him whom we had come to look upon as the leader in
our hazardous venture.

I cannot set down all these two said, for the very good reason that I
failed to charge myself with taking in the purport of the conversation;
but this I do know, that when they had come apparently to understand
each other, and were grown to be as thick as two thieves, Master Lord
explained that in order we might remain more securely hidden from
suspicion, and that none of the neighbors should come to fancy he had
visitors in the building, we must prepare our own food, cooking it in
the fire-place of the cellar.

By such a course the house would remain open to whosoever might visit
it, and unless the secret of our hiding-place was revealed by our haste,
we were as safe in Boston town as in any other place, meaning, of
course, in event of Job Lord's proving to be a true man as he claimed to
be.

To all of this Hiram agreed as if satisfied in every particular, and
then claimed to be prodigiously hungry, which was another surprise on
his part, for we had even then with us enough of provision to satisfy
all our desires during the next four and twenty hours.

However, Hiram clung to the assertion that he was nigh to being
famished, and Master Lord went without delay to the floor above, as if
to procure that which might be needed.

No sooner had he ascended the ladder than I stole softly to Hiram's
side, asking in an angry whisper:

"What has come upon you so suddenly, that you fail to see anything
suspicious in our being thus asked to lay here content with what that
man may be able to do, never ourselves raising a hand in behalf of
Silas?"

"Yes, it seems as if I had not broken my fast for four and twenty
hours," Hiram replied in a loud tone, at the same time motioning toward
the floor above, as if to say that he would not converse with me however
guardedly, while Master Lord was where he might come to believe we were
holding secret council.

This gesture of our comrade's soothed me somewhat, for I began to fancy
he had a plan in his mind to thwart our host if so be he gave token of
treachery, and yet I failed to understand how it might be done while we
remained there much the same as prisoners. In my stupidity I lost sight
of the fact that we were absolutely powerless. If this Job Lord was
indeed double-faced, then at the moment we ventured out despite his
advice, it was only necessary for him to give word to the lobster backs,
when we wou