horses, whose jingling accoutrements chimed in with the tramp of
their hoofs, and the notes of the music in front, while cheerful
voices and laughter could be heard all around.

"Oh, father! these be gallant fellows," exclaimed Jephthah. "Will
you let me go with these?"

Kenton laughed a little to himself. "Which is the good Cause, eh,
son Jeph?"

He was, however, not at all easy about the state of things. "There
is like to be fighting," he said to Steadfast, as they were busy
together getting hay into the stable, "and that makes trouble even
for quiet folks that only want to be let alone. Now, look you here,"
and he pulled out a canvas bag from the corner of the bin. "This has
got pretty tolerably weighty of late, and I doubt me if this be the
safest place for it."

Stead opened his eyes. The family all knew that the stable was used
as the deposit for money, though none of the young folks had been
allowed to know exactly where it was kept. There were no banks in
those days, and careful people had no choice but either to hoard and
hide, or to lend their money to someone in business.

The farmer poured out a heap of the money, all silver and copper, but
he did not dare to wait to count it lest he should be interrupted.
He tied up one handful, chiefly of pence, in the same bag, and put
the rest into a bit of old sacking, saying, "You can get to the brook
side, to the place you wot of, better than I can, Stead. Take you
this with you and put it along with the other things, and then you