d to this 'ere paper. There's nothin' behind the
hull thing but ol' Pinhorn an'--who? I'm skeered o' Mr. Who? Pinhorn
an' Who an' a Dark Night! There's a pardnership! Kind o' well mated!
They want ye to put yer life in their hands. What fer? Wal, ye know
it 'pears to me they'd be apt to be car'less with it. It's jest
possible that there's some feller who'll be happier if you was rubbed
off the slate. War is goin' on an' you belong to that breed o' pups
they call rebels. A dead rebel don't cause no hard feelin's in the
British army. Now, Jack, you stay where ye be. 'Tain't a fust rate
place, but it's better'n a hole in the ground. Suthin' is goin' to
happen--you mark my words, boy. I kind o' think Margaret is gittin'
anxious to talk with me an' kin't be kept erway no longer. Mebbe the
British army is goin' to move. Ye know fer two days an' nights we been
hearin' cannon fire."

"Solomon, I'm not going out to be shot in the back," said the young
man. "If I am to be executed, it must be done with witnesses in proper
form. I shall refuse to go. If Margaret should come, and it is
possible, I want you to sit down with her in front of my cell so that I
can see her, but do not tell her that I am here. It would increase her
trouble and do no good. Besides, I could not permit myself to touch
her hand even, but I would love to look into her face."

So it happened that the proposal which had come to Jack through Mr.
Pinhorn was firmly declined, whereupon the astonishment of that
official was expressed in a sorrowful gesture and the exclamation:
"Doomed! Stubborn youth!"

2

Solomon Binkus was indeed a shrewd man. In the faded packet of letters
is one which recites the history of the confinement of the two scouts
in the Boston jail. It tells of the coming of Margaret that very
evening with an order from the Adjutant General directing Mr. Pinhorn
to allow her to talk with the "rebel prisoner Solomon Binkus."

The official conducted her to the iron grated door in front of
Solomon's cell.

"I will talk with him in the corridor, if you please," she said, as she
gave the jailer a guinea, whereupon he became most obliging. The cell
door was opened and chairs were brought for them to sit upon. Cannons
were roaring again and the sound was nearer than it had been before.

"Have you heard from Jack?" she asked when they were seated in front of
the cell of the latter.

"Yes, ma'am. He is well, but like a