i66 Winkle: the Eel-Man 



creeping cautiously towards Winkle, but it 

 was evident at a glance that, however near I 

 might get to him, there would still be inter- 

 cepting weeds, and, while I might lie con- 

 cealed, I could see nothing of what the man 

 was doing. While revolving all this in my 

 mind, as I was creeping on all-fours through 

 bulrushes and tear-thumb grass, I was startled 

 by Winkle loudly calling out, " Say, lad, 

 what's the good o* holdin' back ? I saw you 

 up the tree and heard your boat long 'fore I 

 saw it." 



Had this man eyes in the back of his 

 head ? I never thought before to look ; and 

 what ears ! Yet as I noticed now, they 

 presented no unusual appearance. Pride in 

 my woodcraft was, of course, all gone. I 

 stepped boldly up, but, as I knew, with a 

 flushed face. Winkle laughed, after his 

 fashion, and showed me all that he had been 

 doing. The Betsy Ann had been partly 

 burned before she sank, and the wreck was, as 

 I had supposed, lying with the stern inshore. 

 The little that remained of the cabin was 

 now exposed, and in it Winkle had evidently 

 found some treasure, but how much he would 

 not say. This was to be his last visit, he 



