“Well, hurry up and get that lock off, and we’ll soon see,” said the leader. Snell inserted the bayonet and gave a wrench. Don was thinking, not of the powder, but of the bales of cloth at the foot of the stairs. In a few minutes they would find them, and then things would go hard with him and his aunt. Well, he had done his best, but what wouldn’t he have done to keep them out of the cellar altogether! “Blasted lock!” muttered Snell and gave another fierce wrench; there was a sharp crack, and his bayonet was in two pieces. Infuriated, the Redcoat hacked away with the short end that was in his hand, and in a few moments the lock clattered to the floor. He had opened the door and was about to go down when a sharp command behind him made him turn as if he had seen a ghost. “Snell, you hound, what does this mean!” Harry Hawkins, gun in hand, crossed the threshold; he had just returned from the drill grounds. Snell’s face had gone suddenly white, and he only stood and looked. “It means,” said the leader, “that we’re about to get some ammunition that these rebels have hidden in the cellar.” “It’s not true, sir!” cried Don, turning to Hawkins. “It’s not true. There is no ammunition in the cellar--not a speck!” Hawkins looked steadily at Aunt Martha. “That is true, I suppose?” he inquired. “My nephew has never told a lie in his life, and, sir, he--he is telling the truth now. There is no ammunition in the cellar.” “They’re both lying----” Tom Bullard stopped as abruptly as he had begun as Hawkins whirled and faced him. For a long moment no one spoke; then Aunt Martha addressed Hawkins: “These men have taken it upon themselves to enter my house unbidden. Five men against one boy and a woman! They have no right here----” “Oh, enough of that!” cried the leader and strode toward the cellar door. “Halt where you are!” exclaimed Hawkins, and as the Tory hesitated the soldier raised his gun a few inches. “Let me see your orders.” “Orders! Orders to search a rebel’s house?” “Now, see here,”--Hawkins’s voice was hard and cold, and his eyes were like points of fire--“this thing has gone about as far as I want to see it go. I’ll stand sponsor for the boy and the woman--and I’ve got a good reason for doing it. Now, my friends, you’ll oblige me by leaving the house----” “Why--why, you don’t mean to say----” began the leader. “At once,” finished Hawkins and tapped the stock of his musket. Tom Bullard was already outside the door, but Snell and the three Tories did not move. Whereupon Hawkins stepped swiftly to the cellar door and, slamming it shut, quickly drew his bayonet and affixed it to the end of his piece. “By heaven, you’ll hear of this!” cried the leader and backed slowly across the room. “I promise you I’ll see you in the guard-house before nightfall!” “And,” added another, “we’ll be here again, and we’ll bring Brush, himself, along.”