Certain it is that Hiram was not particularly well pleased because we had given ourselves so unreservedly into the power of Master Lord, and of this he gave proof by saying when we were alone: "Having come thus far on the venture we must take things as we find them; but it will do no harm if we keep a sharp watch over every one we meet, and it would seem that the four of us should be able to discover anything smacking of treachery." "Meaning that you have doubts concerning--" I did not finish the sentence, which was spoken in a whisper, but pointed with my thumb upward so that he might know who I meant, whereupon he said quickly: "Meaning no one in particular, and everybody in general." "I would that we had come into this town trusting none but ourselves," Archie said, and Hiram cried much as though the words irritated him: "Since we are come, and since we have given our secret to another, there is no good sense in harking back to what might have been done. We have set our faces toward Silas, and so long as we remain alive and free they are not to be turned from the goal. Instead of sitting here conjuring up old women's fancies which can do nothing save make the heart faint, suppose we follow Master Lord's advice and get a night's rest, for no one may say when we shall have another such opportunity?" After this long speech Hiram set the example by throwing himself down on one of the beds of straw, and we lads soon followed him, for it was disheartening to sit there giving words to our fears and doubts when we were at the mercy of the man we distrusted. How long I slept after my eyes were closed in uneasy slumber, it is impossible for me to say; but looking back at the matter afterward I fancied at least three hours had passed since we entered this cellar, when the sound of loud voices in the room above brought the four of us to our feet as if moved by a single spring of steel. The floor was of roughly hewn planks, looking, so far as one might see by the light of the lantern, to be very heavy, and we who were in the cellar could not distinguish words spoken in an ordinary tone; but now so excited and apparently angry were the speakers, that we could catch a word here and there, although not in sufficient numbers as to give any inkling to the trend of the conversation. It seemed to me, judging from the sounds, as if there were three or four in the room just over our heads, and that all were on the eve of a quarrel--fight would be the better word--so menacing were some of the tones.