“Why do you hesitate to tell us where we may find Major Lockwood?” I asked gently.
For the first time the man looked me full in the face. And after a moment I saw his expression alter. as though some spark — something already half dead within him was faintly reviving.
“They have set a price on Major Lockwood’s head,” he said; and Boyd halted to listen — and the man looked him in the eyes for a moment.
My lieutenant carried his commission with him, though contrary to advice and practice among men engaged on such a mission as were we. It was folded in his beaded shot-pouch, and now he drew it out and displayed it.
After a silence, Hays said:
“The old Lockwood Manor House stands on the south side of the village of Poundridge. It is the headquarters and rendezvous of Sheldon’s