"What is it? What are you showing him?" Archie asked eagerly, and Hiram, disappointed because the prisoner had failed to show any signs of surprise or distress, held it up for the lad to read.
"But that cannot be!" Archie cried in amazement. "Governor Gage would never issue any such order!"
"But he has done so, else another must have stolen the king's seal," and Hiram pointed triumphantly to the impression in wax which was fastened to a short length of blue ribbon.
"But how could it be that Job Lord would be allowed to choose a prisoner from among those taken at Breed's hill?" Archie continued in bewilderment, and I cried, eyeing the prisoner sharply all the while:
"He got it for some purpose which General Gage understood and approved, and that purpose was all of a piece with our being held here! Some day we shall learn the secret, and then I hope most earnestly that this same Master Lord, who has claimed to be devoted body and soul to the Cause, may be given over to my mercy even as he is at this moment."
They were high sounding words, perhaps, for a lad like me to use, and yet Master Lord shrank under them as if in fear, which was the first exhibition of feeling he had given since we came from the room above.
It can well be understood that after Archie and Harvey had recovered from the amazement caused by reading the order from Governor Gage, our tongues were loosened, and during a certain time we gave ourselves over to rejoicing, as if already the task we had set ourselves was accomplished. But even while we indulged in words of triumph, there was in my heart a certain undefined fear because all this had come about in such a mysterious way, having really been gained by that blunder of mine in making a prisoner of Seth Jepson, when it had seemed as if such an act on my part would lead to direst results.
Hiram still held to it that when nightfall was come he would present himself at the Bridewell, and with that as a starting point we set about laying plans for the future.
They were simple enough, if so be everything worked as we would have it, because once with Silas in our company we could, thanks to the pass in Hiram's stocking, march out over Boston Neck as bold as lions. The stumbling block was, a possibility that the officer at the Bridewell might be sufficiently well acquainted with Master Lord to take into custody whoever presented the governor's order, and the greater part of our discussion had to do with that chance.
Hiram claimed that we should allow no more than an hour to elapse from the time he set off for the Bridewell, before taking to our heels if so be he failed to return, because, as he said, within that time he would either be returned to Cow lane with Silas by his side, or lie in one of the cells of the jail.