CHAPTER XVI
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
Even though I believed we had good proof that Master Lord was playing a double game, his assertion of loyalty to the Cause, made so earnestly and with such seeming good faith, staggered me.
Was it possible, I asked myself, that we were mistaken? Had we allowed ourselves to be blinded by suspicion, and was Job Lord all he professed?
We knew from what the lieutenant at the battery had told us, that this man whom we claimed to be in league with the Britishers, had been of great service to the Cause, having sent much valuable information to our people and aided many a man who otherwise might have fallen into the clutches of the enemy. Could it be that all these things had been done as a blind, and we four the first who discovered his double dealings?
I looked around at my comrades and saw mingled doubt and fear written upon the faces of Archie and Harvey, showing that they also were beginning to question whether we had not made a grievous mistake. With Hiram, however, the matter was different. He had settled in his mind that Job Lord would work us harm as soon as it suited his purpose, and there was nothing the man might say which would convince him to the contrary.
"You talk well, Master Lord," he said, holding the coat ready to be thrust into the mouth of the villain if so be he attempted to make any outcry, "and I know full well that you could give proof of having served the Cause to a certain extent; but if you haven't worked greater advantage to the king, I'll agree to crawl on all fours so long a time as I may live."
"If I had counted on playing false, why were you allowed to remain here all this time, and why did I make you as comfortable as was in my power?" Master Lord asked, now beginning to understand that soft words would be of but little avail with one like Hiram.