E-text prepared by Sonya Schermann, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 57577-h.htm or 57577-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57577/57577-h/57577-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57577/57577-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/admiralslight00riderich Transcriber’s note: Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. ADMIRAL’S LIGHT [Illustration: ANNA HILLIARD From a drawing by Martin Justice] ADMIRAL’S LIGHT by HENRY MILNER RIDEOUT Author of Beached Keels, The Siamese Cat, etc. With Illustrations [Illustration] Boston and New York Houghton, Mifflin and Company The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1907 Copyright 1907 by Henry Milner Rideout All Rights Reserved Published November 1907 To NATHANIEL ALLISON, M. D. CONTENTS I. THE GYPSY MARE 1 II. CAPTAIN FLORIO 28 III. THE SAFFRON MAN 49 IV. PAN’S PIPES 69 V. THE HIGH WOODS 91 VI. THE COUNCIL 114 VII. HABAKKUK’S LIGHT 133 VIII. THE OTHER CAMP 157 IX. THE RUNNING BROOK 181 X. TONY PASSES 201 XI. THE RISK 223 NOTE. _The frontispiece is from a drawing by Martin Justice. The eleven half-titles are from drawings by Charles H. Woodbury._ [Illustration] ADMIRAL’S LIGHT CHAPTER I THE GYPSY MARE Thrusting his tousled head through the trap-door, Miles made his third and last inspection for the night. Fierce yellow light flooded the glass cage; against the panes, like restless, irritated snowflakes, a few belated moths fluttered in vain. The circular base of the lamp cast downward a shadow so black as almost to appear a solid supporting cone. At the edge of this Miles reared his shoulders higher. Under the blue flannel shirt their weary movement was that of a sleepy boy; but his thin, dark face shone grave as a man’s. He sniffed the familiar smell of oil and hot brass, and glanced perfunctorily; the lamp burned as bright as it had three hours ago, at midnight, or as it would burn three hours hence, at sunrise,--with the same provoking virtue that made his nocturnal rounds a waste of labor and sleep.