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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28391.txt b/28391.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a05169f --- /dev/null +++ b/28391.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9069 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of True To His Colors, by Harry Castlemon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: True To His Colors + +Author: Harry Castlemon + +Release Date: March 23, 2009 [EBook #28391] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUE TO HIS COLORS *** + + + + +Produced by Gary Sandino, from scans generously provided +by the Internet Archive. + + + + + + CASTLEMON'S WAR SERIES. + + ---- + + TRUE TO HIS COLORS + + + + HARRY CASTLEMON, + + AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROCKY MOUNTAIN SERIES," + "SPORTSMAN'S CLUB SERIES," ETC., ETC. + + + + Eight Illustrations by Geo. G. White. + + + + PHILADELPHIA: + + PORTER & COATES. + + + + FAMOUS CASTLEMON BOOKS. + + ---- + +GUNBOAT SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 6 vols. 12mo. + +FRANK THE YOUNG NATURALIST. FRANK ON A GUNBOAT. +FRANK IN THE WOODS. FRANK BEFORE VICKSBURG. +FRANK ON THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI. FRANK ON THE PRAIRIE. + +ROCKY MOUNTAIN SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth. +FRANK AMONG THE RANCHEROS. FRANK AT DON CARLOS' RANCH. +FRANK IN THE MOUNTAINS. + +SPORTSMAN'S CLUB SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth. + +THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB IN THE SADDLE. +THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB AFLOAT. +THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB AMONG THE TRAPPERS. + +FRANK NELSON SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth. +SNOWED UP. FRANK IN THE FORECASTLE. THE BOY TRADERS. + +BOY TRAPPER SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth. +THE BURIED TREASURE. THE BOY TRAPPER. THE MAIL-CARRIER. + +ROUGHING IT SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth. +GEORGE IN CAMP. GEORGE AT THE WHEEL. GEORGE AT THE FORT. + +ROD AND GUN SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth. +DON GORDON'S SHOOTING BOX. ROD AND GUN CLUB. +THE YOUNG WILD FOWLERS. + +GO-AHEAD SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth. +TOM NEWCOMBE. GO-AHEAD. NO MOSS. + +FOREST AND STREAM SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth. +JOE WAYRING. SNAGGED AND SUNK. STEEL HORSE. + +WAR SERIES. By HARRY CASTLEMON. 5 vols. 12mo. Cloth. +TRUE TO HIS COLORS. RODNEY THE PARTISAN. +RODNEY THE OVERSEER. MARCY THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER. +MARCY THE REFUGEE. + +Other Volumes in Preparation. + + ---- + + COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY PORTER & COATES. + + + + CONTENTS. + + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. ALL ABOUT THE FLAG, 5 + + II. THE STRANGE BANNER, 24 + + III. CHEERS FOR "THE STARS AND BARS," 44 + + IV. RODNEY'S THREAT, 65 + + V. THE PAID SPY, 88 + + VI. THE STRUGGLE ON THE TOWER, 113 + + VII. OLD TOBY'S MONEY, 138 + + VIII. BUD GOBLE'S WATERLOO, 163 + + IX. THE COMMITTEE AT WORK, 185 + + X. THE CALL TO ARMS, 206 + + XI. BUD'S MESSENGER IN TROUBLE, 231 + + XII. THE FIRST COMPANY IN ACTION, 252 + + XIII. HAULING DOWN THE COLORS, 277 + + XIV. MARCY CHANGES HIS CLOTHES, 302 + + XV. FORCED INTO THE SERVICE, 328 + + XVI. SECRET ENEMIES, 349 + + XVII. MARCY GRAY PRIVATEERSMAN, 372 + +XVIII. CONCLUSION, 397 + + + + + + + + + TRUE TO HIS COLORS. + + ---- + + CHAPTER I. + + ALL ABOUT THE FLAG. + +"Rodney Gray, I am ashamed of you; and if you were not my cousin, I +should be tempted to thrash you within an inch of your life." + +"Never mind the relationship. After listening to the sentiments you have +been preaching in this academy for the last three months, I am more +ashamed of it than you can possibly be. You're a Yankee at heart, and a +traitor to your State. Let go those halliards!" + +"I'll not do it. Look here, Rodney. Your ancestors and mine have fought +under this flag ever since it has been a flag, and, if I can help it, +you shall not be the first of our name to haul it down. Let go yourself, +and stand back, or I will throw you over the parapet." + +"But that flag doesn't belong up there any longer, and I say, and we all +say, that it shall not stay. Here's our banner; and if there's a war +coming, as some of you seem to think, it will lead us to victory on +every battle-field." + +An exciting scene was being enacted in and around the belfry of the +Barrington Military Institute on the morning of the 9th of March, 1861; +and it was but one of many similar scenes which, for some time past, had +been of almost daily occurrence in many parts of the South. It had been +brought about by the efforts of a band of young secessionists, headed by +Rodney Gray, to haul down the academy flag, and to hoist in its place a +strange banner--one that nobody had ever seen or heard of previous to +the 4th of March, the day on which Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated President +of the United States. The students who were gathered on the top of the +tower at the time our story begins were Southern boys without exception, +but they did not all believe in secession and disunion. Many of them +were loyal to the old flag, and were not ready to see it hauled down, +and a strange piece of bunting run up in its place. + +Those were exciting times in our country's history, you may be sure. +Rumors of war filled the air on every side. Seven States had rebelled +and defied the authority of the government, and for no other reason than +because a man they did not like had been elected President. A new +government had been established at Montgomery, and formally inaugurated +on the 18th of February. Jefferson Davis, President of the seceded +States, had been authorized to accept the services of one hundred +thousand volunteers to serve for one year, unless sooner discharged, and +they were to be mustered to "repel invasion, maintain the rightful +possession of the Confederate States of America, and secure the public +tranquillity against threatened assault." Every schoolboy who has paid +any attention to his history knows that there was not the slightest +excuse for calling this immense army into existence. The disunion +leaders repeatedly declared that Northern men would not fight, and they +seemed to have good grounds for thinking so; for, although Fort Sumter +was surrounded by hostile batteries, no attempt had been made to send +supplies to Major Anderson and the gallant fellows who were shut up in +the fort with him, and more than five weeks passed after the formation +of the Confederate government before President Lincoln called for +seventy-five thousand militia to "suppress unlawful combinations, and to +cause the laws to be duly executed." But this unnecessary act of the +Confederate Provisional Congress had just the effect it was intended to +have. It "fired the Southern heart," and immediately every man, woman, +and boy "took sides." The papers had just brought the glorious news to +Barrington, and the students at the military academy were in a state of +intense excitement over it. + +Even at this late day there are boys--bright fellows, too--who believe +that when the war broke out every one who lived in the South was a +rebel; but this was by no means the case. The South was divided against +itself, and so was the North. Horace Greeley, in his "Recollections of a +Busy Life," tells us that in the beginning there were not more than half +a million "Simon-pure" secessionists to be found among the five millions +and more of whites who lived south of Mason and Dixon's line. Of course +subsequent events, like the War and Emancipation proclamations, added to +this number; but even at the end there were Union-loving people +scattered all through the seceded States, and they clung to their +principles in spite of everything, fighting the conscript officers, and +resisting all the efforts that were made to force them into the rebel +army. The Confederates called these plucky men and boys traitors, +although they denied that they were traitors themselves. They hated them +with an undying hatred, and when they captured them with arms in their +hands, as Forrest captured the garrison at Fort Pillow, they made short +work with them. + +If it is true that a majority of the Southern people believed that a +State had the right to withdraw from the Union when things were not +managed in a satisfactory way, it is equally true that there was a party +in the North who held the same opinion. They said, "Let the erring +sisters go" if they want to, and declared that "Whenever any +considerable section of our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, +we shall resist all coercive measures designed to keep it in." These +were the rabid Abolitionists, who were perfectly willing that the nation +should be destroyed rather than that it should continue to exist +half-slave and half-free. One of their leaders, who afterward became a +Union general, declared, "If slavery is the condition of the perpetuity +of the Union, let the Union _slide,_" for slavery must in no case be +allowed to continue. The Southern planters wanted that their "peculiar +institution" should be taken into the territories, while the +Abolitionists demanded that it should be blotted out altogether; and to +these two parties we are indebted for our four years' war. + +There was still another secession party on both sides of the line, who +thought the government had no power to keep the Southern States in the +Union if they did not want to stay, and that if allowed to go in peace +they would soon get tired of trying to manage their own affairs, and +drift back into the Union of their own free will. It was better that the +Union should be peacefully sundered than that there should be a war +about it. But another party said that such talk was treason; that the +Constitution was ordained to establish a "more perfect Union," which was +to be "perpetuated"; that no State, or combination of States, had any +right to try to break up the government because they could no longer run +things to suit themselves; and that there was not room enough for +another flag on this Continent. This was the good old Union party, and +fortunately it was resolute enough and strong enough to run the starry +banner up to the masthead and keep it there. This was what Marcy Gray, a +North Carolina boy, had done on this particular morning on the roof of +the Barrington Military Institute, and he had done it, too, in spite of +all the efforts his cousin, Rodney Gray, backed by nearly all the young +rebels in the school, had made to prevent it. Ever since the day on +which the news came that South Carolina had passed the ordinance of +secession, that flag, which up to this time had been raised and lowered +only at certain hours, had been a bone of contention. For long years it +had floated over the academy, and no one had ever had a word to say +against it; but the moment it became known that one of the Southern +States had decided that she would not stay in the Union if Mr. Lincoln +was to rule over it, there was a great change in the feelings of the +students regarding that piece of bunting. What an excitement there was +on the morning of the 21st of December, when Rodney Gray rushed into the +hall with his Charleston _Mercury_ in his hand! + +"Hurrah for plucky little South Carolina!" he shouted, striking up a +war-dance and flourishing the paper over his head. "Listen to this, +fellows: 'The Union is dissolved. Passed at 1:15 P.M., December 20, +1860, an ordinance to dissolve the Union existing between the State of +South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact +entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America."' There it +is in black and white. She's out, and of course all the other Cotton +States will go with her. The Stars and Stripes have been pulled down in +the city of Charleston, and the State flag is flying over all the public +buildings. Let's follow their example, and haul that flag down from the +tower. Come on, Marcy." + +These two boys, Rodney and Marcy Gray, were very popular among their +fellows, and had been looked up to as leaders ever since they arrived at +the dignity of memberships in the first class and company. They were +cousins, and both were Southern born. Marcy was a "Tarheel," because he +came from North Carolina, and Rodney was called a "Pelican," Louisiana +being his native State. + +Rodney's father was a rich sugar-planter who did not want to have +anything to do with Northern men, some of whom would have taken his +slaves from him if they had possessed the power, and thus deprived him +of the means of working his fine plantation; and it was natural that his +only son should follow in his lead. Rodney believed in State Rights, and +preached his doctrines as often as he could find any one willing to +listen to him. His Cousin Marcy had no father (he was lost at sea when +the boy and his older brother, Jack, were quite young), and he believed +as his mother did--that slavery was wrong, that the Union was right, and +that those who wanted to destroy it were fanatics who did not know what +they were about. But Marcy was not a passive Unionist. On the day South +Carolina began threatening secession, he declared that she ought to be +whipped into submission; and he had never ceased to proclaim his +principles in spite of the lowering looks he saw and the threats he +heard on every side. The boys declared that they would send him to +Coventry; that is, withdraw from all fellowship with him; but when they +came to try it, they found to their surprise and disgust, that they +would have to go back on more than half the school, for some of the best +boys in it promptly sided with Marcy. The latter had many friends, and +the Union sentiment was strong in the academy; but on the morning that +Rodney Gray read the extract from the Charleston _Mercury,_ showing that +South Carolina had made no idle threat when she threatened to secede if +she could not have her own way, then the real test came. Many of the +boys were astonished and shocked, for they had never believed that +things would come to such a pass. The mail having just been distributed, +they all had papers, but they did not stop to read them after listening +to those ominous headlines. They shoved them into their pockets and went +slowly out of the building, while Rodney and his fellows, who were +almost beside themselves with exultation and excitement, made a rush for +the stairs that led to the tower. On the way Rodney stopped to exchange +a few words with his cousin. + +"You didn't think it would come, did you?" he exclaimed, walking up to +Marcy and snatching away the paper on which the latter's eyes were +fastened. "But you see it has, don't you? It seems that those furious +threats about secession were not all talk, don't it? But seriously, +Marcy, I know you stand where every other Southern boy stands, and that +you are with us heart and soul. All I ask of you is to say so. Why don't +you speak? Which side are you on, any way?" + +But Marcy did not utter a word. Although he looked straight at his +cousin he did not appear to know that Rodney was talking to him, for his +mind was busy with other matters. + +"Tell him you're neutral," suggested Dick Graham, whose home was in +Missouri, and whom we may meet again under different circumstances. +"That's what I am going to be, for I don't think my State will follow in +South Carolina's lead." + +"But I am not neutral." replied Marcy, arousing himself at last. "I am +for the Union all over, and I'm sorry we haven't a Jackson in Washington +at this moment to say that it must and shall be preserved. I hope +Buchanan will send ships enough into Charleston harbor to blow that +miserable State out of water." + +"Let him try it, and see how quickly the other Cotton States will arm to +help her," exclaimed Bob Cole, who was one of Rodney's friends and +followers. "Coerce a sovereign State? The President can't do it. The +Constitution does not give him the power." + +Bob Cole did not know it, and neither did any of the other boys who were +standing around listening to his fiery words, but that was the very +argument the frightened chief magistrate was going to put forth in his +next message to Congress. + +"The President will only make a bad matter worse if he tries any fool +thing like that," continued Bob, who, like most of the boys of that +section of the country, had heard