In the Camp of the Black Rider

A flash of the lantern showed the slope of the roof and a broken tin gutter. Plainly the intention of the man was to mount this roof and the watching boy wondered how he was going to do it, as there was a decided slope to the house covering. But the man with the lantern evidently knew his territory, for he stepped from the top of the ladder and his foot descended to the roof, resting in a hole which the elements had eaten through the shingles. He began to climb upward, picking his way along the top of the roof with a certain foot, knowing the breaks and the rough spots where he could travel in safety. Without wavering he pressed on and reached the top of the house, where a crooked chimney was shadowily revealed in the glow of the light. The man raised the lantern.

Ted peered eagerly from his post in the bushes, hoping to get a good look at the man but he was doomed to disappointment, at least as far as the man's face was concerned. He had his back to the boy and only the general outline was disclosed by his act of raising the lantern. He was outlined against the sky in a blurred picture, and he seemed to be tall and thin. His clothing was of the roughest sort and his hat was a relic which might, at one time, have been a soldier's campaign hat. The roof seemed to be familiar to the man, for he proceeded to business as coolly as though he was standing on the firm ground instead of on the slope of a rotting roof on a solitary house in the mountains.