When Master Lord had ascended to the upper floor, and closed and bolted the door to make certain we could not give him the slip, Hiram crept like a cat upon the table, pressing his ear against one of the apertures. He stood there as it seemed to me a full hour before he came down as cautiously as before, and leaned over the bed where I lay, to whisper softly in my ear: "After I have plugged up the holes, lad, it is time for you to get to work, if so be you are minded to make the venture as was agreed upon." Minded? I was burning with the desire to set out, foolishly believing that once I was free in the streets of Boston town, it would not only be possible for me to avoid the patrol, but I could do very much toward that release of Silas Brownrigg's on which we had set our hearts. Not until Hiram had filled the two small apertures with pieces of cloth torn from his shirt, did I make any move, and then it can well be fancied that I strove to rise from the bed without noise. Hiram was already wrapping his coat around a large rock taken from one of the casks, which as I understood was intended to represent my head, and when this had been placed upon the bed, he made a roll of blankets to form the body. Over this he threw a second blanket, and if so be the light was dim, I believed, as I stood near the table where Master Lord would naturally come if he should pay us a visit during the night, that it was a fair resemblance to myself as he had just seen me. "I'm allowing that you can make your way out after five minutes of digging," Hiram whispered to me, and then came to my mind the one important question which we had failed to settle. "How shall I cover the hole?" "That is for you to decide after getting out. My idea is that the turf may be thrown up in such a way that it can be replaced, and yet I question much whether it is of any very great importance to conceal the mouth of the tunnel during such time as you may be absent, for why should any person, much less Job Lord, be prowling around the rear of this building in the night?" With this Hiram dismissed the matter as if believing it was not a vital one, and instructed me as to how the first portion of the work should be performed. He was to stand on the table, having pulled out the plug of cloth from one of the apertures, where it might be possible to hear what was going on overhead. Archie would take station a few feet distant, toward the casks, while Harvey remained close by the rubbish hole. Then if Hiram heard any suspicious sounds he would motion to the one nearest, who could in turn let the next sentinel know, and this last might warn me to keep quiet in the tunnel. If perchance Master Lord did come down into the room, because of being suspicious, or in order to hold any further converse, I must stay in the passage, and the dummy play my part the same as if I had gained the outside.