barrels. Three feet wide will be sufficient."

"It would be very dangerous to move them," the official said
hastily.

"Not if it is carefully done. You tell me the barrels are strong,
and that there is no leakage. Even if this should not be the case,
there is little fear of the powder coming in contact with the
candles in these lanterns; and besides, as the powder is in
cartridges, it would not leak out even if one of the barrels were
to burst."

The soldiers had set to work at four points, chosen at hazard by
Desmond. The barrels, as they were taken down, were ranged along
on each side of the central path. When three lines had been
cleared out, one of the soldiers gave an exclamation.

"This is lighter than the one I carried out last!" he said.

"Carry it out into the courtyard," Desmond said. "I should like to
look at the contents."

It was taken out to the courtyard, and one end carefully taken
out.

"You see, Colonel," Desmond said, as he looked at its contents,
"you would have been reduced to great straits, long before you
expected it."

The colonel, who belonged to the artillery, looked into the
barrel, which was full of earth.

"Empty it out!" Desmond ordered.

They did so. There was not a single cartridge in it.

"This is scandalous!" the colonel exclaimed. "I did not expect
that everything would be found right, but I had no idea of such
villainy as this!"

He turned to the men.

"Arrest the commissary, at once," he said.

But that official was nowhere to be found. He had slipped away, as
soon as the men began to take down the barrels. Some soldiers were
at once sent off in search of him.

"We will continue the work," Desmond said, "and see how
extensively this fraud has been carried on."

The same result was met with in each of the openings. The first
three lines consisted of barrels filled with cartridges; the seven
lines behind contained nothing but earth.

"You see, Colonel, instead of having over three thousand two
hundred barrels of cartridges, you have less than a thousand. It
is almost beyond belief! It is clear that this fellow, and
probably the man who was in charge before him, have been in
collusion with the contractors for these cartridges, and allowed
them to send in seven barrels of earth for every three of
cartridges. No doubt, they calculated that there was little chance
of the fraud being detected--never, indeed, until there was a
prolonged siege--for they would natura