ails you, man?" quoth he.

"Naught, sir 'tis the cold."

The sergeant scanned the package and its seal. In a measure it was a
passport, and he was forced to the conclusion that this man was indeed
the messenger he represented himself. Certainly he had not the air nor
the bearing of him for whom they waited, nor did the sergeant think that
their quarry would have armed himself with a dummy package against such
a strait. And yet the sergeant was not master after all, and did he let
this fellow pursue his journey, he might reap trouble for it hereafter;
whilst likewise if he detained him, Colonel Pride, he knew, was not an
over-patient man. He was still debating what course to take, and had
turned to his companion with the muttered question: "What think you,
Peter?" when by his precipitancy Kenneth ruined his slender chance of
being permitted to depart.

"I pray you, sir, now that you know my errand, suffer me to pass on."

There was an eager tremor in his voice that the sergeant mistook for
fear. He noted it, and remembering the boy's hesitancy in answering his
earlier questions, he decided upon his course of action.

"We shall not delay your journey, sir," he answered, eyeing Kenneth
sharply, "and as your way must lie through Waltham, I will but ask you
to suffer us to ride with you thus far, so that there you may answer any
questions our captain may have to ask ere you proceed."

"But, sir--"

"No more, master courier," snarled the sergeant. Then, beckoning a
trooper to his side, he whispered an order in his ear.

As the man withdrew they wheeled their horses, and at a sharp word
of command Kenneth rode on towards Waltham between the sergeant and a
trooper.

CHAPTER XX. THE CONVERTED HOGAN

Night black and impenetrable had set in ere Kenneth and his escort
clattered over the greasy stones of Waltham's High Street, and drew up
in front of the Crusader Inn.

The door stood wide and hospitable, and a warm shaft of light fell from
it and set a glitter upon the wet street. Avoiding the common-room, the
sergeant led Kenneth through the inn-yard, and into the hostelry by a
side entrance. He urged the youth along a dimly-lighted passage. On a
door at the end of this he knocked, then, lifting the latch, he ushered
Kenneth into a roomy, oak-panelled chamber.

At the far end a huge fire burnt cheerfully, and with his back to it,
his feet planted wide apart upon the hearth, stood a powerfully built
man of me