?"

"Nothing."

"Well, it's confounded strange!" And he went back, still calling
Wellgood.

The tied-up horse whinnied, and the waves gave a soft splash and that
was all,--if I except Sweetwater's muttered oath.

Coming back, he looked again at the window, then, with a gesture toward
Mr. Grey, turned the corner of the building and began to edge himself
along its side in an endeavor to reach the rear and see what it offered.
But he came to a sudden standstill. He found himself on the edge of the
bank before he had taken twenty steps. Yet the building projected
on, and he saw why it had looked so large from a certain point of the
approach. Its rear was built out on piles, making its depth even greater
than the united width of the three stores. At low tide this might be
accessible from below, but just now the water was almost on a level with
the top of the piles, making all approach impossible save by boat.

Disgusted with his failure, Sweetwater returned to the front, and,
finding the situation unchanged, took a new resolve. After measuring
with his eye the height of the first story, he coolly walked over to
the strange horse, and, slipping his bridle, brought it back and cast it
over a projection of the door; by its aid he succeeded in climbing up to
the window, which was the sole eye to the interior.

Mr. Grey sat far back in his buggy, watching every movement.

There were no shades at the window, as I have before said, and, once
Sweetwater's eye had reached the level of the sill, he could see the
interior without the least difficulty. There was nobody there. The lamp
burned on a great table littered with papers, but the rude cane-chair
before it was empty, and so was the room. He could see into every corner
of it and there was not even a hiding-place where anybody could remain
concealed. Sweetwater was still looking, when the lamp, which had been
burning with considerable smoke, flared up and went out. Sweetwater
uttered an ejaculation, and, finding himself face to face with utter
darkness, slid from his perch to the ground.

Approaching Mr. Grey for the second time, he said:

"I can not understand it. The fellow is either lying low, or he's gone
out, leaving his lamp to go out, too. But whose is the horse--just
excuse me while I tie him up again. It looks like the one he was driving
to-day. It is the one. Well, he won't leave him here all night. Shall
we lie low and wait for him to come and unhitch this anim