“Not a sign of a light, now,” breathed the submarine boy.  “If Millard was really there, I hope he hasn’t had time to get away for good.”

All was silent and dark about the old house, as Captain Jack stole closer.  At nearer range he made the circuit of the house, only to find every window shuttered, and the place as dismal as the grave.

“I’m afraid the game has escaped,” muttered Benson, with a sinking feeling at his heart.  “Yet he didn’t escape, by sea or land, while we were watching outside the village.  And it was just at dark that the storekeeper saw a light here.  I wonder if it would be easy to—­”

Right there Jack Benson’s train of thought broke off.  From the opposite side of the house came a sound exactly like that of the opening and closing of a door.

“Can that be our man coming out?” wondered Skipper Jack.

He started cautiously around the house, but soon drew back around the corner of the building.  Dropping to the ground, and lying flat, the submarine boy allowed only the top of his head to show as he peeped.

Glory!  Jack knew, well enough, that tall figure striding off into the gloom.  It was Millard, and under his left arm the fellow carried a large package that might be a bulky portfolio well wrapped.

“He has his drawings—­his maps of American fortifications and fortified harbors—­the very stuff that we want to get!” throbbed the boy.  “And now—­we’re going to get them!”

Keeping Millard’s receding figure zealously in sight, Jack, crouching low, started after the long-legged one as soon as the distance between seemed sufficient to keep Millard from guessing at pursuit.

“Oh, how I wish Hal and Eph were here!” muttered Captain Jack, in keen disappointment.

“I need help on this!”

Within two minutes Millard had struck into a well-beaten path that led northward over succeeding ridges of laud.  In a way, it was easier following here, for there were occasional trees and clumps of bushes behind which the young shadow could drop at need.

Two minutes in this path, and Jack Benson’s heart gave another quick leap.  Some one else was coming stealthily behind him.  Jack dodged around a clump of bushes and waited.

“Hal!” breathed Jack, almost wild with joy, as the two chums clasped hands fervently for one brief instant.  Then: 

“See here, Hal, I’ve got to dart forward again, or Millard will be out of sight.  But I’ll tell you what—­while I trail Millard, you concern yourself only with following me.”

“Good enough,” whispered Hastings, nodding.  “Now, you start again!”

For just an instant Millard had disappeared.  However, by moving forward quickly, Benson was soon able to make out the quarry through the darkness.

For some five minutes more the chase continued.  Then, his long body rather sharply defined against the sky, Millard began the ascent of a low hill that ended in a cliff overlooking the broad ocean.