out the use to which the leader intended to
put the pikes and torches.

When the wagon had been loaded the old man summoned his faithful son,
Owen.

"Captain Owen Brown," the steel voice rang, "you will take private
Barclay Coppoc and F.J. Merriam and establish a guard over this house
as the headquarters of our expedition. Hold it at all hazards. You are
guarding the written records of our work, the names of associates, the
reserves of our arms and ammunition. We will send you reinforcements in
due time."

Owen saluted his commander and the two privates under his command took
their places beside him.

Brown waved to the eighteen men standing around the wagon.

"Get on your arms, and to the Ferry!"

They had been ready for hours, eager for the Deed. Not one among them in
his heart believed in the wisdom of this assault, yet so grim was the
power of Brown's mind over the wills of his followers, there was not a
laggard among them.

Brown drove the wagon and led the procession down the pitch-black road
toward the town. The men fell in line two abreast and slowly marched
behind the team.

Cook and Tidd, raised to the rank of Captains, their commissions
duly signed, led the tramping men. There were many captains in this
remarkable army of twenty-one. There were more officers than privates.
The officers were commissioned to recruit their black companies when the
first blow had been struck.

The enterprise on which these twenty-one veteran rangers had started in
the chill night was by no means so foolhardy as appears on the surface.
The leader was leaving his base of supplies with a rear guard of but
three men. Yet the army on the march consisted of but eighteen. He knew
that the United States Arsenal had but one guarded gate and that the
old watchman had not fired a gun in twenty-five years. It would be the
simplest thing to force this gate and the Arsenal was in their hands.
The Rifle Works had but a single guard. They could be taken in five
minutes. Once inside these enclosures, he had unlimited guns and
ammunition at his command.

The town would be asleep at ten o'clock when he arrived at the Maryland
end of the covered bridge across the Potomac. Eighteen armed men were an
ample force to capture the unsuspecting town. Not a single policeman was
on duty after ten. The people were not in the habit of locking their
doors.

The one principle of military law which the leader was apparently
violating was the failu