It was not quite time for the members of his Council to assemble. He went to the nearest battery where the firing was hottest, sighted the direction of the guns, examined the state of the city walls where these had been played upon by them, cheered the gunners with his praise, even jested with one of them, and left the men more full of confidence in him, more desirous than ever to please him, and, if possible, more resolved to win the day. Not a trace of anxiety in his face or his tones had betrayed the weight that was upon him. Then he went back to his tent. The Council had assembled. When he took his place at the head, he had forgotten the incident that a few minutes before had moved him to laughter. Archdale stood motionless. The underbrush hid him from the speakers, and he was too far off to hear a word. It seemed to him that Elizabeth wished to shorten the interview, for soon Edmonson with another of his inimitable bows retired and she passed on. As Stephen caught sight of her face he saw that it was troubled. "He shall not persecute her," he said to himself. Nancy had gone on while Edmonson was speaking to her mistress, and now Elizabeth following was almost at the door of her temporary home, when a hand was laid heavily upon Archdale's shoulder, and Vaughan's hearty voice cried;-- "Come on! I'm going to speak to our charming, brave young lady there. I want to tell her how proud of her courage I am. Come on! he repeated. Stephen followed. He had not taken her determination in this way. He thought her unwise and rash, and hated to have her there. And yet he could not deny that the camp had seemed a different place since she had entered it. "You take it that way," he said to Vaughan. "But I think we should be feeling that she may get hit some of these days, or be down with fever." "We'll hope not," returned the other cheerfully. "Let us look on the bright side. She is doing a work of mercy, and we will trust that a merciful Providence will protect her. We were just talking about you, Mistress Royal," he continued, striding up to Elizabeth and grasping her hand warmly. "Stephen, here, says he's always thinking you'll get hit somehow, or get a fever. I say, look on the bright side of things, 'trust in the Lord,' as old Cromwell used to put it." "'And keep your powder dry,'" finished Archdale. "It's not safe to quote things by halves. Decidedly, this staying is not a prudent thing." "I didn't know that beseiging Louisburg could be called a prudent thing," she returned. "And so we're all in the same boat." "Ha! ha!" laughed Vaughan. "You have him there, Mistress Royal. He's always in the hottest places himself; he likes them best." "Somebody else likes them, too; somebody else who can capture Royal Battery with thirteen men," said Elizabeth. "I knew long ago that you were a genuine war-horse, Colonel Vaughan. Give me credit for my discernment."