Perceiving that the white moonlight was shining full upon him, he gazed anxiously ahead.

Then he abruptly dived back into the shade, but was unable to recover the thread of his thoughts.

He now realised that his hands and feet were becoming very cold, and impatience seized hold of him.

So he jumped upon the stone again, and once more glanced over the Jas-Meiffren, which was still empty and silent.
Finally, at a loss how to employ his time, he jumped down, fetched his gun from the pile of planks where he had concealed it, and amused himself by working the trigger.

The weapon was a long, heavy carbine, which had doubtless belonged to some smuggler.