"
"What is it?" asked the boatbuilder, alive with curiosity.
"I'll give you a chance to find out, to-night, but you must pledge me
your word that you won't breathe a word of this, until afterwards, to
anyone, not even to Pollard. Just come along and learn what you learn,
then act as you please. Will you agree to that?"
"Yes," promised Mr. Farnum.
"Good enough. Then be at--" Broughton Emerson followed with directions
for late the coming evening. He did not explain who was to be spied
upon, or anything of the nature of the business, though he did add:
"Don't be surprised, Farnum, no matter whom you see me with. It's all
a part of the night's walk. Just follow us both, without letting your
presence be known at any stage. I know this all sounds mysterious, but
believe me, it's going to be vastly worth your while."
The remainder of the afternoon the boatbuilder's heart was, somehow,
heavy with undefined dread as to what he was to learn that night.
In the middle of the afternoon, Don Melville, with the aid of one of his
father's Italian workmen, laid the last stone in the edifice of
trickery that he was building for the crushing of Jack Benson.
"Jack was coming down the street from the village, when his steps were
arrested by the sound of a sharp:
"Hist!"
Turning, he saw an Italian workman, beckoning mysteriously. Jack went
curiously up to him.
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