these matters discussed so often that +he had them at his tongue's end. "I tell you that the events of +yesterday are an entering wedge. We are tired of the company of those +Yankees up North, and now we are going to get rid of them and have a +government of our own; see if we don't. Why should we not? The people up +there do not belong to the same race we do. They are regicides and +Roundheads--plodding, stingy folks, in whose eyes a dollar looks as big +as a cart-wheel. The race who settled Virginia and scattered all over +these Southern States, were cavaliers and money spenders, and their +descendants are the same. We've wanted to get rid of them ever since +1830, and now we are going to do it. Patrick Henry warned us against +forming a partnership with them in the first place." + +"Whom do you mean by us and we?" demanded Marcy, who had listened in +silence to this speech, which was addressed to the boys gathered in the +hall rather than to himself. "You don't live in South Carolina." + +"No, but I do," said Ed Billings, elbowing his way to the foot of the +stairs on which Bob had perched himself when he began his address. "I go +with my State, and you will have to go with yours or show yourself a +traitor." + +"A traitor to what?" inquired Marcy. + +"To your State," Billings almost shouted. + +"My State hasn't seceded yet; but if she does, and I go with her, how +will I stand in regard to the old flag--the one that waves over this +academy?" + +Billings tried to answer, but his voice was drowned in the wild shouts +that arose from the assembled students. + +"Haul the flag down!" they yelled, almost as one boy. + +"No, no," cried some of the more reasonable ones, after they had taken +time to think twice. "Let's wait upon the colonel and request him to +have it taken down." + +"There's one thing I want you all to bear in mind," added a tall fellow, +who hearing the tumult in the hall had come back to see what it was all +about. "Those colors shall not come down without the colonel's orders, +and I'll mix up promiscuous with any chap who lays an ugly hand upon +them." + +So it seemed that the old flag had defenders even here; and although it +may not have had a very sincere friend in the person of the head of the +school, he positively refused to order it down, or to permit the +students to pull it down. It would be time enough to attend to that when +they learned what the State was going to do. The boys went away +disappointed; but the most of them believed that the day would come when +they could work their sweet will with that "emblem of tyranny," as they +had already begun to call it. + +From that time forward there were none in all the length and breadth of +the land who kept a closer watch upon passing events than did the three +hundred students of the Barrington military academy; but it is a +question whether they did not imbibe a great many false ideas along with +the news they read. The Southern press never did deal fairly with its +readers. All dispatches favorable to the secessionists and their cause +were published, as a matter of course; but those that were not favorable +were either suppressed entirely, or distorted out of all semblance to +the truth. They began this course in the early days of the Confederacy +and kept it up to the end, one of their generals forging a telegraph +dispatch, in which he announced that he had won a great battle, during +which he killed and captured twenty thousand Federals, and destroyed +four of Porter's gunboats. + +For three months the flag that floated over the academy held its place. +Persevering and daring attempts were made to steal it at night, but they +were every one frustrated by the vigilance and courage of the boys who +had not yet lost all love for it, and for the memory of those whose +deeds it commemorated. When the colonel announced that he would take +charge of the bunting at night the Union boys thought it would be in +safe hands; but it turned out afterward that they were mistaken. + +The tension of brain and nerve to which the students were subjected +during the next few weeks was something to wonder at, and every day +added to their suspense and anxiety. South Carolina sent commissioners +to other States, urging them to join her in the secession movement, and +one of them shouted to the citizens of Georgia: "Buy arms, and throw the +bloody spear into the den of the assassins and incendiaries, and God +defend the right!" But Stephens said in reply: "I tell you frankly that +the election of a man constitutionally chosen president is not +sufficient cause for any State to separate from the Union." And yet in a +very few weeks this same Alexander H. Stephens was vice-president of the +Confederacy. Mississippi went out of the Union first, and others +followed, until there were seven of them to organize a new government +under a new flag. Then it was that the first open attempt was made to +haul the old banner down from the academy flag-staff; but it was +promptly met, and although Rodney Gray and his followers had been +reinforced by nearly all the students belonging to the seceded States, +the Union boys were strong enough to drive them down stairs, through the +hall, and out of the building. They tried to be as good-natured as they +could about it, but there were a few fights that took place before the +peaceable ones could interfere, and the result was that Rodney Gray and +some others found themselves in the guard-house. But they were never +brought to trial, for, after that, events came thick and fast, and the +rigid discipline to which the students had hitherto been subjected was +so greatly relaxed, that it was a wonder the school held together as +long as it did. Before the Confederate Congress adjourned it passed the +act of which we have spoken, authorizing President Davis to accept the +services of one hundred thousand one year's men, and then the excitement +was at fever heat. + +This act was passed on the 7th of March, and on the evening of the next +day the papers brought the news of it to Barrington. There was also one +other act of the Confederate Congress which excited some comment, but, +with the exception of Rodney Gray, no one at the academy gave it a +second thought. When you hear what that act was, and what Rodney did +about it, you will perhaps realize how very much in earnest the +disunionists were, and how their unreasonable hostility toward those who +did not believe as they did led them to forget their manhood, and do +things they would not have dreamed of in their sane and sober moments. + +The same mail that brought these papers brought also several mysterious +packages, each of which contained an article that none of the Barrington +people had ever seen before. One of them was addressed to Rodney Gray. +He ran the guard and went to the post-office after it; or, rather, he +climbed the fence in full view of the sentry, who turned his back and +walked off without making any effort to stop him. The thing he found in +that package was what brought on the fight between him and Marcy, to +which reference was made at the beginning of this chapter. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + THE STRANGE BANNER. + +The military academy was located a little over two miles from +Barrington, which was a wealthy and aristocratic place of about three +thousand inhabitants. It was a square stone building, flanked with +towers at each corner, and looked something like a little fortress when +viewed from a distance. In the days when military discipline had been +enforced, the mail was brought to the academy regularly every morning +and evening; but after the presidential election the students became so +very restless and impatient that they could not wait for old darkey Sam +and his slow-going mule to bring them their letters and papers. They +threw the regulations to the winds, and openly defying courts-martial +and every other form of punishment, climbed the fence in plain sight of +the sentries and went to town in a body. At least that was what some of +them did; but a few of the more obedient and easy-going ones, like Marcy +Gray and his particular friends, asked for a pass when they desired it, +and if they didn't get it they had self-control enough to remain within +bounds. + +Rodney Gray and the boys who went to Barrington with him on the day we +have mentioned saw that there was "something up" the minute they reached +town. Blue "nullification" badges, and red, white, and blue rosettes +were seen on every side, and strange banners were waving in the air; +those who had no flag-staffs in their yards or on their houses hanging +the colors out of their upper windows. Heretofore the students had +sometimes seen men and women walking the streets with small Union flags +pinned to their breasts; but there was not one in sight now. + +"What's in the wind?" exclaimed Rodney, after he had taken a glance +around and noted these little things. "And what sort of a flag is that +up there on Mr. Riley's office?" + +"It must be the new Confederate banner, that made its appearance for the +first time on the 4th," replied Dick Graham, who was one of the party. + +"Hurry up, fellows," cried Ed Billings, catching the two by the arm and +quickening his pace. "We're going to hear great news this evening, and I +am impatient to know what it will be. Hold on; now we shall hear all +about it." + +Just then a couple of young ladies with whom they were well acquainted +came up; the boys lifted their caps to them, and Ed continued, pointing +first to the red, white, and blue rosettes with which they were +decorated, and then at the new colors that were fluttering over their +heads: + +"Anything exciting been going on lately? And what has become of all the +little Union flags we saw yesterday?" + +"No doubt they have been concealed to await the time when the Yankees +shall come marching through here with fire and sword," replied one of +the girls. + +Such talk was common enough in the South in those days, and the people +learned it not only from their own leaders, but from secession +sympathizers who lived in the North. Fire and sword were just what +Jefferson Davis intended to give the States that did not belong to the +Confederacy. This is what he said in his speech at Montgomery on the +evening of February 15: + +"If war must come, it must be on Northern, not on Southern, soil. A +glorious future is before us. The grass will grow in Northern cities +where the pavements have been worn off by the tread of commerce. We will +carry war where it is easy to advance, where food for the sword and +torch await our armies in the densely populated cities." + +Ex-President Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire made use of nearly the +same language when he wrote to Davis, assuring him that, "If there is +any fighting it will be within our own borders and in our own streets." +Turn to your history if you want to see how these confident predictions +were fulfilled. + +"Well, if those Yankee flags are not brought to light until the Yankees +themselves come marching through this State, you will never see them +again," said Rodney, with emphasis. "If the Northern people fool with us +we will keep them so busy on their own ground that they will never think +of coming down here. But what's the use of talking about war! They'll +not fight. I only wish they would, so that we might show them how easy +it would be for us to whip them. But is that our flag up there? And what +is the meaning of those ribbons?" + +"Oh, haven't you heard? Well, you'll know all about it when you get your +paper. The president has been empowered to call for an immense army of +our gallant--" + +"Bosh!" sneered Rodney; and then he apologized for the interruption and +for the expression he had used. + +"But we need an army to hold possession of our coast defences, do we +not? All the government property in the Confederacy has been seized, and +now that we have got it, we must hold fast to it." + +"Certainly; but we don't need an army to do that. Our school battalion, +if the boys were only united, could do it and not half try." + +"If they were united?" repeated one of the girls. "You do not mean to +say that there are traitors in that school?" + +Rodney replied that was just what he did mean to say. He declared that +the academy was a hotbed of treason, and Cole and Billings confirmed his +words. The girls were surprised to hear it. + +"And even the colonel hasn't the pluck of a cat or a mind of his own," +continued Billings. "He doesn't seem to know where he stands." + +"Every one in town wonders why that flag has been permitted to float so +long, and now I know," said one of the girls. "The colonel is friendly +to it; but still, if you young gentlemen had half the courage we have +given you credit for, you would have pulled it down long ago." + +Rodney winced. He did not like to confess that he and his friends had +tried their best to haul the flag down, but the Union boys had prevented +them from doing it; for he knew the girls would laugh at him. They might +do even worse than that. They might tell him that he need not trouble +himself to call upon them any more (for things had come to that pass +already), so he brought forward the best excuse he could think of on the +spur of the moment. + +"But the colonel will not allow it," he protested. "He says it will be +time enough to bother with the flag when we find out what the State is +going to do." + +"But I don't see how you can march under those colors when your own +gallant Louisiana has followed South Carolina out of the Union." + +"I confess we don't like it," said Cole, "but a good soldier always +obeys orders, you know. Wait until the State acts, and then you shall +hear from us." + +"I hope to hear from you before that time, although this State is bound +to go with the others. I should be ashamed to acknowledge that I live +within her borders if she shows such a want of spirit as to be willing +to remain in the Union after all that has happened. The next time you +come to see me, Mr. Cole," said the young lady sweetly, "I shall expect +you to tell me that that flag has been hauled down in spite of all +opposition, and that our own Confederate flag has been hoisted in its +place." + +"So that's our flag, is it?" said Rodney, casting a glance of pride +toward the Stars and Bars that waved from several buildings within the +range of his vision. "I thought as much. When did it get here?" + +"We received a score or more of them by this day's mail, and our +patriotic citizens lost no time in giving them to the breeze," was the +reply. + +"But the trouble is, we haven't any flag of that sort at the academy," +said Cole. "So how are we to run it up in place of the Stars and +Stripes?" + +"My sister and I will see that you have the flag, if you will promise to +hoist it," answered one of the girls. "We are at work upon one now, and +will have it ready for you to-morrow at this hour, provided you can tell +us that the old flag has been hauled down. Tomorrow, mind. Shall we +expect you?" + +"I'll be around," replied Cole, but he did not talk as glibly as he +usually did, for he was thinking about something else. To-morrow at that +hour. By gracious! that was bringing the thing straight home to a +fellow, wasn't it? That meant a fight, sure; and the Union boys were not +only as brave as boys ever get to be, but their fists were as hard as so +many bricks. Cole knew that by experience. And if he could not tell her +that the old flag had been hauled down, he need not take the trouble to +call at her house. The young lady did not say so, but Cole knew well +enough that that was what she meant. + +"The commandant is one traitor, but who are the others?" she asked, +after a moment's pause. "You said in effect that the school is full of +them. The colonel does not often honor us girls with his visits, but the +young gentlemen do sometimes, and we should like to know who the +traitors are, so that we can be at home or not, as circumstances seem to +require. Give us their names, please." + +Rodney's companions would have thought twice before complying with this +request, but Rodney himself did not see anything surprising in it. The +girls were ardent secessionists, and of course they did not care to +associate with those who stood up for the Yankees and for the flag they +worshiped. The cousin whom he had always loved as a brother was beneath +contempt now, for he was a traitor to the South, and undeserving of the +slightest show of respect from any one who had the least respect for +himself. + +"Well, there's that lovely