Not until Saul was within the cask, and had taken position close by the side of the prisoner, did little Frenchie venture to come out. Then, halting and leaning over so his voice would carry to the prisoner and his jailor without being heard by any who might be in the vicinity of the shed, he said, still speaking in a tone of command which, had I been less excited and anxious, would have sounded comical from one so small: "Remember, Saul, that your life, mayhap, and ours, depends upon your holding that Tory scoundrel safe. Fitz and I will learn what we may toward aiding us in getting him to the cabin." "How long am I to stay here?" Saul asked, and I fancied that he was growing sulky again, whereupon I said soothingly, laying my hand on his leg in friendly fashion: "Do not let your temper get the best of you again, Saul, else are we all undone past mending. We have fallen into a hobble, and each must do his best to come out alive." "I am ready to do what I may, and understand, without its being roughed into me, that I am the one who is responsible for it all; but yet I ask how long am I to stay here?" "Until we come again," little Frenchie said decidedly. "There is no probability we shall dare risk a visit here 'twixt now and the time when we have made ready to carry him to old Mary's cabin, therefore you can count that your duties as jailor will hold you inside that cask until midnight." I would have added somewhat to that which Pierre had said, counting thereby to soothe my cousin; but little Frenchie dragged me back, motioning with his finger on his lips that I hold my peace. I understood that again was the lad right, for if we did what we might toward coaxing Saul into a better humor, we were possibly giving him an opportunity to fly off in a rage again, and that would have been fatal to all the faint hopes in which we then indulged. Pierre clambered softly down across the rubbish, motioning for me to follow his example, and then set about pulling away from the ramshackle door the short lengths of logs which barred it; but he was careful to remove only sufficient of the barrier for us to creep out. When we were in the open air, with the shed so nearly closed that no one, unless having special business there, would be likely to enter, he said to me in a whisper as he led the way up into the village once more: "Now we will set about our work, and before Saul sees us again he will have had plenty of time in which to repent having given way to his temper." "Our work?" I repeated dully. "Isn't it enough that we must hold Horry Sims prisoner, without thinking of aught else?" "We came here to find Saul's mare and your Silver Heels, and, even though it be necessary to stand guard over the Tory, I am counting that we shall continue the work even as was at first proposed."