Trafton left the tavern.

He had drunk considerable, but not enough to make him incapable of
action. The drink excited him and nerved him for the task he had in
view, for upon this very evening he had decided to force an entrance
into the hermit's mysterious residence, and he hoped to be well paid for
his visit.

He had to pass his own cabin on the way. He glanced toward it and saw a
light shining through the window, but he took care to keep far enough
away so that he might not be seen.

Half a mile farther and he stood opposite the cavern. There was the
ladder making access to the cave easy. He looked for the hermit's boat,
which was usually kept fastened near the entrance to the cave, and to
his joy he saw that it was missing.

"The old man must be out in his boat," he said to himself. "All the
better for me! If I am quick, I may get through before he gets back."

With a confident step he ascended the ladder and entered what might be
called the vestibule of the cave.

He halted there to light the candle he had brought with him. He was
bending over, striking the match against his foot, when he was attacked
from behind and almost stunned by a very heavy blow.

He recovered himself sufficiently to grasp his assailant, and in an
instant the two were grappling in fierce conflict.

"I never thought the old man was so strong," passed through the
fisherman's mind as he found himself compelled to use his utmost
strength against his opponent.

CHAPTER XIX

A TRAGEDY ON THE BEACH

It is hardly necessary to say that the man with whom the fisherman was
engaged in deadly conflict was not the hermit. It was the stranger who,
in the tavern, had manifested so much curiosity on the subject of the
rich residents of Cook's Harbor.

He was a desperado from New York, who, being too well known to the
police of that city, had found it expedient to seek a new field, where
he would not excite suspicion.

He had arrived at the cave only a few minutes before the fisherman and
had already explored the inner room in search of the large sum of money
which Trafton had given him to understand the hermit kept on hand.

He had no candle, but he found a lamp and lighted it.

He was in the midst of his search when he heard the entrance of the
fisherman. He concluded, very naturally, that it was the hermit, and he
prepared himself for an attack.

He instantly extinguished the lamp and stole out into the vestibule. It
was his fir