relative of mine for one," said Rodney +promptly. + +The girls could hardly believe that they had heard aright. They looked +at each other in silence for a moment, and then they looked at Rodney. + +"I didn't think that Marcy Gray was such a coward," said one, at +length. + +"Oh, you are 'way off the track!" exclaimed Dick Graham, who, although +he afterward went into the Confederate Army and became a partisan +ranger, never forgot the warm friendship he cherished for Marcy Gray. +"That fellow is nobody's coward, and you wouldn't think so if you could +have seen him when--" + +"Look here, Dick," interrupted Rodney, who was afraid that Marcy's +friend was about to say something compromising. "It is very easy for a +fellow to say that he is for the Union when he is so far away from the +North that he can not, by any possible chance, be called upon to fight +for the opinions he pretends to hold, but has Marcy the courage to show +by his acts that he is sincere in what he says?" + +"Well, yes; I think he has," answered Dick. "When you fellows had that +fight over the flag--" + +"That isn't what I mean," exclaimed Rodney, impatiently. + +"What was it, Mr. Graham?" asked one of the girls, who rather wanted to +see Marcy Gray's courage vindicated, if there were any way in which it +could be done. "What did he do? Did you really have a fight at the +academy over the flag? Go on, please, and tell us all about it." + +Rodney tried to speak, but Dick was not to be put down. He knew that +Rodney was determined to say something to his cousin's injury if he +could, and Dick Graham was not the boy to stand by and see it done +without raising his voice in protest. + +"Yes; some of the boys tried their level best to get the flag," said +Dick, "but its defenders were much too numerous and strong for them. +During the struggle there were some middling heavy blows passed, and, if +I mistake not, Rodney came in for a few that he'll not soon forget." + +Rodney tried to laugh it off as a joke, but it was easy to see that he +was about as mad as he could hold. + +"Now go on and describe the part you took in that fracas," said he, as +soon as he could speak. + +"Who? Me? I didn't take any part in it. I don't fight. I'm neutral. You +see Missouri hasn't gone out of the Union yet, and I don't intend to +make a move until she does. See? I was not saying a word for myself, but +for Marcy, who isn't here to take his own part." + +"What I want to get at is this," continued Rodney. "If Marcy is so +devoted to the Union, why does he stay here, flinging his obnoxious +doctrines in our faces every chance he gets? Why doesn't he go North and +join the Yankees?" + +"He doesn't fling his doctrines in our faces," Dick interposed. "He +stands up for them when he thinks it necessary, and so would I if I +believed as he does." + +"I admire him for that," said one of the girls. + +"Oh, do you?" exclaimed Rodney, who was sure of his ground now. "Will +you continue to admire him when I tell you that he hoped the Yankees +would send a fleet into Charleston harbor that would blow South Carolina +out of water?" + +No, the girls could not admire Marcy Gray or anybody else who talked +that way. If that was his doctrine, he had better quit the South and go +among those who believed as he did. + +"I was sure you would say so; and that was the point I was trying to +reach," continued Rodney. "That was what I meant when I asked if he had +the courage to back up his opinions." + +"I am sorry to hear that of Marcy," said one of the girls, and her face +showed that she meant every word of it. "He is such a splendid horseman +and looks so handsome riding with his battery! And to think that he +sympathizes with our oppressors! I can't realize it. I must have a +serious talk with him, for unless he comes over to our side, he will be +liable to arrest if he stays here much longer." + +"It's a wonder to me that he hasn't seen trouble of some sort before +this time," observed Billings. "He doesn't haul in his shingle one inch, +but blurts out his views wherever he happens to be, and the first thing +he knows somebody will pop him over." + +"I shouldn't like to be the one to try it," Dick Graham remarked. "Marcy +will not take a whipping quietly." + +"I didn't mean that he would get into trouble here in Barrington, +although I am afraid he will, but with the government," said the girl. +"One other thing our Congress did was to pass a law requiring all those +who sympathize with the North to leave the limits of the Confederacy +within ten days." + +"But don't you know that this State hasn't joined the Confederacy yet?" +asked the practical Dick. + +"If I should forget it, you would be very likely to remind me of the +fact," was the reply; "but she will join it before many days have +passed, and then where will Marcy be?" + +"That's the best news I have heard in a month," declared Rodney, +speaking before he thought. Then, seeing that his companions looked +surprised, he hastened to add: "I say it is good news, for when Marcy +hears of it he will understand that he must quit his nonsense and come +out boldly for one side or the other. If he is with us, all he has to do +is to say so; and if he isn't, he'll have to pack up and clear out." + +"Oh, we hope he'll not do that," said both the girls in a breath. "Tell +him to come and see us, and we will turn him from the error of his ways. +Here we are at our gate. Thanks for your escort." + +"Why don't you ask us to come in?" inquired Cole. + +"Because we have given you something to do first. Pull down that flag +and run the banner of the Confederacy up in its place, and then you may +come as often as you please." + +"Well, shall I tell Marcy to keep his distance until he has made up his +mind to hoist the right sort of colors?" said Rodney. + +"By no means. We must have a talk with him, and if we fail to win him +over, we shall know how to punish him." + +"That was rather a snub for you, old fellow," said Billings, as the boys +raised their caps to the girls and once more turned toward the +post-office. "They are sweet on Marcy, and don't mean to throw him over +just because you have taken a sudden dislike to him." + +"It was a snub for Cole as well," replied Rodney, hotly. "He will never +see the inside of Mr. Taylor's house again, for those girls have imposed +upon him a task that is quite beyond his powers. Couldn't you get along +without wagging your jaw so freely?" he demanded, turning fiercely upon +Dick Graham. "For two cents you and I would mix up right here in the +street." + +"Why, what in the world did I say?" asked Dick, in reply. + +"You disgraced the school by telling those girls, almost as plainly as +you could speak it, that we Southerners are in the minority there." + +"If she got that impression, she got a wrong one," said Dick quietly. "I +said that the defenders of the flag were too many and too strong for you +fellows who tried to haul it down, and that's the truth. I stood up for +Marcy because I am his friend, and you ought to be." + +"I am a friend to no boy, cousin or no cousin, who talks as he does," +said Rodney spitefully. "I despise a traitor, and the fellow who sticks +up for him--" + +Dick stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, rested his clenched hands +upon his hips, and waited for Rodney to finish the sentence. For a +second or so it looked as though the two boys were going to "mix up" +directly; but Cole and Billings interposed. + +"This will never do," said the latter. "If you are determined to have a +fight, hurry and get your mail, and then we'll go back to the academy +and fight the Yankees and their sympathizers. That's what we've got to +do tomorrow, if we run that new flag up on the tower, and we might as +well get our hands in first as last. Cole, you go on with Dick, and +Rodney and I will follow." + +Dick laughingly declared that as he was not spoiling for a fight he +could get on very well without an escort, but still he did not raise any +objection when Cole took him by the arm and led him away. Rodney slowly +followed, with Billings for a companion, the latter using his best +arguments to make the stubborn Rodney see that he could not hope to gain +anything by showing so much hostility toward his cousin, who was popular +both at the academy and in the town, and that the Taylor girls, from +whom they had just parted, didn't think any the more of him for what he +had said. Rodney saw that plainly, and it was another thing that made +him angry; but he was careful not to let Billings know it. He took no +little pride in his horsemanship, and was confident that he made a very +fine looking sergeant of artillery; but none of the girls had ever told +him so, and he couldn't bear to hear Marcy praised either. He was +envious, as well as jealous, and when Rodney got that way, he was in the +right humor to do something desperate. + +"That new law will fix him and Graham, too," he said to himself. "I'll +take pains to call their attention to it the minute I get back to the +academy, and if they don't take the hint and make themselves scarce +about here, I will set somebody on their track. There are a good many +traitors in and around Barrington, and I wonder that they haven't been +driven out before this time. I'll rid the school of those two, I bet +you; but before they go I'll pick a quarrel with them and whip them out +of their boots." + +This confident assertion recalls to mind something that was said by the +Confederate General Rosser on the morning of the 9th of October, 1864, +just previous to the beginning of the fight known in history as +"Woodstock Races." Having formed his line of battle, Rosser sat on his +horse watching the movements of his old schoolmate, General Custer, who +was busy getting his own forces in shape to attack him. Finally Rosser +turned to his staff and said: + +"You see that officer down there? That is General Custer, of whom the +Yanks are so proud, and I intend to give him the best whipping to-day he +ever got; see if I don't." + +When Custer was ready to fight he made his charge; the valiant Rosser +fled before it, and never but once stopped running until he reached +Mount Jackson, twenty-six miles away. It was a trial of speed, rather +than a battle, and that is the reason the engagement is called +"Woodstock Races." The Confederates lost everything they had that was +carried on wheels, and the Union loss was but sixty killed and wounded. +Rodney Gray was not as much of a braggart as Rosser was, but if he had +tried to carry his threat into execution he might have been as badly +whipped. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + CHEERS FOR "THE STARS AND BARS." + +If any boy who reads this series of books believes that secession was +the result of a sudden impulse on the part of the Southern people, he +has but to look into his history to find that he is mistaken. They had +not only been thinking about it for a long time, but, aided by some of +Buchanan's treacherous cabinet officers, they had been preparing for it. +The Secretary of the Navy ordered the best vessels in our little fleet +to distant stations, so that they could not be called upon to help the +government when the insurgents seized the forts that were scattered +along the coast; and the Secretary of War took nearly a hundred and +fifty thousand stand of arms out of Northern arsenals and sent them to +the South. He did it openly and without any attempt at concealment, and +the Southern papers publicly thanked him for so doing. The Mobile +_Register_ said, in so many words, that they were much obliged to Mr. +Floyd for "disarming the North and equipping the South." + +After such acts as these on the part of government officials, it is not +surprising that private citizens began to take their local affairs into +their own hands. A regular system of espionage and ostracism was +established all over the South. Everybody who was known or suspected of +being opposed to slavery and disunion was not only closely watched, but +was denied admission to homes in which he had always been a welcome +visitor. Free negroes were given to understand that they could either +clear out, or remain and be sold into bondage. Northern men--even those +who had long been engaged in business in the South, and whose interests +were centered there--were looked upon and treated with contempt, and +their lives were made miserable in every way that the exasperated and +unreasonable people around them could think of. + +But, of course, things did not stop here. These suspected persons very +soon became the victims of open violence. Some were taken out of their +houses at night and whipped; others were tarred and feathered; and more +were hanged by self-appointed vigilance committees, or killed in +personal encounters. Up to the time of which we write there had been +none of this violence in and around Barrington, but it was coming now. +Almost the first thing that attracted the attention of Rodney Gray and +his companions when they went into the post-office was a notice that had +been fastened upon the bulletin board. It took them a minute or two to +elbow their way through the crowd of men and boys who were gathered in +front of it, reading and commenting upon the startling intelligence it +contained, and when they succeeded they read as follows: + +IMPORTANT NOTICE. + +At a meeting of the citizens and voters of Barrington, held this day, +March 9, 1861, it was unanimously + +_Resolved:_ That the excitement at present existing among the people +renders it prudent for us to appoint a committee of the citizens of +Barrington to recommend what measures (if any) should be adopted for the +purpose of suppressing any unlawful or riotous outbreak in the town; and +that the following named are hereby appointed a "_Committee of Safety_" +who are respectfully requested to adopt such measures, or to recommend +any measures for adoption by the citizens generally, as may seem to them +proper and necessary for the preservation of good order. + +Then followed a long list, containing the names of nearly all the +prominent and wealthy men of the place. + +"Humph!" exclaimed Dick Graham, contemptuously. "The fellows who got +this up wasted time and ink to no purpose. There has been no outbreak in +Barrington, and none threatened." + +"How does it come that you are so well posted, Dick?" said a friendly +voice at his elbow; and when he faced about Dick's eyes met those of Mr. +Riley, one of the men whose names appeared on the list. "The gentlemen +who framed that resolution did not mean to convey the impression that +there had been any riotous proceedings in and around Barrington," he +continued. "But if they had desired to create an uproar and excite the +fears of the women and children, they might have said that there has +been an outbreak threatened; and it would have been nothing but the +truth. You boys, who are all the while shut up in the academy, can not +be expected to know all that is going on in the country." + +"Who has threatened any outbreak?" inquired Dick incredulously. "And +when is it coming off?" + +"Look here," said Mr. Riley, lowering his voice. "You remember the John +Brown raid, don't you?" + +"Seems to me I have heard something about it. But you are not afraid of +him, are you?" + +"I am not joking," replied Mr. Riley earnestly. "Brown laid out a +regular campaign before he started in at Harper's Ferry. He had a map, +and on it had marked several localities in which the negroes were +greatly in excess of the whites. Those towns and villages were to be +destroyed, after the blacks had been coaxed or forced into his army, and +Barrington was one of them." + +"Well, what of it?" exclaimed Dick. "He didn't get here, did he?" + +"Of course he didn't; but he spread such a spirit of discontent among +the niggers that we have been shaky ever since. And the events of the +last few weeks do not tend to quiet our fears, I assure you." + +"When is this insurrection, or whatever you call it, coming off?" + +"We don't know when to expect it, but we mean to be ready for it at any +hour of the day or night. We have positive evidence that there are about +half a dozen too many Abolitionists, and altogether too many free +niggers, in and around Barrington." + +"When did you find it out?" + +"We've always known it; but we never felt so very much afraid of them +before. I don't mind telling you, although I should not want to post it +on the town pump, that we have had spies out for the last three or four +days." + +"That's what I thought you were getting at. But who are they?" + +"There's Bud Goble, for