with their government, and wanted to swap it.  He told me that the British also were friends in this piece of business.  I told him that the people had got it into their heads that Colonel Burr wanted to divide the Union.  He sent me to Mason County with a letter, but I wasn’t to deliver it until I had the promise that it should be burned before me as soon as ’t was read, for, says he, it contains high treason.”

“Gad!” thought Mocket to himself, “I’m glad that some one else’s letters are burned as well!  If I were as cool as Aaron Burr looks—­”

Mr. McRae questioned the witness:  “Well, who went off this December night?”

“Mr. Blennerhassett, sir, and the whole of the party.”

“At what time of the night?”

“About one o’clock.”

“Did all that came down to the island go away?”

“All but one, who was sick.”

“Had they any guns?”

“Some of them had.  Some of the people went a-shooting; but I do not know how many there were.”

“What kind of guns; rifles or muskets?”

“I can’t tell whether rifles or muskets.  I saw no pistols but what belonged to Mr. Blennerhassett himself.”

“Was there any powder or lead?”

“They had powder and they had lead.  I saw some powder in a long, small barrel like a churn.  Some of the men were engaged in running bullets.”

“What induced them to leave the island at that hour of the night?”

“Because they were informed that the Kenawha militia were coming down.”

The cross-examination of this witness and some desultory firing by the opposed counsel ended the day’s proceedings.  The court adjourned, and the crowd streamed forth to the open air.  Mocket, among the first to leave the hail, waited for his chief beside the outer doors.  Townspeople, country neighbours, and strangers poured by, and he spoke to this one or to that.  A group of Federalists approached; among them Ludwell Cary.  They were talking, and as they passed Mocket heard the words, “When I return to Albemarle next week—­” They went on down the steps; others streamed by, and presently Rand appeared.  His lieutenant joined him, and together they left the Capitol and struck down the parched slopes to Governor Street.

“Things are all right at Williamsburgh,” ventured Mocket, finding the silence oppressive.  “I got in too late to see you last night.  Were you at the Capitol yesterday also?”

“Yes.”

“A man told me they had Adam on the stand.  They got nothing from him?”

“Nothing.”

“I’ve the papers all straight for the Winchester case.  What do you want me to do—­”

“I want you to be silent.”

The other glanced aslant, with a lift of his brows and a twist of his lip.  “That’s a black rage,” he thought; “Gideon and old Stephen and the Lord knows who beside all speaking together!”

They left Governor Street and presently arrived in silence before Rand’s office.  Mocket unlocked the door and they went in together.  The senior partner dragged a chair before the empty fireplace and, sitting down, stared at the discoloured bricks as though he saw vistas through the wail.  Tom worked among the papers on his desk, moving his fingers noiselessly, and now and then glancing over his shoulder.  The clock on the wall ticked loudly.