And as Jack said to himself with a chuckle, ghosts did not, as far as he knew, need lanterns in their business.
Finally the boy found himself close to the side of the cabin. With his heart beating like a trip-hammer, he crept to the first little gap in the wall, and glued his eyes to the aperture.
What he saw was nothing so very astonishing. A man stood inside the cabin, holding a lantern. He was not doing anything, and seemed to be waiting for some other person.
“One of the fellows in that boat today,” was what Jack immediately said to himself, as he fastened his eyes on the bearded face.
Even inexperienced as he was, Jack fancied that there was something of a desperate type about the man’s countenance. He did not seem to be such a man as one was apt to trust on sight—like that jolly professor from Ann Arbor, for instance.
But what on earth could the man be doing here? He did not seem to have any sort of bundles with him, as might have been expected. Once Jack was made to shiver just a trifle, when he saw the fellow take out a pistol, and handle it with a grin of pleasure on his face.
Jack was beginning to see light. This could not be simply the ordinary desire of some fishermen who disliked seeing strangers occupying a cove they had come to look upon as theirs by right of previous use.
And this man he now saw had none of the characteristics of a rough fisherman. He was rather nattily dressed, and would pass for a gentleman in a crowd. The mystery seemed to grow more dense; but as it is always darkest just before dawn, so Jack believed that he must be on the point of seeing daylight appear in this matter.
By chance he raised his eyes a trifle. Perhaps some little movement may have attracted him—he never knew. But again he was thrilled to discover a face pressed against the broken pane of glass forming the sole window on the opposite wall.
It was the strange gentleman who had claimed to be a college professor. He did not wear his nose glasses now, and doubtless the look of culture had given way to one of an entirely different nature; but Jack knew he could not be mistaken.