one." + +"Aw, Great Scott!" exclaimed Dick, and even Rodney looked disgusted. "I +hope you haven't put the least faith in anything that lazy, worthless +fellow has said to you." + +"He may be too lazy to earn an honest living, but he is far from +worthless in an emergency like the present," replied the committeeman. +"He is with us all over, and has been very active since these troubles +began." + +"I don't see why he should be so very active. He never owned the price +of a pickaninny in his life. But I'll tell you what's a fact, Mr. Riley: +Bud Goble has got something against every Northern man in Barrington and +for miles outside of it, and he will do anything or swear to any number +of lies--" + +"Don't you give the Committee of Safety any credit for common-sense or +prudence?" demanded Rodney, who, although he appeared to be listening to +the conversation, was busy thinking over a project that had suddenly +suggested itself to him. "You don't suppose that anything will be done +to these suspected men until they have had a fair trial, do you?" + +"That's the idea," said Mr. Riley, with a smile. "Rodney, you have your +share of common-sense, whether the committee have or not." + +"A fair trial?" repeated Dick, who was like Marcy Gray in that he never +"pulled in his shingle one inch"; in other words, never backed down from +his principles, no matter who might hear what he had to say about them. +"Who'll try these suspected men? Judge Lynch; who will order them to be +strung up before they can say a word in their own defense. I tell you +such work is all wrong." + +"Don't let your excitement run away with your reason, Dick," said Mr. +Riley soothingly. "There's been no innocent person harmed yet, and, +moreover, such a thing never happened in this county." + +"No, but it is going on all over the South; and I tell you that there +are plenty of people of the Bud Goble stamp who would do the same thing +right here if they were not afraid," said Dick earnestly. + +"Put him out! He's a traitor!" cried one of the academy boys; and "put +him out," was echoed from all parts of the post-office. But the boys who +uttered the words were all Dick Graham's friends, and an attempt to put +him out would certainly have resulted disastrously to somebody. + +"Of course I understand that this is all sport," said Mr. Riley. "But +seriously, Dick, the time may come when it will be anything but safe for +you to express your sentiments with so much freedom." + +"I assure you I appreciate your kindness in giving me a friendly word of +caution, and thank you for it," replied the boy, "but this is a free +country, and I shall say what I think, regardless of consequences. Wait +till the time for fighting comes and see--" + +"See what?" interrupted Billings. "There isn't going to be any +fighting." + +"Don't fool yourself. There'll be fighting before this thing is over, +and more than you redhot secessionists will want to see--mark that! And +when it comes we'll see who will do the most of it, I or men like Bud +Goble, who have taken advantage of this time of excitement to get +innocent folks into trouble." + +Having had his talk out Dick turned to work his way to the window to get +his mail; but before he got there a wild shout arose from the crowd of +students who blocked his path, and a moment afterward a brand new +Confederate flag fluttered over their heads. Rodney Gray had received a +package from home and this was what he found in it. + +"I say, Graham," he exclaimed, as soon as he could make himself heard, +"doesn't the sight of this make you ashamed of the sentiments you have +just uttered?" + +"Not a bit of it," was the prompt response. "Missouri hasn't recognized +that flag yet. When she does, I will fight for it as long and as hard as +you will." + +"Will you join us in a hurrah for it?" continued Rodney. + +"No, I won't." + +"Three cheers for the Stars and Bars!" shouted Ed Billings. "Long may +that flag wave, and may it never be polluted by the touch of a hated +Yankee." + +The cheers that followed were not cheers; they were whoops and +yells--very much like those with which the charging Confederates so +often saluted our blue-coats on the field of battle. Dick had half a +notion to see if he could not get up a little counter-enthusiasm in +behalf of the Stars and Stripes, but was afraid the attempt might result +in failure; so after he had secured his mail, he went out on the porch +and sat down to read those acts of the Confederate Congress calling for +one hundred thousand volunteers, and ordering all who sympathized with +the North to leave the limits of the Confederacy within ten days. His +secession paper told him all about them, the editor enlarged upon and +applauded them, and Dick was forced to the conclusion that things were +getting serious; how serious, he little dreamed until four weeks more +had passed away. + +Dick spent half an hour over his paper and letters, and then Rodney Gray +appeared. He had found a stick somewhere and fastened his flag to it. +Although these two boys had had some sharp verbal contests during the +last three months, they kept up an appearance of friendship, which was +real so far as Dick Graham was concerned. The latter could not "swallow +Rodney's disunion doctrines," as he often declared, but for all that he +had a sincere regard for him, and always spoke of him as one of the +finest fellows in school. Perhaps we shall see whether or not Rodney +paid him back in kind. + +"Give it a cheer, why don't you?" said Rodney, waving his flag over +Dick's head. "Where in the world have you been?" + +"Right here, waiting for you." + +"Well, come up the road a piece. There's a squad there, and we have been +counting noses." + +"How many noses do you want, and what do you want them for?" inquired +Dick, putting his paper into his pocket and getting upon his feet. "What +new nonsense are you up to?" + +"There's no nonsense about this, I tell you. It's business. We want as +many noses as we can get, and the boys behind them must be true blue. +The fellows said I would be wasting time if I came after you, but I want +to hear you say so with your own lips before I shall believe it. You +have said more than once that if Missouri goes out and joins the +Confederacy, you will go with her, haven't you?" + +"You bet, and I say so yet. My State, or any State, has the right to go +out of the Union as she came into it--of her own free will; and if those +fellows up North are going to fight to keep her in, I shall fight to +help her out. That's me; but you see Missouri hasn't yet--" + +"I have heard that until I am tired of it," interrupted Rodney. +"Missouri hasn't gone out yet, but she's going; and in the meantime, +what about that flag at the academy? Are you in favor of letting it stay +there?" + +"That depends entirely upon the colonel," answered Dick. "If he says +haul her down, down she comes. If he says let her stay up, up she stays. +That's me." + +"And will you continue to march and drill under it, now that we have a +flag of our own?" demanded Rodney. + +"That also depends. If the other boys drill under it and march after it, +I will. In fact, I don't know but I shall do it any way, whether the +others do or not. I don't know what you mean when you speak of a flag of +our own. I don't recognize that thing you are carrying over your +shoulder. The old flag is my flag, and will be as long as Missouri stays +in the Union. I don't see the least use in rushing things. You and your +friends are taking a good deal upon yourselves when you presume to act +in advance of the State." + +"Well, you see what the business men of Barrington think of the +situation, don't you? That notice in the post-office looks and sounds +mighty innocent, but reading between the lines--" + +"So you read between the lines!" exclaimed Dick. "I did the same, and I +tell you that that Committee of Safety is a fraud. Bud Goble has been +carrying tales about some innocent men whom, for personal reasons, he +does not like, and Mr. Riley and a few other hotheads are trying to find +some excuse for driving them out of town. There'll be outrages here the +first thing you know and they will be committed under cover of that +business men's meeting, and with the connivance of those whose names are +signed to that list." + +"Do you mean to say that all those prominent men are such ruffians?" +cried Rodney, in great excitement. "Why didn't you say as much when you +were talking to Mr. Riley? You dared not do it." + +"I didn't think of it; but I will wait here while you run back and tell +him." + +Dick looked sharply at his companion as he said this, and was surprised +to see the usually self-possessed Rodney turn as red as a beet. It was +plain that he had been touched in some tender spot by these chance +words. + +"What's he been up to?" was the question Dick Graham propounded to +himself. "If I had known that I was going to hit him as hard as that, I +wouldn't have said a word. He has been doing something sneaking, and I +did not think that of Rodney Gray." Then aloud he said: "I didn't mean +to hint that you would do such a thing, but you have been about +half-wild during the last few weeks, and I don't believe you know all +the time what you are doing." + +"Well, if I'm crazy, I have the satisfaction of knowing that there are a +good many like me in the South," replied Rodney, with a light laugh; and +he uttered nothing but the truth. Taken as a body the Southern people +certainly acted as if they had lost their senses. Among all those who +rejoiced over South Carolina's reckless act there were few who saw that +"it was but the prelude to the most terrible tragedy of the age--the +unchaining of a storm that was destined to shake the continent with +terror and devastation, leaving the Southern States a wreck, and +sweeping from the earth the institution in whose behalf the fatal work +was done." You may be sure that Rodney Gray did not see this sad +picture, for just at that moment there were few things he could see +except the elegant silk banner that waved above his head, and which he +was determined to hoist at the academy flag-staff the very next +morning. + +"Here are the fellows," he added, as he and Dick came up with the squad +who were gathered on a street corner waiting for them. + +"And a fine-looking lot of lads they are," was Dick's comment. "Rebels +the last one of them." + +"Washington was a rebel, young fellow," replied one of the students, +"and that is what he would be if he were with us to-day." + +"Well, seeing that he isn't here to decide the matter, don't let's waste +time in talking about it," said Cole. "The question is, Is that flag at +the academy going to stay up or come down--which?" + +"It's going to come down," replied Billings, very decidedly. "We've got +a handsomer flag to take its place. Let's cheer it, and see how many of +that crowd on the other side of the street will take off their hats to +it." + +The cheers were given with a will; and this time Dick Graham joined +in--not because he cared a cent for the Stars and Bars, but just to help +make a noise. The result was all the boys could have desired. The cheers +were answered and hats were lifted in all directions, and handkerchiefs +and red, white, and blue rosettes were waved from the windows of +neighboring houses. + +"Every one in sight made some demonstration," said Rodney gleefully. +"Dick, you are out in the cold." + +"I don't feel very forlorn over it," was the reply. "How do you know but +that some of those who cheered your old rag are Union at heart? But what +are you fellows going to do, and what do you want of me?" + +"We intend to hoist Rodney's flag on that tower to-morrow morning +immediately after roll-call, and we want to know if you are in." + +"No; I'm not in. I'm out. That's me." + +"There, Rodney," exclaimed one of the students. "I hope you are +satisfied now that you wasted time when you went after Dick Graham. He's +a Yankee." + +"You're another," retorted Dick. + +"Do you still claim to be neutral?" + +"I do, for a fact. You see, Missouri--" + +"Oh, Dick, have a little mercy on a fellow, and don't say that again," +cried half a dozen voices at once. + +"Well, then, what do you want me to say? I'll not help you pull down the +flag, if that is what you are after. I say, let her alone and she will +come down of herself when the sunset gun is fired." + +"We don't want her to come down of herself," answered Rodney. "We want +the satisfaction of hauling her down." + +"Very well, go and do it; but don't come to me whining over the broken +heads you will be sure to get before you are through with the business. +If you will let the orderly run her down, I will help steal her, so that +she can't be run up in the morning; but being neutral, Missouri not +having gone out of--" + +"That scheme won't work at all," Rodney declared, with some disgust in +his tones. "Don't you know that the colonel takes charge of the bunting +every night?" + +"I believe I have heard something to that effect." + +"And don't you know that he keeps it locked in his bureau?" chimed in +Billings. + +"Having been on duty at headquarters a time or two I am not ignorant of +the fact," answered Dick. "All I ask of you is to do as I say, and I'll +get the flag." + +Of course the boys were impatient to know what they could do to help, +and Dick at once proceeded to unfold his plans; but as they will be +revealed presently we do not stop to tell what they were. Some of the +combative ones among the students did not like the scheme at all, for +there was not enough danger and excitement in it; and if it succeeded, +they would be deprived of the pleasure of listening to the praises which +they were sure the Barrington people would lavish upon them, when it +should become known that they had hauled the flag down after a desperate +battle with the Northern sympathizers who had tried to protect it. But +these were in the minority. The others had no desire to provoke a fight +with Marcy Gray and his friends, and it was finally decided that Dick's +plan was the safest and best. + +"That rather interferes with your arrangements, Cole," said Ed Billings, +as the boys paired off and bent their steps toward the academy, Rodney +Gray leading, with the flag in his hand. "Those girls were particular to +say that the next time you came to see them you must bring word that the +flag had been hauled down. I don't know whether or not they will be +quite satisfied when you tell them that it was taken from the colonel's +room, after it had been pulled down in the proper way." + +Cole wasn't certain on that point, either; but he had said all he could +against the adoption of Dick Graham's plan, and that was all anybody +could do. