ring like that, but it's what that strange man
in black offered me to secure it for him. There's something mighty
mysterious about that ring. I wish I knew what the mystery is. I am
going to ask the man when I see him this evening."

That night Snell escaped from the building and the grounds without
obtaining leave. He was going to keep an appointment with the man in
black.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

PLAYING THE SHADOW.

Snell was followed.

Frank had taken Bart's advice to keep an eye on the fellow, and
something in Wat's actions had given him the impression that Snell was
up to something that he did not care to have generally known.

With a great deal of skill, Frank kept watch of Snell till the latter
slipped from the grounds under cover of darkness.

It was a cloudy night, with the wind moaning far out at sea, and the
waves roaring sullenly along the base of Black Bluff, down the shore.

As may be imagined, it was no easy task to follow Wat without losing
the fellow in the darkness or getting so close that the "shadowed" lad
would discover that somebody was watching him.

Although he was not aware of it, Frank possessed a remarkable faculty
for performing such a task. He moved with the silence of a creeping
cat, and yet covered ground with sufficient swiftness to keep near Wat.

Something must have made Snell suspicious, for three times he stopped
and peered back through the darkness, and three times Frank sunk like a
ghost to the ground, escaping discovery by his swiftness in making the
move.

Indeed, had it been possible for a third party to watch them, it must
have seemed that Merriwell felt an intuition which told him exactly
when Snell was going to look back.

Once or twice before they came to the road that led up from the cove,
Frank lost sight of the boy he was following, but his keen ears served
him quite as well as his eyes.

When the road up the hill was reached Frank was able to follow Wat with
greater ease.

Suddenly Snell paused and whistled three times. In a moment a single
sharp whistle sounded near at hand, and then Frank, crouching close to
the ground, saw a black figure come toward Wat Snell.

The wind that was moaning over the sea swept up the road and caused
something to flap around the shoulders of this figure like a great pair
of wings.

For all of the darkness, Frank recognized this figure, and he was
seized with an indefinable feeling of fear such as he had never felt