leading into the blackness
below.

"'Tis there!" said Fawkes shortly, "wouldst see it, gentlemen?"

Percy drew back, when Keyes, misunderstanding his hesitancy, caught
the lantern from the table.

"I will go down," said he, "and thou mayst safely follow; the stuff be
well housed, tight as a drum, and, as thou seest, the lantern
scattereth no fire."

"But will not the dampness of the place destroy its usefulness?" asked
Winter.

"There is little fear," replied Fawkes, "although it lieth below the
surface of the river; the cellar is hewn from the rock, and dry as a
tinder-box. Lead the way, good Robert, take heed with thy light."

With much cautiousness the two men followed Fawkes and his guide down
the ladder to the floor ten feet below. Reaching it, Keyes held up the
lantern so that its feeble rays penetrated the darkness. Piled against
the walls of the subterranean chamber, Winter and Percy discerned
irregular dark objects rising to the height of their heads.

"'Tis the wind which will free England of the pestilence," said Fawkes
grimly; then catching the quick glance of Winter, which reminded him
of the presence of Master Keyes, added: "Which sown in Flanders will
bring forth a whirlwind against those who serve not God after the
manner of the righteous."

"A goodly amount of the grains," said Percy, placing his foot again
upon a round of the ladder; "and how much saidst thou, good Master
Keyes?"

"As Fawkes hath told me, some six and thirty barrels," replied the
watchman; "enough, methinks, to send all London up to the stars."

"And the King, also," whispered Winter in Fawkes' ear, and added, "let
us to the room above. My stomach hath small liking for thy cellars."

Percy was already half way up the ladder, and the others quickly
followed. To the soldier of fortune and to Master Keyes, 'twas of
little moment that they had stood in the presence of such an engine of
destruction, which, if properly applied, would shake to its foundation
the strongest structure in Europe. But in Winter and Percy, especially
the latter, the presence of the gunpowder, thoughts of the purpose for
which it was to be used, and the lives which must be sacrificed,
overcame for the moment their fanatical zeal, and they withdrew with a
feeling akin to horror. 'Twas truly the seed of death; and in sowing
the wind might they not, themselves, reap the whirlwind?

A short time in the upper chamber restored their calmness, and they no