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + RODNEY'S THREAT. + +"Now, fellows," said Rodney, as soon as the line had been formed, "who +knows a song appropriate to the occasion? We want to let the folks in +advance of us know that we are coming, so as to see what they will do +and say when they behold the banner of our young Republic." + +"Hear, hear!" shouted the boys. "Strike up something, somebody." Every +one looked at Dick Graham, who was the finest singer in the squad, and +the latter, after a moment's reflection, cleared his throat and sang as +follows: + + "We are many in one while there glitters a star + In the blue of the heavens above, + And tyrants shall quail 'mid their dungeons afar, + When they gaze on the motto of love. + By the bayonet traced at the midnight of war, + On the fields where our glory was won-- + Oh, perish the hand or the heart that would mar + Our motto of 'Many in One.'" + +A more disgusted lot of boys had never been seen in Barrington than +Rodney and his friends were when Dick finished singing the above, which +was a part of two verses of "_E Pluribus Unum._" Of course the members +of the squad all knew the song, but they did not suppose that Dick would +have the audacity to mix it up in this way. If they had suspected how +the song was going to end, they would have drowned him out in short +order. + +"That's about the biggest sell that was ever perpetrated on a party of +confiding students," said Ed Billings, as soon as the whoops and yells +of derision with which the patriotic words were greeted had died away. +"Can't some good Southerner sing something that will hit the spot?" + +Nobody could; for if any of the Confederate songs, which afterward +became so popular on both sides the line, were in existence, they had +not yet reached Barrington; so the only thing left for the boys to do +was to keep step to "hay-foot, straw-foot, boom, boom, boom!" which they +chanted with all the power of their lungs. Dick Graham congratulated +himself on having said a word for the Union, and paid no sort of +attention to the good-natured prods in the ribs which he received from +the boys who were marching beside him. He stoutly affirmed that he had +uttered nothing but his honest sentiments, and hoped that every one who +took a hand in marring "our motto of many in one" would get whipped for +his pains. + +The students were well acquainted with the people living along their +line of march, and were more than satisfied with the enthusiastic +greetings given to them and their flag. When they filed through the gate +into the academy grounds the sentry presented arms, and the commandant, +who was standing at his window, turned away. The boys saw it, and told +one another that the colonel was coming to his senses, and that he would +not interpose his authority when they were ready to run up the Stars and +Bars on the following morning. + +"You fellows are making a heap of fuss about nothing," said Marcy Gray, +as his cousin halted beside the camp-chair in which he was sitting and +waved the flag over his head, while the rest of the squad trooped up the +wide steps that led into the hall. "Take that thing away. The time may +come when you will be sorry you ever saw it." + + "It shall gleam o'er the sea 'mid the bolts of the storm, + O'er the battle and tempest and wreck, + And flame where our guns with their thunder grow warm--" + +sang Rodney. "Look here, old fellow: Couldn't you get up spirit enough +to give us a cheer?" + +"I don't think I could," replied Marcy. "Did you fellows all have +passes? I thought not. If things were as they used to be you would find +yourselves in the guard-house in less than ten minutes." + +"We are aware of it," answered Rodney; "but if things were as they used +to be, we should not have climbed the fence and gone to town without +permission. But these are times when rules don't count. There is your +mail, and if you will take a friend's advice, you will read that paper +carefully. I think there is something in it that concerns you." + +"What is it, and where is it? Tell me all about it, and then I shall be +spared the trouble of looking it up." + +"Well," said Rodney, as if he hardly knew how to give his cousin the +desired information, "Congress has passed a law commanding all Northern +sympathizers to leave the limits of the Confederacy within ten days." + +"Has this State gone out?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"Then I don't see how that law concerns me. I am not in the Confederacy, +am I? As long as the State does not tell me to go, I shall stay where I +am until mother writes me to start for home. Has your father written for +you yet?" + +"No; but I am looking for a letter every day, and I don't see why I +don't get it. But it will come fast enough if the Yankees begin +preparations for war, as some lunatics seem to think they will." + +"Those same lunatics are about the only sensible people there are in the +South to-day. The Northern States will not stand by with their hands in +their pockets and see this government broken up, and you may depend upon +it," said Marcy earnestly. "If they don't hang a few on both sides the +line, there will be a war here the like of which the world has never +seen." + +"Bosh!" exclaimed Rodney, snapping his fingers in the air. + +"And some of it will be in your State and mine," continued Marcy. + +"Haven't you read our president's speech?" demanded Rodney, almost +fiercely. "He says that if war must come, it will be fought on Northern +soil." + +"It takes two to make a bargain. The Northern States are stronger than +we are, and they would be fools to consent to any such arrangement." + +"You'll see that it will be done, whether they consent or not," answered +Rodney. "Of course they don't want us to separate from them, for they +have made a lot of money out of us with their high protective tariff and +all that; but how are they to help themselves when there are no laws or +ties of blood to hold us together? Although we speak the same language, +we do not belong to the same race that they do; we are better every way +than they are, and we're not going to be bound to them any longer. The +slave-holders of the South ruled the old Union for sixty out of seventy +years of her existence, and now that the reins of power have been +snatched from their hands, they're not going to stand it. We'll have a +nation of our own that will lead the world in everything that goes to +make a nation. If North Carolina goes out, what will you do?" + +"I shall go home, of course, for mother will need me. Our blacks will +all leave us the first chance they get--" + +"Bosh!" said Rodney, again. "The niggers know who their friends are, and +I'll bet you there are not a hundred in the South today who would go +over to the Yankees if they had the opportunity." + +"Whether they run away or not, mother will need somebody on the +plantation, and I am the only one she can call on, for Jack is at sea," +replied Marcy. + +"And, what's more, he may never get back," added Rodney. "We shall have +a navy of our own pretty soon, and then, if the Yankees declare war +against us, every ship that floats the old flag will have to watch out. +We'll light bonfires on every part of the ocean. If your State secedes, +you will go with her, of course?" + +"Of course I'll not do any such thing." + +"Marcy Gray, are you really a traitor? Be honest, now." + +"Not much. I am true to my colors--the same colors that your grandfather +and mine died under." + +"But grandfather never dreamed, when he fought under that flag, that it +was going to be turned into an emblem of tyranny," answered Rodney +impatiently. "I'll bet you he would not fight under it now; and neither +would Washington. But how will you fare when you get home? There are +plenty of secessionists in your county, and they will have not the first +thing to do with you." + +"I don't care whether they do or not," replied Marcy, hardly realizing +how much meaning there was in his cousin's last words. "Mother will have +something to do with me, I reckon; and so will Jack when he returns; and +if the neighbors choose to cut me because I am true to my colors, why I +don't see that I can help it." + +"Will you fight for the Union?" + +"I hope I shall not be called upon to choose sides; but you may be sure +I shall not fight against it." + +"Well, go your road, and I will go mine; but you will yet see the day +when you will wish you had done differently. By the way," added Rodney +carelessly; "those Taylor girls hinted that they would be pleased to see +you at their house; but you don't want to air any of your disloyal +sentiments in their presence, for if you do, they will be likely to tell +you that you needn't come again. My paper says that is what the Richmond +girls are doing, and our Barrington girls are following suit. And, +Marcy, you had better haul in a little, for if you do not, you will get +into trouble. The citizens are waking up, and there has been a Committee +of Safety appointed to look out for all disturbers of the peace." + +"I think such a committee is needed," was Marcy's quiet rejoinder. "The +disturbers of the peace are secessionists without exception, and if the +committee will shut up every one of that sort they can get their hands +on, they will do the public a service. But as I don't care to be +snubbed, I don't think I shall go out of my way to call upon those +Taylor girls." + +"Of course you will do as you please about that. I have simply delivered +their message," said Rodney, as he passed up the steps and through the +wide archway, waving his flag and making the hall ring with his shouts +as he went. "Rally on the center, boys, and yell defiance to the +Regicides and Roundheads. Keep your eye on the stairs, Billings, and if +the kurn does not come down when he hears the racket, we are all right +for to-morrow morning." + +For a few minutes the greatest confusion reigned in the corridor. The +secessionists yelled themselves hoarse over the Stars and Bars, and, +carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, pledged themselves to +enlist with the defenders of their respective States within twenty-four +hours after they reached home. Then followed a counter-demonstration for +the Stars and Stripes, led by the tall student, Dixon, of Kentucky, who +was backed up by nearly all the boys from the States that had not yet +joined the Confederacy. The noise was deafening, but the colonel did not +come out of his room to put a stop to it, and that confirmed Rodney in +the belief that he was "all right for tomorrow morning." His friends +were greatly encouraged, and one of them, when the evening gun was +fired, jerked, rather than pulled, the old flag down from the masthead; +and he would have been glad to show his contempt for it by trampling it +under his feet, had it not been for the presence of the guard, who paced +the top of the tower in plain view of the open door of the belfry. + +It was necessary to keep a sentry there now, for when the students found +that they could not do as they pleased with the flag, they watched for +an opportunity to pull the halliards out of the block at the head of the +flagstaff. Of course the rope could and would have been restored to its +place, but not without considerable trouble. The staff was so very +slender that the lightest boy in school would have thought twice before +attempting to climb it, and therefore the staff would have had to come +down. Marcy Gray and his friends, who seemed to have a way of finding +out all about the plans that were laid against the flag, thought it +would be best to ask the colonel commanding to have a guard placed over +the halliards, and this was accordingly done. + +Although the sentry who was on duty at this particular time had the +reputation of being a good soldier, he was not as friendly to the flag +as he might have been; consequently he offered no remonstrance when the +orderly gathered the colors up in a bunch and started downstairs to +deliver them to the head of the school. But there were parties on the +watch, as the orderly found when he reached the upper hall, for there he +encountered the tall Kentuckian, Dixon, who at once took him to task. + +"What made you wuzzle the flag up in that shape?" he demanded, in no +friendly tones. "Put it down here on the floor and fold it as it should +be, or off comes your head." + +The orderly looked at Dixon, and then at the boys who stood behind him, +but he could not see a single one of Rodney Gray's followers among them. +Having no one to back him up he dared not refuse to obey the order, for +he was well aware that he would get into trouble if he did. He folded +the flag, and the tall student went with him to make sure that he +delivered it to the commandant in good order. He saw it placed on the +bureau in the colonel's room, and then posted off to tell Dick Graham +all about it. + +Supper was over at last; darkness came on apace, and as usual the +students gathered in the corridors to discuss the situation. They did +not seem to remember that there was a law forbidding this very thing, +and the guards did not remind them of it, or try to send them to their +rooms, for, besides being interested parties themselves, they knew by +past experience that the boys would not pay the least attention to their +commands. + +These discussions were always conducted with more or less noise and +hubbub, according to the humor the debaters happened to be in, but now +one and all seemed bent on raising a row. They all talked at once, fists +were flourished in the air and pretty close to the noses of some of the +disputants, and finally the lie was passed, and Rodney Gray and several +other students in the lower hall proceeded to "mix up" promiscuously. +Dick Graham was not among them. He stood at the head of the stairs, +where he could see all that was going on without being seen himself. +When the leaders of the opposing sides ceased their arguments and came +to blows, and on being separated by their respective friends surged +through the door toward the parade, where the matter in dispute could be +settled by a fair fight, Dick sprang into life and action and hurried to +the commandant's room. + +"Sounds something like a row below," said the orderly in a careless, +indifferent tone. "Who's in for a black eye this time?" + +"Run in and tell the colonel to come out, or there'll be a riot here +before he knows it," replied Dick hastily. "Don't your ears tell you +that the fellows are all fighting mad, and that the thing is going to be +serious?" + +Well--yes; there was something of a racket below, but the orderly said +he didn't care for that, provided the Southerners would use up all the +traitors in the gang. However, he thought it best to go in with the +report, in order to save himself from being hauled over the coals for +neglect of duty. When the colonel came out of his quarters, buttoning +his uniform coat with one hand and settling his cap on his head with the +other, he found Dick standing at the top of the stairs with his hands in +his pockets, and a face as innocent as a child's. + +"Graham, I am glad to see that you have nothing to do with this +disgraceful performance," said he. + +"Who? Me, sir?" exclaimed Dick. "I don't fight, sir. I'm neutral, sir. +You see Missouri--" + +But the colonel could not wait to hear Dick say that his State had not +yet gone out of the Union. He went down the stairs, along the hall, and +through the archway with all haste, and then Dick went, too; but he went +down the back-stairs, around the corner of the building, and brought two +boys to his side by giving a peculiar whistle. + +"Everything is all right so far," whispered Dick. "But there's no +telling how long the fellows will be able to keep up the farce, now that +the colonel has gone down there, so we must be in a hurry." + +"Did they do it well and without exciting suspicion?" + +"First rate. Couldn't have done it better. If I hadn't been in the plot +I should have thought they were in dead earnest." + +While Dick talked he led the way at top speed to the tool-house, and he +and his companions vanished through the door. When they came out again +they brought with them a light ladder that had been stored there for +safe keeping. Moving at a run, they carried it around the building and +placed it against the wall under the commandant's window. The sash was +raised, and the evening breeze was gently rustling the curtains. + +"Do you know whether or not the colonel was alone in his room when you +sent the orderly in to fetch him out?" whispered one of the boys. +"Suppose he left somebody in there?" + +"Or suppose he left his door open and the orderly should chance to look +in?" said the other. + +"It's too late to think of those things now," replied Dick, placing his +foot on the lowest round of the ladder and turning his head to listen a +moment to the tumult of voices that came from the direction of the +parade-ground. "The fellows are at it yet, and if they can only keep the +colonel with them two minutes longer we'll have the flag easy enough. +But, mind you, I'll not see it abused." + +"It's an enemy's flag," observed one of his companions, who was rather +surprised to hear Dick say this. If he was still friendly to the colors, +why had he offered to steal them for Rodney Gray? + +"No odds if it is an enemy's flag," replied Dick. "We all thought a heap +of it once, and I don't know but I think as much of it as I ever did. I +say, dog-gone State Rights anyhow." + +This showed how much of a rebel Dick Graham was; and there were plenty +of others just like him in the South--boys and men, too, who had been +taught to believe that the founders of the Republic never meant that the +sovereignty of the States should be surrendered to the general +government, because they said so in the Declaration of Independence. +"These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and +independent _States_," wrote Thomas Jefferson, and all the Northern and +Southern delegates agreed with him. If they had intended to form one +State or one government, they would have said so in language too plain +to be misunderstood. That was Dick's way of looking at it, and he was +honest in his belief that the authorities at Washington had no right to +order him from his own State to keep another State in the Union when she +wanted to leave it. Dick went into the Southern army after a while, as +we have said, and so did many others who thought as he did; but their +hearts were not in the work, and they were glad when the war ended and +the old flag once more waved over our entire country. + +[Illustration: DICK GRAHAM STEALS THE FLAG.] + +"Now," continued Dick, "look out for yourselves. If you see anybody +coming, make tracks for cover and leave me to take care of myself. There +is no need that more than one of us should get into trouble over this +nonsensical business." + +So saying, Dick ran up the ladder, pushed aside the curtains, and, +finding the room deserted, clambered in and seized the flag, which he +found on the bureau just where the tall student told him he would find +it. He made his escape with it, the ladder was taken back to the +tool-house, and no one was the wiser for what had been done. If the +students who presently followed the colonel back from the parade-ground +had looked closely at Dick, they might have seen that his coat stuck out +a little more about the breast than it usually did, but perhaps they did +not notice it. At all events they said nothing about it. + +"What was the row about this time?" inquired Dick, as Rodney came to the +head of the stairs where he was standing. + +"Politics; nothing but politics," replied Rodney. "But we didn't have +time to find out which side was in the right, for the kurn came down and +put a stop to the fun. Did you get it?" he asked in a lower tone, first +making sure that no one except those who were "in the plot" were near +enough to overhear his words. "Bully for you. Now we will see what Marcy +and the rest of the traitors will say when they find another and +handsomer flag floating at the masthead in the morning. Where is it?" + +Dick tapped the breast of his coat. + +"All right, hand it over. There's nobody around except those we can +trust." + +"What are you going to do with it?" + +"I mean to put it where no one will ever see it again, and that is in +the kitchen stove," answered Rodney. + +"That's what I was afraid of. Well, I don't want it to go in the kitchen +stove, and therefore I must decline to give it to you." + +"Why, what in the name of sense do you want to keep it for?" + +"To show as a proof of my loyalty and devotion to the Confederate States +of America," replied Dick gravely. "I need some sort of an heirloom to +hand down to my grandchildren, don't I?" + +Of course Rodney was angry, and he had half a mind to "mix up" with Dick +then and there and take the flag away from him. But the latter was a +strong, active fellow, and plucky as well, and Rodney wasn't quite sure +that it would be safe to attempt it. While he was thinking about it Bob +Cole spoke up. + +"Let me have the flag," said he, "and I will promise you, on the honor +of a soldier, that you shall have it again as soon as it has served my +purpose." + +"What do you want to do with it?" + +"Well, if you must know, I want it to set me right with my best girl. +She as good as told me this afternoon that I need not call at her house +again until I could tell her that the flag had been hauled down. I want +to show it to her to prove that it has been done." + +"But it hasn't," objected Dick. "It has been hooked out of the +commandant's room, and that's not hauling it down by force. You can tell +her that she will never see it hoisted again, and that assurance will +have to satisfy her. If she should get her hands on it you would never +see it again, and neither would I. When it can float over an undivided +country, as it has in the past, and you rebels have been whipped into +subjection, then--" + +"I say--whipped!" exclaimed Billings. + +"Subjection!" Rodney almost howled. "That will never be. Southerners +die, but they don't submit. Dick Graham, you are a traitor, sure enough. +You think more of that rag to-day than you do of the rights of the State +you claim as your home." + +"There's where you are wrong," replied Dick. "I don't quite believe in +State Rights, but my father does, and that's enough for me; and whenever +Missouri gets ready to--" + +"When she gets ready to join the Confederacy you won't have the pluck to +go with her," exclaimed Rodney hotly. "But there's one thing about it. +Our own flag goes up on that tower after roll-call in the morning, and +I'll pitch the first fellow over the parapet who tries to pull it +down." + +"Well, good-by, if you call that going," said Dick, good-naturedly. + +The boys all followed Rodney down the stairs and Dick was left alone. He +felt of the flag to make sure it was safe, and after looking up and down +the hall to see that no one was observing his movements, he went into +Marcy Gray's room, where Marcy himself found him a few minutes later. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + THE PAID SPY. + +It must not be supposed that the students who did not side with Rodney +Gray were entirely deceived by the demonstration that had taken place in +the corridor. Noisy political discussions were of too common occurrence +to attract the attention of Marcy and his friends, the most of whom were +sitting quietly in their rooms, and they gave no heed to what was going +on below until the shuffling of feet announced that there was a fight in +progress. Then they rushed out in a body, but a single glance at the +boys who were struggling in the hall was enough to show them that their +services were not needed. The combatants were all secessionists. There +were a few "neutrals" among them--Dixon for one--who were trying to +restore order, and who finally succeeded in getting them out of the +building, but there was no Union boy there who was in want of +assistance. + +"What's in the wind now, do you reckon?" said Tom Percival, whose father +had cast his ballot against secession with one hand, while holding a +cocked revolver in the other. "That's a put-up job, and there's +something behind it." + +"I believe you're right, Tom," said Marcy. "Let's follow them and see +what they are going to do." + +There was right where he and his friends made a mistake. They went to +the parade ground and looked on while the colonel read Rodney and a few +others a severe lecture, and Dick Graham was left free to carry out his +part of the programme. Then they went back to their dormitories fully +satisfied that if Rodney had hoped to gain anything by getting up that +fight, he had failed to accomplish his object. When Marcy opened his +door he was surprised to find Dick sitting at the table with a paper in +his hand. + +"What are you doing here, you rebel?" he demanded. + +"Rebel yourself," replied Dick. "You stand ready to go back on your +State and I don't. But what is the use of this nonsense? You and I +understand each other. Look at that." + +"Dick, where did you get it?" exclaimed Marcy, when his visitor drew the +flag from under his coat. + +"I found it on the colonel's bureau and took it and welcome," answered +Dick. + +"When did you do it?" + +"Just now." + +"Where was the orderly?" + +"He was at his post; but he didn't have anything to do with it, and will +be as surprised as anybody when he finds that the flag is gone. We got a +ladder and went in at the window." + +"_We?_ Who?" + +"I did. You don't expect me to tell you who held the ladder while I went +up, do you?" + +"We knew that that fight was a put-up job, but of course we couldn't +imagine what it was got up for. If we had seen or heard anything to set +us on the right track, you never would have got your hands on that +flag." + +"Don't you suppose we knew that?" demanded Dick. "Having no taste for a +knockdown and drag-out, we were rather sly about it. But what's the +difference? You know as well as I do that it was bound to come down +sooner or later, and perhaps it would have been lowered by some one who +would not have been as careful of it as I have been. Imagine, if you +can, what would have been done to it if the news had come that this +State had joined the Confederacy! There hasn't been an ugly finger laid +on it since I got it." + +Marcy took a turn about the room and then faced his visitor and looked +at him in silence. + +"I am sure I don't know what to make of you," he said, at length. "Which +side are you on? I don't believe you know yourself." + +"Haven't I told you time and again that I'm neutral?" demanded Dick. +"You see Missouri--" + +"You never saw two dogs fight in the street without wanting one or the +other of them to whip," interrupted Marcy. "There can't be such a thing +as a neutral in times like these. You are opposed to the flag, and yet +you don't want to see it in possession of those who would insult or +destroy it. You handle it as though you loved it." + +"I did once, and I don't hate it now, or anybody who stands up for it," +answered Dick, thoughtfully. "I am going to give it to you on one--" + +"I wondered why you brought it in here," said Marcy. "I shall be glad to +have the flag, and to-morrow morning we'll--" + +"Good-night," said Dick, getting upon his feet. + +"Hold on. What have I said or done to send you away in such a hurry?" + +"What will you do to-morrow morning?" asked Dick, in reply. + +"We'll run the colors up where they belong, and stand by to see that +they stay there. What else should we do?" + +"That's what I thought you were going to say; but you must promise that +you'll not think of it, or you can't have the flag. You see," continued +Dick confidentially, "I am not exactly hand and glove with Rodney and +his crowd, but I come pretty near to believing as they do, and that was +one reason I offered to steal the flag. If I hadn't done it, they would +have hauled it down by force, or tried to, and that might have raised a +sure-enough row; no sham about it." + +"I am quite sure it would," assented Marcy. + +"That's what I was afraid of, and I think it a good plan to put the +fighting off as long as we can. I haven't anything against the flag and +never shall have, not even when Missouri--" + +"Never mind Missouri," Marcy interposed. "Tell me why you are going to +give me the flag." + +"Simply because I know you think a good deal of it, and will take care +of it," answered Dick. "It will be something to be proud of one of these +days, I tell you. After we rebels get the licking we are bound to get in +the end--" + +"If you are so sure of it, why do you favor secession?" inquired Marcy. + +"Who? Me? I don't favor it. I never so much as hinted at such a foolish +thing, because a blind man ought to see what is going to come of it. +Before the thing is over our niggers will all be gone, our homes will be +in ruins, our fields grown up to briers, and we'll be as poor as church +mice. You'll see. I say that the Southern States ought to stay in the +Union; but if they are resolved that they won't do it, the government at +Washington has no shadow of a right to compel them. That's me, and +that's why I tell you that when Missouri--" + +"Why don't you give me the flag, if you are going to?" said Marcy. "Some +of the teachers might come in, and how should I account for your +presence here?" + +"In any way you please. I am not particular. Hold on a bit," said Dick, +as Marcy tried to take the colors from his hand. "I must have your +promise first. You must say, in so many words, that you will not attempt +to hoist it in the morning, and further, that you will not let anyone +know I gave it to you. A certain fellow wants to shove it in the +stove--" + +"That's my cousin," interrupted Marcy. + +"And another wants to show it to his girl, who told him to-day, in my +presence, that if he had the pluck she had given him credit for, the +colors would have come down long ago." + +"That's Bob Cole," said Marcy. + +"I was taught never to tell names, and tales, too. I knew that if I gave +the flag to either of those fellows I would never see it again. I have +marched and drilled under it for almost four years, and shouldn't like +to hear that it been abused in any way; but if you and I live to see the +end of the terrible times that I believe are coming upon us, I _should_ +like to hear that it had been run up again. That's why I am going to +give it to you; but I must have your promise first." + +"It's a bargain, and there's my hand on it," answered Marcy, without +hesitation. "That flag shall never go up to the top of the academy staff +again if I can help it, and while I remain in this school I'll never say +you gave it to me. Now hand it over, so that I can hide it before +anybody comes in." + +Dick was rather surprised at the promptness with which the required +promise was given. Almost without knowing it he handed Marcy the flag, +and saw him place it in his trunk and turn the key upon it. + +"Say," he exclaimed, when he found his tongue, "what are you up to?" + +"I am going to leave the flag there until I can think of some good +hiding-place for it," replied Marcy. + +"That isn't what I mean, and you know it. I didn't think you would be so +very willing to make the promise, and I am afraid there is something +back of it." + +"I have said all you asked me to say, have I not? Well, I assure you I +shall remember it, for I am not in the habit of breaking my word. The +next time these colors float it will be in a breeze that is untainted by +any secession rag, I bet you. Then, whether you are living or dead, I +shall think of you, Dick. You and I have always been friends and I know +we shall continue to be so, no matter where we are or what flag waves +over us." + +"You don't owe me any thanks," said Dick hastily, and in, rather a husky +voice. "I don't want the old thing, for I may have to fight against it +someday; but I didn't want to see Rodney and his crowd trample it under +their feet before they destroyed it. You're right, we shall always be +friends, no matter--dog-gone State Rights anyhow. That's me. +Good-night." + +"Just one word more before you go," said Marcy. "Where did Rodney get +the secession flag he has been prancing around with ever since he came +from town?" + +"It came through the post-office, but who sent it I don't know. You +ought to have heard the fellows whoop and yell when he took it out of +the package." + +"Does he labor under the delusion that he is going to run it up on the +tower in the morning?" continued Marcy. + +"You can't prove that by me," was Dick's response. "Good-night." + +"Yes, I can prove it by you," thought Marcy, as his visitor went out, +closing the door behind him. "Your face and your actions said plainly +enough that that is what Rodney means to do; but I'll bet you he will be +astonished when to-morrow comes. He and his crowd must take us for a lot +of dunderheads." + +Marcy waited until he thought Dick had had time to reach his own room, +and then he opened the door and went out into the hall. He was gone +about half an hour, and when he came back he was smiling all over, and +rubbing his hands together, as if he felt very well satisfied with what +he had done during his absence. Then he drew a chair to the table, +turned up the lamp, and devoted himself to another reading of the +letters and papers he had that day received from home. While he was thus +engaged some things were happening a few miles away that eventually came +very near raising a "sure-enough fight" at the academy, and opened the +eyes of the "citizens and voters of Barrington" to the fact that they +had not done a wise thing when they employed some of the most worthless +members of the community to keep watch of those who did not wear red, +white, and blue rosettes and hurrah for President Davis. + +About the time the Missouri boy and his comrades made their successful +raid on the commandant's room, one of the paid spies of whom Mr. Riley +had spoken during his conversation with Dick Graham went to the +post-office in Barrington and was handed a letter addressed to himself. +An ordinary observer would have seen at a glance that the writing on the +envelope was disguised, but Bud Goble, who seldom saw writing of any +sort, did not notice it. He straightened up as if he had grown an inch +or more when he found that he had a correspondent who was respectful +enough to address him as "Mister," and rose immensely in his own +estimation when he opened the letter and with _much_ difficulty spelled +out the following: + +"This is verry privat and perticlar bisness and i wouldnt think of +speaking to nobody but you about it who are one of the most promnent and +respeckted sitizens of barington." + +This was nothing but the truth, according to Mr. Goble's way of +thinking; but up to this time he had never met any one whose opinions +agreed with his own. If the business to which his correspondent referred +was so very "private and particular," it would never