shed. I suppose he is farming it
somewhere in Vermont now, but I agree with his captain, who told me the
story, that there was a fine sailor lost in Shavings."

CHAPTER XIII.

A NIGHT ALARM.

Jack sat bolt upright in bed and listened with all his might. Outside
the window of the little room he occupied that night in the captain's
cottage he was almost certain he had heard the sound of a furtive
footfall and whisperings. His blood beat in his ear-drums as he sat
tense and rigid, waiting a repetition of the noise.

Suddenly, there came a low whisper from outside.

"If only we knew if the captain was alone. For all we know those
bothersome boys may be with him, and, if they are, we are likely to get
the worst of it."

"Donald Judson!" exclaimed Jack to himself. "What ought I to do?"

He pondered a moment and then recollected that there was a door to his
room which let directly out on a back porch without the occupant of the
room having to traverse any other chamber. Jack at once formed a bold
resolve. He did not wish to arouse the others unnecessarily, but he did
want, with all his power, to find out what was going on.

He rose from the bed as cautiously as he could, and made his way to the
door. It was a ticklish task, in the dark, to accomplish without noise,
but he succeeded in doing it. Outside it was very dark, with a velvety
sort of blackness. The boy was glad of this, for it afforded him
protection from the men he felt sure were reconnoitering the house for
no good purpose.

Suddenly he saw, not far off, the gleam of a light of some sort. If it
belonged to the Judsons, they must have presumed that nobody was about,
or not have realized that the place where they had left it was visible
from the cottage.

"Now I wonder what they've got up there?" mused Jack. "Maybe it would be
a good scheme to go up and see."

Anything that looked like an adventure aroused Jack's animation, and a
few seconds after the idea had first taken hold of him he was making his
way up a rather steep hillside, covered with rocks and bushes, toward
the light. At last he reached a place where he could get a good look at
the shining beacon. He hardly knew what he had expected to see, but
somehow he felt a sort of sense of disappointment.

The lantern stood by itself on a rock and the idea suggested itself to
Jack that it might have been placed there as a beacon to guide the
midnight visitors back when they had accomplished wh