"Those are questions which I cannot answer just now; but after we have put you in such plight that it will be no longer possible to make an outcry, I'm counting on doing what I may at finding out. It will go hard if there isn't something in the room above that will disprove your words."
For the first time since we had fallen upon him did I see the man wince, and on the instant all my fears that we might have made a grievous mistake were dispelled, for I knew as well as if he had told me in so many words, that evidence would be found against him if the house was searched.
"You've hit it right, Hiram!" I cried; "but don't spend too much time talking here, lest those who have visited him before should come again and discover that the trap-door is open."
"Run up the ladder, lad, and see to it that doors and windows are barred securely," he said quickly, and I obeyed feverishly, fearing lest before I could do as he desired those men who had quarreled with Master Lord might return.
In addition to the locks on the side and rear doors, were stout bars, and after having assured myself that the bolts were shot, I put the timbers securely in place; then examined carefully the fastenings of every shutter until having satisfied myself beyond peradventure that none could enter from the outside save by battering down the barriers.
When I was come into the cellar again, Job Lord had been bound hand and foot after much the same fashion as was Seth Jepson, and the lads must have lifted him upon one of the beds, for he was lying there with a gag, formed from Hiram's coat, in his mouth, glaring at us fiercely.
"We may as well bring the Tory lad out here to bear him company," Archie suggested, and in a twinkling Hiram came from behind the casks with Seth in his arms.
Even though up to this time we had had suspicions in our minds that a wrong was being done Job Lord, they would have vanished when those two saw each other.
Seth Jepson gave vent to a cry of surprise, and on Master Lord's face could be read that which told, so I fancied, of an acquaintance between them.
"Shall we gag Seth?" Harvey asked, and Hiram replied as if it was a matter of little moment: