Coming through a little side gate in the park, he got into the great
yard behind the house, where the stables stood on one side and a huge
barn, which was only used as a storage place for lumber, on the other.
And it occurred to him that if the woman of whom the groom told him were
still hanging about the premises, as the servants seemed to think, this
was the very place she might be expected to choose as a hiding-place.

So he pushed open the great, creaking door of the barn and went in. It
was very dark in there, and the air was cold and damp. A musty smell
from old sacks, rotting wood and mildewed straw came to his nostrils, as
he made his way carefully over the boards with which the middle part of
the barn had, for some forgotten purpose or other, been floored.

Little chinks of light from above showed great beams, some with ropes
hanging from them, and stacks of huge lumber of fantastic shapes to
right and left.

Max stood still in the middle of the floor and listened for a sound. But
he heard nothing. Suddenly he thought of the signal by the use of which
he had summoned Carrie to the door of the house by the wharf.

Getting close to one of the piles of lumber, he gave two taps on the
panel of a broken wooden chest, waited a couple of seconds, and then
gave two taps more.

There was a shuffling noise along the boards on the other side of the
stack, followed by the striking of a match.

Max was around the obstacle in a moment. Holding a piece of candle in
her bony hand was Mrs. Higgs.