In the middle of the night—­for he went to bed early, having nothing else to do, except to watch the stars—­he woke with a cold start, feeling certain that hideous creature had crawled up the slope and was feeling all round his house for an entrance.

Certainly something was moving about outside, and feeling over the stones in an uncertain, searching kind of a way.  And when you have been wakened up from a nightmare in which staring devil-eyes played a prominent part, something may be anything, and as like as not the owner of the eyes.

But even devil-fishes in their most advanced stages have not yet attained the power of human speech.  If they speak to one another what a horrible sound it must be!

It was with a sigh of relief, and a sudden unstringing of the bow, that he heard outside—­

“Mr. Gard!” and with a lusty kick, which expressed some of his feeling, he sent his doorway flying and crawled out after it.

The myriad winking stars lifted the roof of the world and the darkness somewhat, sufficient at all events for him to make out that it was not Nance.

“You, Bernel?” he queried, as the only possible alternative.

“Yes, Mr. Gard.  I’ve brought you some more things to eat.”

“Good lad!  I’m a great trouble to you.  Where is Nance?  In the boat?”

“No, she couldn’t come.  That Julie’s watching her like a cat.  It was she and Peter stirred up the men against you.  All day yesterday the whole Island was out looking for you, dead or alive, and very much puzzled as to what had become of you.  And Julie’s got a suspicion that we know.  They searched the house for you in spite of mother and Grannie, but they won’t forget Grannie in a hurry, and I don’t think they’ll come back,” and he laughed at the recollection of it.

“What did Grannie do?”

“She just looked at them from under that big black sun-bonnet, and muttered things no one heard.  But her eyes were like points of burning sticks, and they all crept out one after another, afraid of they didn’t know what.  But Julie’s been on the watch all day, and would hardly let us out of her sight.  But she couldn’t watch us both when we were not together.  So Nance got a bundle of things ready for you, and then went out with another bundle and Julie followed her, and I slipped off here.”

“Bernel, I don’t know how to thank you all!  What should I have done without you?”

“You’d have been dead, most likely.  It’s not that they cared much for Tom, you know, but they don’t like the idea of a Sark man being killed by a foreigner and no one paying for it.”

“But I’m not a foreigner—­”

“Yes you are, to them.  Of course you’re not a Frenchman, but all the same you’re not a Sark man.  Good thing for you you’d lived with us and we’d got to know you and like you.”

“Yes, that was a good thing indeed.  I’m only sorry to have brought you trouble and to be such a trouble to you.”