He recovered himself sufficiently to grasp his assailant, and in an instant the two were grappling in fierce conflict.
“I never thought the old man was so strong,” passed through the fisherman’s mind as he found himself compelled to use his utmost strength against his opponent.
CHAPTER XIX
A TRAGEDY ON THE BEACH
It is hardly necessary to say that the man with whom the fisherman was engaged in deadly conflict was not the hermit. It was the stranger who, in the tavern, had manifested so much curiosity on the subject of the rich residents of Cook’s Harbor.
He was a desperado from New York, who, being too well known to the police of that city, had found it expedient to seek a new field, where he would not excite suspicion.
He had arrived at the cave only a few minutes before the fisherman and had already explored the inner room in search of the large sum of money which Trafton had given him to understand the hermit kept on hand.
He had no candle, but he found a lamp and lighted it.
He was in the midst of his search when he heard the entrance of the fisherman. He concluded, very naturally, that it was the hermit, and he prepared himself for an attack.