do, he thought, to +read the letter there in the post-office, while there were so many men +standing around; so he straightway sought the privacy of his own +dwelling--a little tumble-down log cabin with a dirt floor and stick +chimney, which was situated in the outskirts of the town. + +"One of the most respected and prominent citizens of Barrington; that's +what I be," muttered Bud Goble, as he stumbled along the dark road +toward his domicile. "I always knowed it, but there's a heap of folks +about here who have always been down on me, kase I haven't got any +niggers of my own and have to work for a livin'; but I'm to the top of +the heap now, an' what's more, I'll let some of 'em know it before I am +many hours older. I wisht I knew what's into this letter, kase it's +mighty hard work for me to read it. If it's anything about them +babolitionists an' the doctering they're preachin' up among our +niggers--Well, they'll not do it much longer, kase I am about ready to +take some on 'em outen their beds at night an' lay the hickory over +their backs. There's money into it, kase Mr. Riley an' the rest of the +men that's onto the committee said so; an' I'm onto every job where +there's an honest dollar to be made." + +Bud Goble was a fair type of that class of people who were known to +those among whom they lived as "white trash." Even the negroes, +particularly those who belonged to wealthy planters, looked upon them +with contempt. Too lazy to work, they lived from hand to mouth; and not +one out of ten of the many thousands of them who went into the +Confederate Army knew what they were fighting for. To save his life Bud +Goble could not have told what all this excitement was about. He had a +dim notion that somebody wanted to free the slaves, and the idea of such +a thing made him furious; although it is hard to explain why it should, +for, as Dick Graham said, he had never owned the price of a pickaninny. +He had got it into his head that if the negroes were made free he would +be brought down to their level and compelled to go to work, and that was +something he could not bear to think of. + +Bud Goble did not know what secession meant, but he was strongly in +favor of it, because the majority of the wealthy and influential +citizens in and around Barrington favored it; and taking his cue from +them, he not only turned the cold shoulder upon those who were suspected +of being on the side of the Union, but went further and became their +deadly enemy. Mr. Riley and the other members of the Committee of Safety +knew all this, and yet they employed him, the most vindictive and +unreliable man in the neighborhood, to keep them posted in regard to +what the Union men and free negroes were doing and saying. It is not to +be supposed that men of their intelligence would put much faith in his +reports, but they furnished an excuse for resorting to high-handed +measures, and that was really what the committee wanted. + +Meanwhile Bud Goble was making the best of his way homeward, guided by +the blaze from a light-wood fire on the hearth which shone through the +open door. It was not such a home as the most of us would care to go to +at night, for it was the most cheerless place in the country for miles +around. Even the humblest cabin in Mr. Riley's negro quarter, half a +mile away, was a more inviting spot. And as for the family who occupied +it--well, a benighted traveler, no matter how tired and hungry he might +be, would have gone farther and camped in the woods rather than ask +supper and lodging of them. + +"Now, Susie," exclaimed Mr. Goble cheerfully, addressing a slouchy, +unkempt woman who sat in front of the fire with her elbows resting on +her knees and a dingy cob pipe between her teeth, "punch up the blaze +an' dish up a supper while I read my letter an' see what's into it." + +"Who's been a-writin' a letter to you?" queried the woman, without +changing her position. + +"That's what I don't know till I read it. It's something about them +babolitionists that our gover'ment has ordered to get outen here, I +reckon. But I'm powerful hungry. I aint had a bite to eat sense I left +in the mornin'." + +"Well, then, where's the meal an' bacon I told you to fetch along when +you come home?" inquired Mrs. Goble. "I told you plain as I could speak +it that there wasn't a drop of anything to eat in the house; an' here's +the young ones been a-howlin' for grub the whole day long." + +"Land sakes, if I didn't forget all about it," said Goble regretfully. +"But how on earth am I goin' to get grub when I aint got no money to pay +for it? Our committee didn't give me no money to-day kase I didn't have +nothing to tell 'em. 'Pears like all the traitors keep mighty glum when +I'm around. See two or three of 'em talkin' together, an' they shet up +the minute I begin to sidle up to 'em." + +"You aint wuth shucks to work for that committee," replied his wife +impatiently. "If I was a man an' had the job, I'd tell 'em something +every hour in the day." + +"How could you when there wasn't nothing to tell, I'd like to know?" + +"I'd find plenty, I bet you. You haven't disremembered how them +babolitionists an' the free niggers used to talk, about the time John +Brown was makin' that raid of his'n, have you?" + +"'Course I aint; but them's old stories now. They've kept mighty still +tongues in their heads sense that time." + +"No odds if they have. They was Union then, an' they're that same way of +thinkin' now; an' the talk that would have hung 'em then, if our folks +hadn't been jest the peaceablest people in the world, would get 'em into +trouble now if it was brung up agin 'em." + +"An' would you tell them stories all over agin if you was me?" exclaimed +Bud Goble. + +"I wouldn't do nothing else." + +"Jest as if they happened yisterday?" + +"Toby sure. You want money, don't you? an' that there committee of yourn +won't give you none 'ceptin' you can tell 'em sunthin', will they?" + +"Now, that's an idee," exclaimed Mr. Goble, gazing admiringly at his +wife. "I never onct thought of that way of doin'." + +"You never think of nothing till I tell you what to do," said Mrs. Goble +sharply. "You've had no end of good jobs that you could have made money +on if you'd only worked 'em right, but you won't listen to what I tell +you. I don't reckon you see how you could make money two ways outen the +job you've got now, do you? You might go to all the Union folks, niggers +_an_' whites, an' tell 'em that if they don't give you some clothes for +your fambly to wear, an' grub for 'em to eat, you will have that there +committee of yourn after 'em, mightn't you?" + +"So I could," exclaimed Bud gleefully. "But I'll tell 'em I want money +for keepin' still about what I've heard 'em say." + +"You won't do nothing of the sort," said his wife almost fiercely. "If +you get money, you'll set in to loafin' around Larkinses', an' I won't +see none of it, nor any grub or clothes nuther. Look around the house +an' into the cubboard an' see if you oughtn't to be ashamed of yourself +for swillin' so much apple-jack. Get the grub, I tell you, an' give some +on 'em a hint that you want an order on the store keeper to get me a new +dress I've been needin' for the last six months. That's one way to make +it pay. Then go to that committee an' tell 'em what you've heard them +babolitionists an' free niggers say about John Brown bein' right in what +he did, an' they'll give you sunthin' for bringin' 'em the news." + +"But them old stories won't be news." + +"No odds. They're what the committee wants, an' you're plumb blind that +you can't see it." + +Bud Goble placed his elbows upon his knees, fastened his eyes upon the +glowing coals on the hearth, and took a minute or two to consider the +matter. Then he got upon his feet and went out into the darkness without +telling his wife where he was going or what he intended to do. But that +did not trouble Mrs. Goble. She administered a hearty shake to one of +the ragged children who querulously demanded to know why pap hadn't +brung home sunthin to eat, and then filled a fresh pipe and lighted it +with a brand from the fire. + +Bud climbed the fence that ran between the road and the little barren +pasture in which he permitted his pigs to roam (when he had any), worked +his way through a narrow strip of woodland, and finally struck the lane +leading from Mr. Riley's tobacco patch to the negro quarter a double row +of whitewashed cabins in which the field-hands lived. A few minutes +later, after making free use of a club with which he had taken the +precaution to arm himself, and fighting his way through a battalion of +coon dogs that assembled to dispute his progress, he opened the door of +one of the cabins and entered without ceremony. If the occupants had +been white folks, Bud wouldn't have done that; but who ever heard of a +Southern gentleman knocking at a negro's door? + +"What made you-uns set there like so many bumps on a log when you heard +me comin'?" was the way in which he greeted Uncle Toby and his family, +who were sitting in front of the fire resting after the labors of the +day. "Why didn't you come out and shoo off them dogs of your'n? You'd +best be mighty careful how you treat me, kase I'm a bigger man in this +settle_ment_ nor you think I be. What's that you're shovin' out of sight +behind your cheer? Let me have a look at it." + +Uncle Toby was one of the most popular negro preachers in the county, +and had been known to boast of the fact that he addressed a larger +Sunday morning congregation than any white minister in Barrington. Bud +Goble thought he was a dangerous nigger to have around, and often asked +Mr. Riley why he did not "shut him up." But the planter only laughed and +said that if old Toby could preach so much better than the Barrington +ministers, he didn't think he ought to be deposed. So long as the +darkeys who came into his grove of a Sunday had passes from their +masters, it was all right; but there was something that was not all +right, and it was the occasion of no little uneasiness and perplexity to +Mr. Riley. By some hocus-pocus Toby had learned to read his Bible. There +was nothing wrong in that, of course, but a darkey who could read his +Bible would be likely to read papers as well; and from them, especially +if they chanced to be Northern papers, he might imbibe some ideas that +no slave had any business to entertain. It was said, and Bud Goble +believed it, that Toby had a great deal to do with the "underground +railroad" that had carried so many runaway negroes to freedom. You will +be surprised when you hear that Bud was ignorant enough to take this +expression literally. He really thought that some one had built a +railroad under Barrington for the purpose of assisting discontented +slaves to escape to Canada, and some of the wags at the military academy +offered him a large sum of money if he would find it and conduct them to +it, so that they might tear it up. Bud concluded that somewhere in the +woods there must be a ladder or flight of stairs that led down to the +railroad, and he spent days in looking for it. When Mr. Riley, taking +pity on his ignorance, explained the matter to him, Bud was fighting +mad; and ever since that time he had been watching for an opportunity to +be revenged upon the boys who had played upon his credulity. + +"Let me have a look at that there thing you was a-shovin' out of sight +behine your cheer when I come in," repeated Bud, striding up to the +fire-place and catching up the article that had caught his eye. "Looked +to me like one of them 'sendiary papers, an' it is too. What business +you got to be readin' like a white gentleman?" he added, slapping Toby +on the head with the paper which he picked up from the floor. + +"Oh, Marse Gobble," began Toby. + +"'Tain't my name," howled Bud, who always got angry whenever anybody +took liberties with his cognomen. "G-o don't spell Gob, does it? You +can't read or spell alongside of me, but you know too much to be of any +more use around here. Me and Mr. Riley b'long to the Committee of +Safety, an' it's our bounden duty to take chaps like you out in the +woods an' lick ye. What do you say to that?" + +Old Toby was so very badly frightened that he could not say anything. He +had been caught almost in the act of reading a copy of the New York +_Tribune_, and what would Mr. Riley say and do when he heard of it? The +latter was known far and wide as a kind master. He gave his slaves +plenty to eat and wear and never overworked them; but he believed as +most of his class did, and it wasn't likely that he would deal leniently +with one of his chattels who would bring a paper like the _Tribune_ on +the plantation, and afterward spread discontent among his fellows by +preaching in secret the doctrines he found in it. Bud easily read the +thoughts that were passing in the old negro's mind, and told himself +that Susie deserved a new dress in return for the suggestions she had +given him. He saw his advantage and determined to push it. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE STRUGGLE ON THE TOWER. + +Toby was said to be the most thrifty and "forehanded" darkey in the +settlement. Like all the rest of the black people on Mr. Riley's +plantation he had a little garden-patch, and as he and his family were +industrious enough to cultivate it properly, they had vegetables to sell +at the "great house" and received cash in hand for them. Being a +minister, he did not think it right to spend much for clothing or +finery, and there were those who believed that he had a goodly sum of +money laid by. Bud Goble knew that his larder was generally well +supplied, and he had designs upon it now. + +"What do you reckon your Moster would do to ye if I should take this +here docyment to him an' tell him I found you a-readin' of it?" Bud +demanded, looking sharply at Uncle Toby. "It's my duty to do it, kase I +b'long to the same committee that he does, bein' one of the most +respected an' prominent citizens of Barrington. That's the way my +letters come." + +"Marse Bud," replied the negro (he did not dare venture on the surname +again for fear of exciting his visitor's wrath), "I didn't go for to do +wrong--I didn't for a fac'. Dat paper was gin to me--oh, laws, what am I +sayin'?" + +"Speak it out, nigger," exclaimed Bud fiercely. "Who gin it to you, an' +how did he come by it in the first place?" + +"Suah I don't know how he come by it, Marse Bud," replied Toby, who was +greatly alarmed. "I don't know what 'is name was, nudder, kase I nevah +seed him afo'. Dat's de Lawd's truth." + +"No, I don't reckon it is," answered Bud, with a grim smile. "But as I +am here on other business, I won't say nothing more on that p'int at +this meetin'. I'll sorter hold it over ye like an overseer's whip, ready +to fall when you don't hoe your row like you had oughter. Do you want me +to take this here _Trybune_ to your Moster? Well, then, I want you to +sell me some of that fine tobacker of your'n. You told me t'other day +that you didn't have none; but I reckon you can find some if you look +around." + +"Mebbe so, sah," replied Toby, with alacrity. His store was growing +small, but if by breaking into it he could purchase Bud Goble's silence, +he was perfectly willing to do it. He knew that he would never see a +cent for the tobacco, for Bud was much too hightoned to use "twist" when +he had money to invest in "store plug." He left the room, and in a few +minutes returned with three or four big "hanks," which he handed to his +visitor with the request that the latter would accept them with his +compliments. + +"Didn't mean to rob ye, Toby," said Bud, as he wrenched a huge mouthful +from one of the "hanks" to test the quality. "But I'll tell ye what's a +fact. When I come home tonight, after a meetin' of that there Committee +of Safety I was tellin' you about, I found that I had plumb +disremembered to fetch along the bacon, meal, an' taters that my wife +done told me to bring, an' so I thought I would jest run over an' see if +I couldn't borry some of you to last me a few days." + +Old Toby was astonished at the proposition. It was on the end of his +tongue to refuse point-blank; but when he glanced at Bud he thought +better of it. The latter was trying to look good-natured, but there was +an expression on his face that brought all the negro's fears back to him +with redoubled intensity. He saw very plainly that it would take more +than a few twists of tobacco to make Bud Goble keep his lips closed. + +"Ise got a little meal an' some few taters, Marse Bud," said Toby +reluctantly. "But I tell you for a