It took them but a few minutes to reach the other shore, for the cove was smooth as glass. They headed for the bluff, and pointed directly into the black, shadowy hole which they knew to be the natural landing-place. It was a peculiar, narrow little dock, completely rock-bound, except for the passage leading into it. It lay entirely in the shadow, but they had landed there before, and knew just where to steer for a shelf, or ledge, of rock that made a natural slip.
Still, their familiarity with the place did not prevent them from bumping suddenly into a rowboat that lay moored there. They pushed it aside to make a landing, and found to their amazement that it was their own.
“Hulloa!” cried George, springing out on to the broad, shelving ledge; “that is queerer still. Here’s the old Anna, and what in the world is she doing here? Who can have brought her? And what for? There’s something strange about it. Why, there isn’t a man in the village that would dare go near the haunted house at night, and yet somebody is over here now, for some reason.”
If it were possible for Henry Burns to be excited ever, he was so now.
“Get in here, quick, George,” he said, “and don’t make any noise. I think I know what it means, and I’ll tell you just as soon as we get out of here. We can’t get away any too soon, either.”
“Why not take the Anna out with us?” said young Joe, “and pay somebody off for running away with it? He would only have to walk a few miles around the cove to get back again—”
“No, no, leave the boat where it is,” said Henry Burns. “And let’s get out of here quick.”
“Why, what’s the matter with you, Henry?” asked George, jumping back into the boat and giving it a vigorous shove off. “Any one would think to see you that some one was being murdered up there.”
Henry Burns’s earnestness was sufficient to convince them, however, that something serious was involved in their actions, and they made haste to get out into the cove again.
“Row for the beach above, boys,” continued Henry Burns, “and we will go up to the old house through the woods. I think I know who is up there in the house, and if I am right it means that we may make an important discovery. The man who I think is up there is Mr. Kemble.”