They left the wagon and its driver on the road and climbed up to the quarry. All about them the rocks loomed like great stone faces in the moonlight. And when John Brown stepped out of the shadows, it was as if a rock had moved toward them. His old clothes, covered with dust; his white hair and hard-cut face, like granite in the moonlight; his strained, worn face with the two burning coals that were his eyes. Douglass’ heart missed a beat. Something was very wrong. “What is it, John Brown? What has happened?” The old man looked at him without speaking. He studied the brown face almost as if he had not seen it before. Then he spoke briefly. “Come!” He led them between the rocks and stooped to enter a cave. Inside was Kagi and in a niche in the wall was a lighted torch. There were boulders about, and at a sign from the old man they sat down--John Brown, Kagi, Shields Green and Frederick Douglass. They waited for Brown to speak. He did so, leaning forward and putting a thin, gnarled hand on Douglass’ knee. “Douglass, we can wait no longer. Our move now must be a decisive one.” Douglass was bitterly chiding himself. He should have come sooner. These last months had drained the old man’s strength. He needed help here. The dark man spoke gently. “But you said the time to begin calling in the slaves would come after the crops are gathered, as the Christmas approaches. Then many can get away without being missed right away. Is your ammunition distributed? Are your stations ready to receive and defend the fugitives?” John Brown shook his head. “No. We are not ready with all that.” He drew a long breath, and it was obvious it caused him pain. “You were right about Hugh Forbes,” he said then. “He has deserted us and,” Brown hesitated, hating to say it, “I fear he has talked.” Douglass’ face expressed his shock. Why had he not strangled the tinseled fool with his own hands? “We are being watched: my men are certain of it. At any moment we may be arrested. Don’t forget, I’m still an outlaw in Kansas.” He added the last dryly, almost indifferently. Then suddenly the flame flared. John Brown was on his feet, his head lifted. He shook back his white hair. “But God is with us! He has delivered the gates into our hands! We hold the key to the Allegheny Mountains. They stand here, our sure and safe defense!” Douglass stared at him. Was it the torchlight that so transfigured his old friend? He stood like an avenging angel, illumined by the force that rose up in him. It charged his whole being with power--his eyes, his frame, the leashed, metallic voice. “I am ready!” Douglass looked at Kagi. Kagi’s eyes fixed on the lifted face. He turned and looked at Green, and on that black giant’s countenance he saw the same imprint. He wet his trembling lips. An icy hand had closed about his heart. He was afraid. “The map, Kagi!” John Brown spoke sharply.