He was awakened, he knew not at what hour, by the low growl of a dog.
“Down Tige!” he commanded in a low voice. “Be still!”
The dog lay down in his place.
“What could have disturbed him?” Johnny asked himself.
The moon at that moment was under a cloud. The interior of the cabin was dark. He caught the sound of light tapping. It came from the window on his right. Strain his eyes as he might, he could see nothing.
Then suddenly the moon, creeping from behind the cloud, flooded all with yellow light.
Involuntarily the boy shrank into the shadows. There was a face at the window. And scarcely could one have imagined an uglier face; a great nose, red lips and beady eyes framed in shaggy hair.
But suddenly the boy leaned eagerly forward. His eyes lighted with a strange fire. Then in a whisper curiously like a cry of triumph, he exclaimed:
“The hunchback bowman!”