“Now,” said the detective, as the train rattled noisily on its way, “I have been in Mayville and know several parties there, but the island is new to me. However, you can explain it to me from this map,” and Mr. Burton unrolled a map of the bay and island from his pocket. “I shall pick up three of my men, whom I have ordered to meet us, in Mayville. One of them came all the way down from New York with me to help me work up this case. It is my opinion he traced this man Craigie to Mayville and lost track of him there. The man must have vanished, as he has done so often before. “We will go over to the island to-night in a launch. Then we shall need some one to guide us to what you call the haunted house.” “I will meet you in the road by Captain Hervey’s house, right at the very head of the island,” said Henry Burns. “It is the first house you come to on landing at the outermost point. You cannot miss it.” “But how will you get there? It is a long trip up the island.” “I will come on my bicycle.” “Capital! You will go direct to the island, then, by the night boat, arriving there, you say, at six o’clock. You will see just how the land lies, so you can tell us, when we meet again. And you will instruct your friends to keep close to Craigie, so he won’t be over there at the house to meet us on our arrival. We want to do the welcoming for him, and not have him do it for us. Two of the men I shall bring are somewhat familiar with the island and know one or two parties there; though I am not sure they know where the haunted house is. “One of you boys must have a boat always in readiness somewhere up the cove, on which you say this house fronts, so that, the minute this man meets his confederates aboard the yacht, one of you can slip across the cove and let us know of it, in case we have missed them. “Act carefully, and everything will be well; but once give them cause for suspicion and they are dangerous men to deal with. I have a little score of my own to pay them,—but that’s a long story, and I’ll save it for another time. Now let’s go over this map, so I’ll be sure of my ground.” When the train left Mayville, Miles Burton, with a hurried handshake, left Henry Burns. It was a little after six o’clock when the latter stepped ashore at Southport, where the boys were waiting for him, upon the wharf. “Everything is all right,” said George Warren, in answer to Henry Burns’s question. “He was not on the roof at all during last night, for we divided up into watches and kept a lookout from Tom’s tent. He evidently knows about what time his friends are to arrive.” “How is Colonel Witham?” asked Henry Burns. “Has he pined away any during my absence?” “Not any to notice,” replied Tom Harris, “but he has gone away, down the island, to be gone two days. You must stop with us to-night at the tent, and the boys are all coming over to the tent now to eat one of Bob’s prime lobster stews.”