tted. "It smells like a tomb."

"Don't be an ass."

"Turn the light over the side, and see if we fastened that boat. We
don't want to be left here indefinitely."

"That's folly, Mac," I said, but I obeyed him. "The watchman's boat
is there, so we--"

But he caught me suddenly by the arm and shook me.

"My God!" he said. "What is that over there?"

It was a moment before my eyes, after the flashlight, could discern
anything in the darkness. Mac was pointing forward. When I could see,
Mac was ready to laugh at himself.

"I told you the place had my goat!" he said sheepishly. "I thought I
saw something duck around the corner of that building; but I think it
was a ray from a searchlight on one of those boats."

"The watchman, probably," I said quietly. But my heart beat a little
faster. "The watchman taking a look at us and gone for his gun."

I thought rapidly. If Mac had seen anything, I did not believe it was
the watchman. But there should be a watchman on board--in the forward
house, probably. I gave Mac my revolver and put the light in my
pocket. I might want both hands that night. I saw better without the
flash, and, guided partly by the bow light, partly by my knowledge of
the yacht, I led the way across the deck. The forward house was closed
and locked, and no knocking produced any indication of life. The after
house we found not only locked, but barred across with strips of wood
nailed into place. The forecastle was likewise closed. It was a dead
ship.

No figure reappearing to alarm him, Mac took the drawing out of his
pocket and focused the flashlight on it.

"This cross by the mainmast," he said "that would be where?"

"Right behind you, there."

He walked to the mast, and examined carefully around its base. There
was nothing there, and even now I do not know to what that cross
alluded, unless poor Schwartz--!

"Then this other one--forward, you call it, don't you? Suppose we
locate that."

All expectation of the watchman having now died, we went forward on the
port side to the approximate location of the cross. This being in the
neighborhood where Mac had thought he saw something move, we approached
with extreme caution. But nothing more ominous was discovered than the
port lifeboat, nothing more ghostly heard than the occasional creak
with which it rocked in its davits.

The lifeboat seemed to be indicated by the cross. It swung almost
shoulder-high on McWhirter. We l