"Is that you?" Bard asked.

"Yes."

"Good! I will open to you."

"Don't trouble. Ask the officers how much powder, for artillery purposes, there is in the magazine."

"All right!"

I waited, and through the keyhole I could see Bard hurrying to the house. He disappeared, then reappeared after a few minutes.

"Two hundred pounds!" he shouted to me.

"Prodigious! It is always the way.... Now throw me over the key of the door, or slip it under, so that I can come in without disturbing you."

"Here you are."

"Right! Whatever you do, don't quit your post."