"That's what comes of having a bad record against you," he murmured, "the man may be quite innocent. He may be really asleep. Yet as things are I dare not treat him as if he were either. To-morrow he must do a little scouting for us. He shall feel for the enemy, and if they fire upon him--well and good, then he has not brought the enemy down upon us. But because of his past, he must undergo the ordeal by fire and water. "Well, we will let him sleep, but all the same I shall keep an eye upon him to see that he does not take French leave during the night!" Stair called Mr. Wemyss from his reading. The ex-ambassador thought that a new parcel of books had arrived, and made haste to obey. He saw the door of the Bothy open and Stair, a large, dark shape vaguely outlined against a rosy illumination, the cause of which he did not understand, leaning easily with his shoulder against the lintel-post, blocking all exit. "Well, Stair," said Julian, "did you find Joseph? Had he any word of the _Good Intent_?" "I did find Joseph," said Stair curtly, "and it will be a long time before I find him again. Do you see that?" "That" referred to the numerous fires which were now being lighted on the heights of the sand-hills, by the fugitives from the camps in the hollows of the Wild, who had been driven out by the invading waters of the dam constructed by the Garland brothers and their followers. Julian Wemyss gazed a little stupidly. His eyes were unaccustomed to the dark, and he blinked like one who finds a difficulty in believing the evidence of his senses. "Are these really fires?" he asked, covering his eyes with his hand. Stair softly shut the door behind the two of them. It would not now matter whether the spy were asleep or awake. "Now do you understand?" he said softly. "They are fires, and we are surrounded by water. You have let out the dam!" Stair sketched his night's adventure, with his hand on Whitefoot's head, who sat staring out at the winking fires gravely and wisely, as one who knew all about it and would have a great deal to say to the matter before all was done. "Ah," said Julian Wemyss, "this is no chance business. They have been preparing it with the long hand. But why did they not charge from all sides at once and so rush the Bothy?" "They could not," said Stair simply, "of course there were three easy paths then where there is only one very difficult one now. But, you see, they did not know that. They did not know and they do not know the strength of our garrison, or how soon we hope to be reinforced." "I suppose," Julian whispered, "you have every confidence--?" And he indicated the ulterior of the Bothy where the ex-spy was sleeping. "No," murmured Stair, "but I shall be sure to-morrow as soon as the sun is up. Possible treachery within the camp is not the sort of thing one can afford to let drag!" "Provisions?" queried Julian. "For a year!" said Stair. "Water?"