man's face, and looked long
and steadily at him. Neal's eyes wavered and dropped before this earnest
scrutiny, which seemed to read his very thoughts.

"God bless you and keep you, my boy," said James Hope. "You are the son
of a brave man. I doubt not that you will be a brave man, too, brave in
a good cause."

Donald Ward seemed a little impatient at this long scrutiny of Neal and
the speech which followed. He took several gulps of whisky and water and
blew clouds of tobacco smoke. He cleared his throat noisily and said.

"You'll be satisfied, James Hope, by the letter I've given you that we
are men to be trusted?"

"God forbid else," said Hope. "Whom should we trust if not the brother
and son of Micah Ward?"

"Then I'll come straight to the point," said Donald. "Who were the two
men that were with you just now?"

"The one of them," said Hope, "was Aeneas Moylin, a Catholic, and a
friend of Charlie Teeling. He's a man that has done much to bring the
Defender boys from County Down and Armagh into the society. He has a
good farm of land near by Donegore."

"And the other?"

"The other you ought to know, Neal Ward. He's from Dunseveric. His
name's James Finlay."

"I do know him," said Neal, "but I don't trust him."

"He came to me," said Hope, "with a letter from your father, like the
letter you bring yourself. I have trusted him a great deal."

"Trust him no more, then," said Donald, "the man's a spy. My brother was
deceived in him."

"These are grave words you speak," said Hope. "Can you make them good?"

Donald told the story of the raid on the Dunseveric meeting-house.
He dwelt on the fact that only five or six people knew of the buried
cannon, that of these, only one, James Finlay, had left Dunseveric, that
Neal Ward's name had appeared on the list of suspected persons, though
Neal had hitherto taken no part and had no knowledge of the doings
of the United Irishmen; that his name must have been given to the
authorities by some one who had a private spite against him; that James
Finlay, and he alone of the people of Dunseveric, had any cause to seek
revenge on Neal.

"It's a case of suspicion," said James Hope, "of heavy suspicion, but
you've not proven that the man's a traitor."

"No," said Donald, "it's not proven. I know that well, but the man ought
to be trusted no more until his character is cleared. He ought to be
tried and given a chance of defending himself."

James Hope sat silent. His fi