ontinued industriously, and were so absorbed in their search
that they failed to notice that Little Tim had vanished, until Harvey
called to him for something, and he was nowhere to be found.

They were half frightened for a moment, fearing lest he had slipped and
fallen somewhere; but Harvey laughed at their fears.

"You can't hurt that little monkey," he said. "He can swim like a fish,
and he's a regular cat on climbing. No, he's up to some trick or other."

They were aware of this presently--and just a bit startled--at the sound
of a low whistle coming from the outer mill; then Tim Reardon darted in
from the darkness, into the circle of lanterns.

"He's coming!" he gasped. "I just met Bess Thornton up the road. Cracky,
how I did run! Look out the window; you'll see his lantern. Better turn
ours down, quick."

They lost no time in following this advice; then crept to the window
that looked on the road and peered out. The swinging and swaying of a
lantern could be seen, indistinctly in the distance. Colonel Witham was
coming. The boys sped quickly up two flights of stairs into the garret.

What should bring Colonel Witham, night after night, to the old mill,
where he had hunted long and fruitlessly? He, himself, could hardly have
told. Possibly he felt somehow a sense as of security; that, so long as
he was there, there could be nobody else on hand, to search; that he was
guarding his property--against, he knew not what. And, if ever the
thought came to him, that perhaps it had been better for his peace of
mind never to have come into possession of the old mill at all, why, he
did not allow his mind to dwell upon it. That usually set him to
hunting.

Now the door opened, and Colonel Witham stepped within the mill. And for
all his being there voluntarily, one might have seen by the pallor of
his face that he was half afraid. There, in the shadow, just beyond the
rim of his own lantern light, was the desk where Jim Ellison used to
sit--and sneer at him. Did Colonel Witham recall that? Perhaps. He
lifted the lantern and let the light fall on the spot. The place was
certainly empty.

For all the relief of that, Colonel Witham uttered a cry very much like
a frightened man, the next moment. Then he was angry, as he felt the
goose-flesh prickling all over him. The sharp night wind had slammed the
little door leading to the outer mill, with a bang, and the noise had
echoed through all the rooms.

There was nothing in