“What ails you?” said Hope. “You needn’t be frightened.”
“The cartridges, the cartridges,” wailed Finlay. “Kelso knows they are here.”
“If that’s all,” said Hope, “Neal Ward and I will ease you of them. We came here to take them away.”
“You can’t, you can’t, you mustn’t. They’d hang you on the nearest lamp iron if they saw you with the cartridges.”
There was a bang on the door and a moment later a knocking on the window of the room, and then a woman’s fate was pressed against the glass. Hope sprang across the room and flung open the window. The servant woman who had gone to see the flogging pushed her head into the room and said—
“They’re taking down Kelso, and he’s telling all he knows. Major Barber and the soldiers are getting ready to march. It’s down here they’ll be coming.”
“It’s time for us to be off, then,” said Hope.
“Come along, Neal, down to the cellar, and let us get the cartridges.”
James Finlay followed them downstairs, begging them not to attempt to carry off the cartridges. He held Hope by the arm as he spoke.
“Don’t do it,” he said, “for God’s sake don’t do it. The soldiers are coming. They will be here in a minute. They will meet you. They will hang you. I know they will hang you. Oh! for God’s sake go away at once while you have time. Leave the cartridges.”