surely it was hard to thus suddenly find himself
at the mercy of those whom he had wronged, at the very moment he must
have believed everything was going his way; but the fellow was such a
veritable coward that even the softest-hearted could not feel aught save
contempt for him.

He whined and whimpered, declaring it had never been in his mind to do
us wrong, and swearing to that which we knew was absolutely false,
until Hiram cried angrily:

"Put a stopper on that fellow's jaw! It makes me sick to hear his
howling. I have some respect for a lad or man who can take as well as
give; but when it comes to working all the harm he may, and then showing
the white feather so completely, my patience is soon gone."

Seth shut his mouth like a clam. I believe the coward would have tried
to stand on his head, had Hiram given any such command, so eager was he
to show his willingness to obey, and I said to myself that of the two,
Job Lord, who had meditated worse treachery against the Cause than Seth
could ever have hoped to work, was the better.

In due time Hiram had as appetizing a meal as could be prepared from all
the stores to be found in the building, for once he had set about the
work of a cook he did not scruple at overhauling the provisions in the
room above, finding there many a toothsome dainty which had been
supplied this miserable double-faced spy by his British friends.

We ate heartily, and with greater relish than at any time since this
venture in aid of Silas had been proposed, for now was the greater
portion of the burden removed from our hearts, and we could see our way
out, where before all had been darkness with a British prison at the
end.

When the meal was ready I would have put the gag back into Job Lord's
mouth; but before it was possible to do so he said with the air of one
who speaks the truth:

"I'm not minded to take so much of punishment as that involves, if it
can in any way be avoided, therefore it is I give you my solemn word
not to raise my voice above a whisper from now till sunset."

I looked at Hiram to see what he thought of the proposition, for there
was in my mind a suspicion that Master Lord might have some scheme in
his head to do us harm; but our comrade said decidedly:

"As a rule I wouldn't take the word of such as he for the value of a
button; but since he knows full well that we could fall upon him before
he had time to let out more than one yell, and also understands that