s he had heard before; but
there was one so different that it filled Dick Winthorpe's ears, and as
he listened he seemed to see a man in a punt, who had been crouching
down among the reeds, rising up softly, and silently lowering a pole
into the water to thrust the boat onward from where it had lain.

Even if it had been light the reeds and undergrowth would have hindered
him from seeing anything, and in that darkness the impossibility was
emphasised the more strongly; but all the same the faint splash, the
light rubbing of wood against wood as the pole seemed to touch the side
of the boat, the soft dripping of water, and the silky brushing rustle
of the boat among the reeds and withes, joined in painting a mental
picture upon the listener's brain till it seemed to Dick that he was
seeing with his ears this man in his boat escaping furtively so as not
to be heard.

Dick was about to shout again, but he felt that if he did there would be
no answer, and his heart began to beat strangely.

It was not fear now, but from a sudden excitement consequent upon a line
of thought which suggested itself.

"Why did not this man answer to his cry--this man who was so furtively
stealing away? Was it from fear of him?"

Undoubtedly fear of being seen and known.

Dick absolutely panted now with excitement. All feeling of dread passed
away, taking with it the chilly sensation of cold and damp.

He listened.

Should he shout again and order him to stop? No; he knew that would be
of no use, for, as if to make all more sure, there, as Dick listened,
each and every nerve on the strain, was the increasing rapidity of the
thrusts made with the pole, as the man evidently thought he was getting
more and more out of hearing.

"Who is it?" thought Dick, as he realised that by his accident he had
discovered what had been hidden from all who had patiently watched.

It was all plain enough to him now; and as he listened to the sounds
dying away and growing lost among the splashings and rustlings made by
the birds, which were recovering their confidence, the excitement quite
took away the lad's breath.

For there it all was. This wretch--some fen-man from the other side--
miles away--had stolen across in the darkness, wending his way along the
mere channels and over the pools, to commit another dastardly outrage,
firing another cottage or stack, and then stolen back, his evil work
done.

Whose house had been burned?

It must be th