There was a bright moonlight,but you needn't be afraid I'm going to talk about THAT;this isn't any tale about moons.I was sitting at my window because I couldn't sleep,not that I expected to see anything unusual.There's a big summer-house at the far end of the lawn,all covered with vines,and there's a walk between dense shrubbery,leading to it from the house.I guess that's why I didn't see anybody go to that summer-house.The first thing I DID see was Red Kimball come out and slip through a little side-gate,and hurry along the country road.As soon as I saw him,I guessed that he and Mr.Gledware had been conspiring in the summer-house.What a chance I had missed to act the good scout!
But it seemed no use to go down,after Red Kimball had left.If Mr.Gledware was still in the summer-house,I knew he was alone;and if he'd returned to the house,all was over for the night.I was wondering what new plot they had formed,and how I was to find out about it,when my eye was caught by a movement in the hedge that runs down to the side-gate.The movement was as slight as possible,but as there wasn't ANY breeze,it made me shiver a little,for I knew somebody was skulking there.I watched,and pretty soon something passed through the gate,light and quick and stealthy,like the shadow of a cloud.Only,there wasn't any cloud;and in the flash of moonlight I saw it was our old friend--Red Feather.
Almost as soon as I recognized him,he had disappeared behind a large lilac-bush;but I had seen what he held in the hand behind his back--it was a long unsheathed knife.The lilac-bush stood close to the summer-house.He fell flat to the ground,and though I couldn't see him,after that I knew he was wriggling his way around the bush.You would have been ashamed of me for a minute or two,for I kept sitting beside the window as if I had been turned to a statue of ice.I felt just that cold,too!