rew. The
General leaned toward me, his fat, red face flushing still deeper, his
breath hurried and labored.

"You bring me letters?" he puffed.

I took out my packet, broke the seal before his eyes, and handed over
the first two letters, which were addressed to him. He tore open both
with pudgy fingers that shook, either from excitement or excess of
drink. The more bulky one he stared at for a moment, with knitted brows,
only to fling it into a drawer.

"Cypher again!" he muttered.

"You spoke to me, sir?" I asked.

He glared across at me, with what I could have sworn was panicky fear.
His voice shook: "You--you--Do you know what is in these letters?"

"You saw me break the seal of the packet," I replied. "I do not know the
contents of Colonel Burr's messages; though, from what he told me, one
letter relates to myself, and the other bears upon the death of Pitt."

"Pitt!--Pitt dead?" he gasped, losing thought of the one fear in
another.

"Have you not heard?" I asked, astonished. "It is months since his
death--midwinter."

"But--but--that puts another face on the plans! Without Pitt--without
the British ships--"

"British ships!" I exclaimed.

He started, and sought to gather together his scattered wits, hastily
pouring out and drinking half a glass of raw whiskey before again
speaking. I waved aside the bottle and a second glass which he thrust
toward me, and pointed to the other letter. "Your Excellency, may I ask
you to read what Colonel Burr has written with regard to myself?"

He caught up the letter, and after a hasty glance about the room from
door to window, began to read. I could see by the quickness with which
his eyes followed the lines that, unlike the first, it was written in a
legible hand. At the end he went back and re-read the latter part.
Coming again to the end, he laid the letter down, and addressed me with
a most bombastic assumption of dignity: "Sir, Colonel Burr takes too
much upon himself--far too much! The granting of your request, sir, is
impossible--impossible!"

Away puffed my aircastles at a word, and left me stunned and heartsick.
I had not looked for so sudden a blow. Yet I managed to protest: "Your
Excellency, I have ventured to imagine that I am not altogether lacking
in the qualities needed by the leader of such an expedition."

He unbent a trifle. "Sir, I do not question your qualifications."

"Then what prevents my appointment, Your Excellency? Is it that you wish