Again Brown shook his head.

“This is dreadful!” he murmured.  “He walks in his sleep, and snores when he’s awake.  I must call the doctor.”

“What—­what—­” The lightkeeper’s wrath was interfering with his utterance.  He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sputtered incoherently.

“Be calm, Atkins,” coaxed the assistant.  “Don’t complicate your diseases by adding heart trouble.  Three times today I’ve caught you peeping at me through the crack of that door.  Within fifteen seconds of the last peep I find you snoring.  Therefore, I say—­”

“Aw, belay!  I was only—­only just lookin’ out to see what time it was.”

“But you must have done it in your sleep, because—­”

“I never.  I was wide awake as you be.”

“But why did you snore?  You couldn’t have fallen asleep between the door and the bed.  And you hadn’t quite reached the bed when I got here.”

“I—­I—­I—­Aw, shut up!”

Brown smiled blandly.  “I will,” he said, “provided you promise to keep this door shut and don’t do any more spying.”

“Spyin’?  What do you mean by that?”

“Just what I said.  You and I had a discussion concerning that same practice when I fell over the bank at the Slough a while ago.  I was not spying then, but you thought I was, and you didn’t like it.  Now I think you are, and I don’t like it.”

“Wh—­what—­what would I be spyin’ on you for?  Wh—­what reason would I have for doin’ it?”

“No good reason; because I have no intention of visiting our new neighbors—­none whatever.  That being understood, perhaps you’ll shut the door and keep it shut.”

Seth looked sheepish and guilty.

“Well,” he said, after a moment’s reflection, “I beg your pardon.  But I couldn’t help feelin’ kind of uneasy.  I—­I ought to know better, I s’pose; but, with a young, good-lookin’ girl landed unexpected right next to us, I—­I—­”

“How did you know she was good-looking?  I didn’t mention her looks.”

“No, you didn’t, but—­but . . .  John Brown, I’ve been young myself, and I know that at your age most any girl’s good-lookin’.  There!”

He delivered this bit of wisdom with emphasis and a savage nod of the head.  Brown had no answer ready, that is, no relevant answer.

“You go to bed and shut the door,” he repeated, turning to go.

“All right, I will.  But don’t you forget our agreement.”

“I have no intention of forgetting it.”

“What are you goin’ to do?”

“Do?  What do you mean?”

“I mean what are you goin’ to do now that things down here’s changed, and you and me ain’t alone, same as we was?”

“I don’t know.  I’m not sure that I sha’n’t leave—­clear out.”

“What?  Clear out?  Run away and leave me alone to—­to . . .  By time!  I didn’t think you was a deserter.”

The substitute assistant laughed bitterly.  “You needn’t worry,” he said.  “I couldn’t go far, even if I wanted to.  I haven’t any money.”