are going," he said, "to James Finlay's house. Before we start I
think I ought to tell you that in any case you could not stay here any
longer. I saw this morning a proclamation offering a reward of fifty
pounds for your capture, and I have no doubt that Finlay will earn it if
he can, even if the soldier you mauled does not trace you here."

"I am ready," said Neal.

"You are not afraid? I see you are not, and we are not going to run into
any unnecessary danger. Finlay will not betray you at once. He will not
run out and call soldiers to take you the moment he sees you. He has a
deeper plan. He has arranged that a meeting of our leaders will be held
in Aeneas Moylin's house to-morrow night. He is to be there himself, and
he has received assurance that most of our chief men will be there. We
have little doubt that he has given information about the meeting, and
made his arrangements for capturing us all. We shall tell him that you
are to be there, too. Then he will not want to risk exposing himself
by betraying you at once. He will wait for you till to-morrow. But when
to-morrow comes he will not find our leaders at Donegore. I have not
asked, and I do not wish to know, what he will find when he gets there."

"I understand," said Neal. "When we meet I am to pretend that I trust
him thoroughly."

Hope smiled.

"You are a good soldier. You are prepared to obey, and you do not ask
too many questions. But I am going to trust you fully, and tell you
why we are going to Finlay's house to-day. Some time ago we stored some
cases of ball cartridges there. They are in a cellar, and I have no
doubt that Major Fox knows all about them, and thinks them as safe as
if they were in the munition room of the barrack. You and I are going to
carry off those cases. We want the cartridges badly, and we cannot wait
for them. We shall be using them, I hope, the day after to-morrow, and
if we leave them there till Finlay goes to Donegore to-morrow evening I
fear they may be seized by the soldiers. We must take them at once, and
it seems to me that our best chance will be to walk off with them in
broad daylight without an attempt at concealment. We shall bring them
here."

"How many cases are there?" asked Neal.

"Eight," said Hope. "We must manage to carry four each, but the distance
is not very great."

Neal drew a deep breath of relief when he reached the street. Any
service, however dangerous, any form of activity in the open air, w