at silent house, but nothing came of it.

It was cold standing there, motionless. He did not want to attract
possible attention by moving about, and a thought came to him upon which
he acted. His silent companion had no use for apparel. He secured the
heavy gray coat and put it on over his own. His hat he had lost, and
substituted that of the officer.

An hour or more went by. He found himself growing very sleepy, and no
wonder, if we recall what a strenuous twelve hours he had just gone
through. Nor did he have the stimulus of interest that Jim had to keep
him keyed up. He fought against this sense of overpowering drowsiness,
that was like a heavy adversary that was slowly pressing him into
unconsciousness.

It had him by the wrists tiring him, weighing on the pit of his stomach,
numbing the back of his brain, making his limbs as heavy as ponderous
lead. It seemed to the wearied engineer that there was nothing in this
world to be desired but a good sound sleep; he fought against it
desperately, but after a long struggle he suddenly succumbed; his head
dropped, and he lay prone in the grass, apparently as lifeless, as the
unfortunate a few feet distant.

When he awoke it was with utter bewilderment. Where was he, with grass
and trees and shrubs all about him? That certainly was a pistol shot
which had aroused him. Then he came to his senses, sprang quickly to his
feet, and pushed his way through the copse until he got a clear view of
the castle. There he saw faint gleams of light through the broad
windows of the room, which Jim had entered.

In a moment he had heard enough to convince him that there was serious
business going on in the castle, and that "the captain," as he sometimes
called Jim, was in certain danger. Now, John Berwick did not have the
natural headlong courage of Jim, but he was a man of great coolness and
nerve, when the occasion demanded it. He resisted the impulse to rush
boldly into the house, for he saw that it would be foolhardy, as he was
unarmed, and it would only be making a bad matter worse.

He stood with his head slightly bent, gently whistling to himself; his
hands in his pockets, as if nothing of importance was going on in the
gloomy, looming castle a few feet away, but John Berwick was thinking,
and his thinking, it chanced, was apt to be to some purpose. Then a
curious smile came over his face, that was not exactly pleasant, and
with fair reason.

The engineer had come to a decisi