The cautious whisper came from Tod. Bringing my head inside the room, I saw him at the door in his slippers and braces.
“Come into my room,” he whispered. “Those fellows who disturbed us the other night are at the gate again.”
Tod’s light was out and his window open. We could see a man bending down outside the gate, fumbling with the lock. Presently the bell was pulled very gently, as if the ringer thought the house might be asleep and he did not want to awaken it. There was something quite ghostly to the imagination in being disturbed at night like this.
“Who’s there?” shouted Tod.
“I am,” answered a cautious voice. “I want to see Captain Copperas.”
“Come along, Johnny. This is getting complicated.”
We went out to the gate, and saw a man: he was not either of the two who had come before. Tod answered him as he had answered them, but did not open the gate.
“Are you a friend of the captain’s?” whispered the man.
“Yes, I am,” said Tod. “What then?”
“Well, see here,” resumed he, in a confidential tone. “If I don’t get to see him it will be the worse for him. I come as a friend; come to warn him.”