sk, westerly wind threw the waves on the shingle.

A feeling of awe numbed him, but it was not powerful enough to arrest
his purpose. His plans had been matured for many days.

He meant to burn down the Mill.

Nothing was easier and a match in the inflammable material, of which the
hackler's shop was usually full, must quickly involve the mass of the
buildings.

It was fitting that where he had been impregnated by Mr. Baggs with much
lawless opinion, Abel should give expression to his evil purpose. From
the tar-pitched work-room of the hackler, fire would very quickly leap
to the main building against which it stood, and might, indeed, under
the strong wind, involve the stores also and John Best's dwelling
between them. But it was fated otherwise. A very small incident served
to prevent a considerable catastrophe, and when Abel broke the window of
the hackling room, turned the hasp, raised it, and got in, a man lay
awake in pain not thirty yards distant. The lad lighted a candle, which
he had brought with him, and it was then, while he collected a heap of
long hemp and prepared to set it on fire, that John Best, in torture
from toothache, went downstairs for a mouthful of brandy.

Upon the staircase he passed a window and, glancing through it, he saw a
light in the hackling shop. It was not the moon and meant a presence
there that needed instant explanation. Mr. Best forgot his toothache,
called his sailor son, who happened to be holiday-making at home, and
hastened as swiftly and silently as possible over the bridge to the
Mill. John Best the younger, an agile man of thirty, may be said to have
saved the situation, for he was far quicker than his father could be and
managed to anticipate the disaster by moments. Half a minute more might
have made all the difference, for the heap of loose hemp and stricks
once ignited, no power on earth could have saved a considerable
conflagration; but the culprit had his back turned to the window and was
still busily piling the tow when Best and his son looked in upon him,
and the sailor was already half through the window before Abel
perceived him. The youngster dashed for his candle, but he was too late,
a pair of strong hands gripped his neck roughly enough, and he fainted
from the shock.

They took him out as he had gone in, for the door was locked and Levi
Baggs had the key. Then the sailor went back to his home, dressed
himself and started for a policeman, while Mr. Best k