oughts, the girl was not aware that the others had got
together and were discussing the Colonel's fate until mention was made
of the French sloop and of Captain Augustin. "Faith, and let him go in
that!" she heard Uncle Ulick urging. "D'ye hear me, your reverence?
'Twill be a week before they land him, and the fire we'll be lighting
will be no secret at all at all by then."

"May be, Mr. Sullivan," the Bishop replied--"may be. But we cannot
spare the sloop."

"No, by the Holy Bones, and we'll not spare her!" The McMurrough chimed
in. "She's heels to her, and it's a godsend she'll be to us if things
go ill."

"And an addition to our fleet anyway," Cammock said. "We'd be mad to
let her go--just to make a man safe, we can make safe a deal cheaper!"

Flavia propped the sword carefully in an angle of the hearth, and moved
forward. "But I do not understand," she said timidly. "We agreed that
the sloop and the cargo were to go free if Colonel Sullivan--but you
know!" she added, breaking off and addressing her brother. "You were
there."

"Is it dreaming you are?" he retorted contemptuously. "Is it we'll be
taking note of that now?"

"It was a debt of honour," she said.

"The girl's right," Uncle Ulick said, "and we'll be rid of him."

"We'll be rid of him without that," The McMurrough muttered.

"I am fearing, Mr. Sullivan," the Bishop said, "that it is not quite
understood by all that we are embarked upon a matter of the utmost
gravity, upon a matter of life and death. We cannot let bagatelles
stand in the way. The sloop and her cargo can be made good to her
owners--at another time. For your relative and his servant----"

"The shortest way with them!" some one cried. "That's the best and the
surest!"

"For them," the Bishop continued, silencing the interruption by a look,
"we must not forget that some days must pass before we can hope to get
our people together, or to be in a position to hold our own. During the
interval we lie at the mercy of an informer. Your own people you know,
and can trust to the last gossoon, I'm told. But the same cannot be
said of this gentleman--who has very fixed ideas--and his servant. Our
lives and the lives of others are in their hands, and it is of the last
importance that they be kept secure and silent."

"Ay, silent's the word," Cammock growled.

"There could be no better place than one of the towers," The McMurrough
suggested, "for keeping them safe, bedad!"

"And why'll the