I had seen William T. Coleman on the street, and had known something of his romantic history. His leadership of the forces of order in the city, when the criminals of 1851 and 1856 left no remedy to honest men but that of revolution, had impressed my imagination, and I was prepared to feel the glow of admiration that warmed my spirit as he shook my hand with a kindly word. No one could approach the man without receiving the impression of quiet force; yet it was, after all, difficult to realize that this kindly merchant had developed the highest qualities of leadership at two critical periods in the history of the city and state, had headed a successful revolution against a criminal administration of the law, and had, after showing gifts that in another day would have made him a Cromwell or a Simon de Montfort, quietly surrendered his powers when his work was done, and settled contentedly back to the prosaic business of buying and selling goods. I felt proud to be in his presence. "What is this important information?" asked Coleman, his gray eyes searching my face with penetrating glance. "Chiefly," said Wharton Kendrick, "that we are mistaken in supposing that the story of the purchase of arms is false." "There is no doubt of its truth, gentlemen," I said. "The conspirators have received a large sum of money, and have put a good part of it into guns. They have, on my information, about one thousand rifles." This assurance produced a visible effect on the company. "Where did they get this money?" asked the doubting voice of a man who had been introduced as Mr. Partridge. "That’s not the important point," said Wharton Kendrick, striking in smoothly. "The main thing is to know what they are going to do with it." I understood from this hint that I was to keep the name of Peter Bolton out of the discussion. "I have a little special information on that point," I said. And I described the multiform purposes of the Council of Nine as they had appeared from my investigations. "How do you know all this?" came from several of the assembled magnates. Wharton Kendrick took the reply out of my mouth. "He has practically direct communication with the conspirators," he said. "I think we shall all agree that it is best not to mention names." "Well, this certainly makes it a horse of another color," said Partridge. "In the light of Mr. Hampden’s information I withdraw my objections to the plan proposed by Mr. Kendrick." Wharton Kendrick heaved a scarcely perceptible sigh, and whispered to me, "That settles it; Partridge represents the Golconda Bank, and the rest will follow his lead." "That is right," said another. "Let us take no chances." And with a few similar expressions the company appeared to have come to a unanimous agreement. "Then," said Wharton Kendrick, turning to Partridge, "I’ll put you down for--" "For five hundred thousand," replied Partridge.