Jo lay a little ahead of them, where he could peep through an opening that gave him a good view of the road. “Almost here now,” he warned under his breath. “If he swings his light this way hide your face but don’t move a muscle unless you have to.”
The man was walking in the dark now. As he drew closer to the ship he walked more quietly and more quickly, as if he were stalking something in the night. Ann could see the shadows cast by his legs as he passed in the moonlight and he almost touched Jo, but the boy lay as if frozen. He did not even tremble and Ann knew that he would have kept exactly as quiet if the big boots had trodden on him.
The man went directly to the prow of the boat. Vaguely in the moonlight the figure of the demon hung over him. The man looked up at it and Ann heard him give a low chuckling laugh. “Well, old boy,” he said, “you are one grand guard for the old boat and you keep her well protected for me.”
Then Ann thought that the torch must have slipped from his hands, for it turned as he clutched it and the light went on. The reflection flashed across the man’s face.
“Warren Bain!” Ben breathed close to her ear.
If Ann had not remembered Jo’s instructions she would have hushed Ben impatiently. She felt certain that he had been heard. Warren Bain—for it was he—shut off his light instantly and stood listening. Ben, realizing that perhaps he had betrayed the band, pressed so close to the ground that Ann almost expected to see him disappear into it.
But Warren evidently was satisfied that whatever sound he had heard came from the noises of the night. After a moment he started on his business again. He slipped his flashlight into his coat pocket and then leaped up into the dangling irons that were swaying from the bow. Having mounted these he reached up and caught the top of the rail with both hands and pulled himself up to the deck. For a minute he stood erect, outlined against the bright sky, and then he strode forward and vanished from sight.
“He’s going to the cabin,” whispered Jo. “Now’s our chance to get the ladder placed.”
There was no need of concealment for the next moment or two, and the ladder was beside them in the bushes. Jo raised it noiselessly against the side of the wreck.
Stealthily he mounted, peered through the window, and listened. Ann thought of the buck deer, listening by the pond. Then Jo beckoned to Ben. Quickly Ben climbed after him and placed himself in position where the two boys balanced each other perfectly. Then Ann went up.