matters in Williamsburgh. The next morning he
was at the office betimes, but though he waited long, no Lewis appeared.
At last Tom sent a boy to the house on Shockoe, who returned with the
statement that Mr. Rand was gone to the Capitol. "Then I'll go too,"
thought Tom. "I've got nerve as well as he!"

It was the fourth day of the actual trial, and interest was at white
heat. Tom whistled to himself as he crossed the Capitol Square where men
blocked the paths or, on the grass beneath the trees, recounted,
disputed, and prophesied. When he reached the building, it was with much
difficulty that he effected an entrance, and with more that he at last
edged himself into the Hall of the House of Delegates. Sturdy
perseverance and an acquaintance with a doorkeeper, however, can
accomplish much, and these finally placed Mocket where, by dint of
balancing himself upon an advantageous ledge of masonry, he had a fair
view of both participants and spectators.

General William Eaton was being examined. The throng sat or stood
silently attentive, swayed forward as by a wind. Marshall upon the
bench, long and loose-jointed, with a quiet, plain face, was listening
with intentness; the opposing counsel sat alert, gathered for the
pounce; the prisoner, with a contemptuous smile, regarded the witness,
who indeed cut but a poor figure. The District Attorney's voice,
deliberate and full, asked a question, and General Eaton proceeded to
give in detail Colonel Burr's expression of treasonable intentions.

Mocket, who had at first looked and listened with a thumping heart and a
strong feeling that, visible to all, the letter T might be somewhere
sewn or branded upon his own person, by degrees grew bolder. There
wasn't any letter there, that was certain, and a slight sense of
personal danger might even become a welcome sauce to such a great affair
as this! His fright vanished, and his ferret eyes began to rove.

There was Adam Gaudylock, still with his musket. It was a day when men
habitually journeyed with pistols in their holsters or a dirk somewhere
about them, but Adam carried that musket merely because he loved
it--like a dog or a woman! Tawny and blue-eyed, light and lithe,
indifferent and pleased to see the show, the hunter listened to General
Eaton and laughed behind his hand to a fellow woodsman. "My certie, he's
trained!" thought Tom. "It's not much they'll get from him!"

His eyes left Adam and travelled in search of Lewis Rand,