etched his weary length out
with a sigh of relief.

"Ah, John, isn't this great? After being through what we have,"
exclaimed Jim.

"It is fine," agreed Berwick, "to get into a safe, warm place like this
when you have been in constant danger, as we have, and cold and wet
besides. Here goes for a good sleep."

And the word was hardly out of his lips when he was sound asleep. Jim
looked at his watch by means of a crack of light that came in between
the logs, and saw that it was twenty minutes after six. And then, lulled
by the sound of the waves at the base of the cliffs, he too sank into a
deep, dreamless sleep.

He never thought of sleeping beyond a couple of hours, but he had not
counted on the effect of his extreme fatigue, and the sudden cessation
of the constant strain the two had been under for nearly eighteen hours.
So hour after hour went by and still they slept in the cozy and soft
dryness of the hay, that has no equal as a bed for the truly weary.

It was after two in the afternoon that something happened that roused
them; otherwise they might have slept until night, and indeed it was
almost as dusk as night, for the fog which had lifted in the morning
closed in thicker than ever, so that in the homes and offices of the
city the gas lamps and jets were burning.

Jim awoke with a start, utterly and absolutely bewildered. Where he was
he could not guess; his mind was a confused daze of fragments of events
that had happened during the night of adventure and excitement. Then he
came to himself and remembered how they came in this strange place. His
hand reached out and touched the foot of his sleeping comrade. But what
had roused him? There had been something; of that he was certain. So he
kept perfectly still, listening with the utmost intentness; then he
started slightly, for there was repeated the noise that had roused him
from his sleep. It was a low, terrible croon, like "o-o-h--o-o-h,"
repeated and repeated, and every once in a while its monotone was broken
by a sharp shriek.

Rested though he was, and not liable to nervous tremors, Jim felt his
flesh creep at the uncanny sound. It came, as far as he could judge,
from the open space in the mow not far from the ladder that led up into
the loft. But what it was he could not guess, nor its object in coming
to this particular spot. One thing was probable, that it had nothing to
do with them, and was not indicative of someone on their trail, but it
was no