-we'll look at him later. Then bring some lanterns. We are
going down into that hold again."

With their pistols in their right hands and lanterns in their left they
descended, Cleggett first. It was not impossible that the other
intruder might be lying, wounded, but revived enough by now to work a
pistol, behind one of the rubbish heaps.

But no shots greeted them. The hold of the Jasper B. was not divided
into compartments of any sort. If it had ever had them, they had been
torn away. Below deck, except for the rubbish heap and the steps for
the masts, she was empty as a soup tureen. The pile of debris was the
highest toward the waist of the vessel. There it formed a treacherous
hill of junk; this hill sloped downward towards the bow and towards the
stern; in both the fore and after parts, under the forecastle and the
cabin, there were comparatively clear spaces.

The four men forced their way back towards the stern and then came
slowly forward in a line that extended across the vessel, exploring
with their lanterns every inch of the precarious footing, and
overturning and looking behind, under, and into every box, cask, or
jumble of planking that might possibly offer a place of concealment.
They found no one. And, until they reached a clearer place, well
forward, on the starboard side of the ship, they found no trace of
anyone.

Cleggett, who was examining this place, suddenly uttered an exclamation
which brought the others to him. He pointed to stains of blood upon
the planking; near these stains were marks left by boots which had been
gaumed with a yellowish clay. A revolver lay on the floor. Cleggett
examined it and found that only one cartridge had been exploded. The
stains of blood and the stains of yellow clay made an easily followed
trail for some yards to a point about halfway between the bow and stern
on the starboard side.

There, in the waist of the vessel, they ceased; ceased abruptly,
mysteriously. Cleggett, not content, made his men go over the place
again, even more thoroughly than before. But there was no one there,
dead or wounded, unless he had succeeded in contracting himself to the
dimensions of a rat.

"There is nothing," said Cleggett, standing by the ladder that led up
to the deck. "Nothing," echoed George; and then as if with one
impulse, and moved by the same eerie thought, these four men suddenly
raised their lanterns head-high and gazed at one another.

A startled look