"Did you come down here to find out something for Dr. Warren, too?" questioned Andy boldly. "Why, yes, in a way," answered Burt with directness. "I had some private business of my own to attend to, and it all seemed to fit in together." "Jasper Bram, your secrecy, that puff of powder!"--began Andy. "Oh, say by the way--that puff of powder, what was the mystery of that maneuver? And say too," added Andy with accumulating excitement, "that fire in Bram's stone shed. Old Jasper ran from it yelling out something about 'being blown to a thousand pieces.' Why--say, why?" "Because he thought there was danger of being blown to a thousand pieces," replied Burt Noble, with a faintly humorous smile on his face. "How was that, now?" persisted Andy. "He believed that down in the cellar of the shed there was enough gunpowder to blow the whole farm to atoms." Andy looked "stumped," and Phil was interested and startled. "Bram ought to know if it was so," murmured Andy. "He thought he did," said Burt. "Yes, Jasper Bram had reason to believe that there were four kegs of gunpowder under the stone shed." "Four kegs of powder!" shouted Andy. "Yes." "What in the world was Jasper Bram doing with all that ammunition?" cried Andy in sheer bewilderment. Burt Noble did not reply for a moment or two. He looked anxious, undecided and thoughtful. Phil read correctly from his intelligent, expressive face that he was debating within himself how much he should tell them. Finally Burt said: "If I can't trust good fellows like you whom I know to be true-blue fellows, whom can I trust? Here's the whole story in brief. As you must guess, I have been trying to help Dr. Warren by keeping tab on the doings and plans of the Britishers. I don't like the sound of the word spy, but, if it fits me, all right, it's in a glorious cause, isn't it? I don't know whether you know it or not, but Gen. Gage has been getting ready for a long time to crush out liberty at one sudden, powerful blow. They haven't been working in Boston only. They have had emissaries out all through the colonies, in little towns, sending them information and ready to act as soon as the word is given." "How do you mean?" inquired the intensely interested Andy, his eyes as big as saucers. "Well, for one thing a lot of Tories have been buying up all the ammunition they could find. I suppose you know what it would mean if war began, with all our military stores seized or destroyed by the Britishers." "Whew!" whistled Andy in a long-continued series of trills. "I guess I begin to understand! I heard my father talking something about that."