorus, breaking brilliantly on the sand. The moon was lifting out of the sea—a great, yellow moon; he moved toward the beach; for a time the light was hidden by a high dune; then the moon's rim began to rise above it, enormous, like a wide eye searching the quiet world. Higher and higher it lifted, the light bathing the sand-hills mysteriously; half of it was now above the line of the dune, and suddenly, against its shining face, Anthony saw a movement. There were two figures,—men,—and they stood upon the top of the hill with the half-moon behind them; their heads were together as though they were conversing, and one of them lifted a hand and pointed out to sea.
At once Anthony was in motion; softly he stepped through the sand, and climbed the side of the hill. The two men stood with their backs to him, their eyes fixed upon the sea. There lay the brig in the track of the moon; and it was at this they were pointing. When Anthony spoke they turned; and he was amazed to see Tom Horn and Christopher Dent.
"We reached the town beyond at nightfall and crossed the bay in a skiff," said Christopher. "We came to see you; we have a message."
Tom Horn was studying the brig once more.
"I know her well," he said. "She belongs to the Simpsons and has the look of having been rigged by a landsman."