Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/157

 was so dark, Hugh thought, for it seemed as though they were about to pass uncomfortably  close to the Pirate's cabin. He plodded on, stumbling over roots, scrambling through bushes, finding the way very rough indeed. It was not until they came to the edge of a clearing and saw before him a little house with one lighted window  and with Nicholas standing waiting on the doorstep that he realized what was to be the goal of  this strange night journey.

Even then he thought of turning back. The perils of the rain-swept forest and of the swollen  floods were as nothing to the dangers lurking in  that evil dwelling that blinked at him with one  staring red eye. Had not Nicholas run quickly through the dark to lick his hand, had he not  thought once more of the lost Edmonds brothers  and how he had pledged himself to help them, it  is possible that he might not have gone on. Yet at last he stepped out of the woods, and, very  firm and straight, walked across the clearing to  the house.

He stopped for a moment upon the step and