fac' dat de bacon we done drawed from +de oberseer won't las' de week out for my own folks, let alone giving +you some of it." + +"Oh, well, I aint so sot on havin' bacon," replied Bud. "Give me two or +three of them yaller-legged chickens of yourn, an' they will do jest as +well. It's a mighty far ways back to town, an' I do despise walkin' +there in the dark," he continued, seeing that Toby hesitated. "It's +nigher to the great house, an' so I reckon I'll go up an' smoke a pipe +with Riley." + +"Set down, Marse Bud," cried Toby hastily. "Set down in dat cheer an' +I'll have de things you want directly. An' say, Marse Bud, when I get +'em, will you give me dat paper?" + +"Oh, yes; you can have the paper," said the visitor. And to show that he +meant what he said, he tossed it upon the nearest shakedown. + +"Thank you, sah; thank you kindly," said Toby, with the mental +resolution that he would throw that tell-tale paper into the fire as +soon as the visitor took his leave. "If I see dat man agin I'll tell him +I don't want no mo' dat sort of trash to read. I'll be back in jes' a +minute." + +Toby was gone a good deal longer than that, but when he returned he +brought with him two meal bags, partly filled, which he placed upon the +floor beside Bud Goble's chair. The latter thrust his arm into them, one +after the other, and found that the first contained corn meal enough to +keep him and his hungry family in hoe-cake until he could earn money +from the committee to buy more, and that there were three chickens and +about a peck of potatoes in the other. + +"That's what I'm a-needin'," said he, with a satisfied chuckle. "I bid +you a kind goodnight, you an' your fambly; an' if I hear anybody talk +about takin' you out in the bresh an' lickin' on ye, I won't let 'em." + +Toby stood in the door to "shoo off the dogs," and drew a long sigh of +relief when he saw his unwelcome guest disappear in the darkness. + +"Dinah," said he, when he returned to the cabin, "de money you've got in +dat stockin' of yourn has got to be buried in de groun' somewhar de +first thing in de mawnin'. Ise dat skeared of having it in de house dat +I can't sleep. I thought sure dat Gobble white trash man gwine ask for +dat money." + +Bud was not long in reaching home. He was so highly elated that he +seemed to be treading on air, and the distance was passed over almost +before he knew it. It was the source of great gratification to him to +learn, by actual test, that his relations with the Committee of Safety +put such power into his hands. There was one thing about it, he told +himself: From that time forward he and his family would have more and +better food to eat than they had ever had before, and be better clothed. +If the scheme he had just put into operation would work once, he was +positive it would succeed every time it was tried. + +"There, now!" exclaimed Bud triumphantly, as he walked into his own +house and dropped the bags by the side of his wife's chair. "Two heads +are better'n one, if one is a woman's head. There's meal an' taters an' +chickens; now go on an' dish up a good supper. I'll get your dress +to-morrer." + +"Where you goin' to get it?" inquired his wife, knocking the ashes from +her pipe and rising from her seat. The knowledge that there was food in +the house put a little energy into her, and at the same time quieted the +complaining children. + +"I'm workin' this job for all there is into it, let me tell you," +replied Bud, taking his wife's pipe from her hand and filling it for his +own benefit. "I ketched old preacher Toby with a babolition paper in his +hand, an' that's the way I come to get the grub an' tobacker. To-morrer +I'll go an' call on the storekeeper. He told me t'other day that he +wouldn't trust me no more, but I kinder think he'll change his mind when +I tell him that I'm onto that committee. An' then there's that Meth'dist +preacher, Elder Bowen, who I suspicion gin Toby that babolition +_Trybune._ There's a heap of hams an' side-meat in that smokehouse of +his'n, an' it sorter runs in my mind that I can talk him into givin' me +some of it." + +"An' did you speak to Toby about the money they say he's got hid +somewheres?" asked Mrs. Goble, who was dressing two of the chickens +preparatory to consigning them to the kettle, which she had placed upon +the coals. "What business has he got to have money when white folks--" + +"Set me down for a fuel!" exclaimed Bud, hitting his rheumatic leg such +a slap that he could hardly repress the howl of anguish that arose to +his lips. "There I was talkin' to him for as much as ten or fifteen +minutes an' never onct thought of that money. Well, there's another day +comin', an' Toby'll have to hand that money over or get whopped." + +"An' if I was you," continued his wife, "I wouldn't say a blessed word +to nobody about it. Keep your business to yourself, kase if you don't, +them that helps you will want to share in what you get." + +"Susie, you've got a long head an' that's a fac'," said Bud, who +wondered why he had not thought of all these little things himself. +"I'll bear them idees in mind. Now, punch up the fire a little an' let +me see if I can read what's into this letter. One of the most prominent +an' respected citizens of Barrington; that's what I be, an' the feller +who writ to me knows it." + +Having lighted his pipe and waited until the blaze from the fire had +attained sufficient brightness, Bud drew the letter from his pocket and +read aloud: + +"Dear sir and frind i take my pen in hand to let you know that you aint +doing as you had oughter do you are paid by the committee of safety to +keep an eye on all the abolitionists in the kentry and you dont do it +theres plenty of them in barington and a hul pile of them up to the +cademy wich is a disgrace to the town them boys some of them is spiling +for a licking sich as you and your frinds had oughter give them long ago +but aint done it and had oughter have a little sense knocked into their +heads why dont you send them warning to shet up or clear themselves +outen the federasy like the govment says they must do inside of ten days +theres that gray boy for one and that graham boy for an other but they +aint no kin though theyre awful sassy and need looking to if you dont +tend to business bettern this i shall have to see that the committee +gets some body else in your place hurra for jeff davis and the south and +long may she wave that is my moto." + +Men of sense do not usually give a second thought to anonymous +communications, but put them into the fire as soon as they ascertain +their character; but Goble, of course, did not know this, and besides he +was not that sort of a fellow. He was not strictly honorable himself, +and was glad to receive hints, even if they came from a correspondent +who was too much of a coward to sign his name to what he had written. He +saw at once that he had been remiss in his duty, and the threat +contained in the closing lines made him a little uneasy. + +"Land sakes, I plumb forgot to keep an eye on them boys at the 'cademy," +he said, as he folded the letter and prepared to return it to the +envelope. As he did so, he found that there were a few lines written on +the outside which he had not before noticed. They ran as follows: + +"Them boys I spoke of that gray and graham boy are the verry ones who +fooled you about that under ground rail road--" + +When Bud read these words he hit his rheumatic leg another heavy blow, +and jumped to his feet with a fierce exclamation on his lips. + +"So them's the fellers that fooled me, are they?" he shouted, as soon as +the pain in his leg would permit him to speak. "You haven't +disremembered how they offered me a cool hundred dollars in gold if I +would look around in the woods an' find the ladder or the stairs that +led down to that railroad, have you, Susie? If it hadn't been for Riley +I might have been lookin' for it yet. I said at the time that I would +get even with them for that, but I couldn't seem to find no way to do +it, kase I don't never have no dealin's with 'em; but I've got an idee +now. I wisht I could think up some way to get them two out in the woods +by theirselves. I'll have to have somebody to help me if I try that, +Susie." + +As that was very evident to Mrs. Goble she made no reply, but went on +with her preparations for supper, while Bud smoked and meditated. When +the chickens, potatoes, and hoe-cake were declared to be ready, he did +not change his position, but grabbed what he wanted from the table, and +devoured it while sitting by the fire and trying to conjure up some plan +for making himself square with those fun-loving academy boys. He +inferred that they had been preaching Union doctrines at the school, but +Bud did not care a straw for that. He wanted to punish them for making +him search for that underground railroad. When the dishes were cleared +of everything eatable that had been placed upon them, and the table +moved back to its place, Bud stretched his heavy frame on the ground in +front of the fire and went to sleep, using his hat and boots for a +pillow. + +At an early hour the next morning another serious inroad was made upon +the slender stock of provisions Bud had frightened out of old Uncle +Toby, and then Bud shouldered his long squirrel rifle, which he carried +with him wherever he went, and set out for Barrington, not forgetting to +assure his wife that she might confidently expect him to bring that new +dress when he returned at night. While he is on the way let us go back +to the academy and see what is taking place there. + +The sentries who were on duty at daylight took note of the fact that +more than half the boys in school arose without waiting for _reveille._ +Even a stranger would have known that there was something afoot. The +students gathered in little groups in the corridors and held mysterious +whisperings with one another, or sauntered around with their hands in +their pockets, as if in search of something they were in no particular +hurry to find; and while some seemed scarcely able to refrain from +laughing outright and dancing hornpipes, the faces of others wore a +resolute look that had a volume of meaning in it. Rodney Gray, with the +flag of the Confederacy tucked safely under the breast of his coat, took +a stroll about the building and grounds, looking sharply at every one he +met, and finally drew off on one side to compare notes with some of his +friends. + +"I don't at all like the way the land lies," said he. "If Marcy and his +gang haven't something on their minds, they certainly act like it. +Graham, you know where the old flag is, do you not?" + +"I do, for a fact. It is safe under lock and key, and in the keeping of +one who knows how to take care of it," answered Dick. + +"I wish I had insisted on seeing it destroyed the minute you got hold of +it," continued Rodney. "Then I should know that there is no danger of +its being hoisted again." + +"I pledge you my word that you will never again set eyes on that flag as +long as you remain at this academy," said Dick earnestly. "That +assurance ought to satisfy you." + +"Perhaps it ought, but it doesn't," Rodney took occasion to say to +Billings and Cole a few seconds later, when Dick had gone off on some +business of his own. "I wish now that some true Southern boy had had +pluck enough to steal the flag, for then we should know where it is at +this moment. Marcy and his friends certainly suspect something; and if +they know that the colors are gone, they take it in an easy way I don't +like." + +"Dick has given his word that we shall never see the flag again, and I +believe him," said Cole. "He is a good fellow and ought to be one of +us." + +"Oh, he will come out all right, and so will Marcy," said Billings +confidently. "Wait till this excitement culminates in a fight, and then +you will see a big change of opinion among these weak-kneed chaps. They +expect a skirmish this morning and are prepared for it. We'll see fun +before that new flag of ours goes up on the tower, and I'll bet on it." + +"Boom!" said the gun, whereupon the drums began their racket, and the +fifes piped forth the first strains of the morning call. The boys all +started on the run for the court (a large glass-covered room in the +center of the building which was used for morning inspection, and for +drills and parades when stormy weather prevailed), and when the roll had +been called, the sergeants of the several companies reported all present +or accounted for. But still there were some boys missing, and no report +was made as to their whereabouts. A familiar voice answered to Marcy +Gray's name, but it was not Marcy's voice. Rodney's quick ear detected +the cheat, and when ranks were broken he looked everywhere for his +cousin, but he was not to be seen. With frantic gestures Rodney summoned +a few of his right-hand men to his side and communicated his fears to +them in hasty, whispered words. + +"Seen Marcy during roll-call?" he inquired. + +No one had. Didn't he answer to his name? + +"No, he did not," replied Rodney, hastily scanning the faces of the +students that filed by him on their way out of the court. "Somebody +answered 'here,' but it wasn't Marcy. The sergeant must know where he +is, for he reported the company present or accounted for." + +"Doesn't that go to show that Marcy and the chap who answered to his +name, as well as the sergeant himself, must be in some sort of a plot?" +inquired Billings. + +"I'll bet they are on the tower," declared Rodney. "Let's go up there, +quick." + +Rodney's friends did not at first see what Marcy could be doing on the +tower, for had not Dick Graham assured them that the flag was all right, +and that they would never see it hoisted again? But if Marcy suspected +that his Cousin Rodney would make an effort to run up his new +Confederate flag in place of the Stars and Stripes, might it not be that +he and a chosen squad had taken possession of the tower, intending to +hold it so that Rodney could not carry out his design? If that was the +case there was bound to be a struggle more or less desperate, and +Rodney's adherents would be expected to be on hand; so they followed him +to the top of the tower, but halted when they got there, astonished and +appalled at the scene that was presented to their gaze. The cousins were +clinched and swaying about in alarming proximity to the low parapet, +over which they were in imminent danger of falling to the ground; the +sentry on duty was vainly endeavoring to part them by placing his musket +between the struggling boys and crowding them toward the middle of the +tower; and Marcy Gray was clinging to the halliards leading up to the +masthead, from which the starry flag was floating in all its glory. It +was not the old flag, however, but a newer and better one, whose glossy +folds had never before been kissed by the breeze. + +"Stop this!" shouted Cole, recovering himself by an effort and darting +forward to assist in separating the angry and reckless boys. "Haven't +you any sense left? A misstep on the part of one would be the death of +both of you. Don't you know that the academy is four stories high, and +that the tower runs up one story higher? Let go, Rodney. Give me those +halliards, Marcy." + +"Stand back, both of you!" cried the latter. "I'd rather go over than +give up the halliards. If I had two hands I would very soon end the +fracas, but I haven't a friend to hold the ropes while I defend +myself." + +[Illustration: THE STRUGGLE FOR THE FLAG.] + +Perhaps he hadn't when he began speaking, but a second or two later he +had plenty of them. Hasty steps sounded in the hall below and came up +the ladder, and in less time than it takes to write it the top of the +tower was covered with boys. The last one who came up turned about and +slammed down the trap-door through which he had gained access to the +roof. It was Dixon, the tall student who had compelled the orderly to +fold the flag properly, and who afterward told Dick Graham right where +to find it. Being a Kentuckian, he was just now "on the fence," and +ready to jump either way, according as his State decided to go out of +the Union or remain in it. He was opposed to secession, and that being +the case, it was strange that he should afterward find himself enrolled +among John Morgan's raiders, but that was right where he brought up. +Although he was a close student, a good soldier, and one of the best +fellows that ever lived withal, he was at any time ready for a fight or +a frolic, and it didn't make any great difference to him which it was. + +"Now," said he cheerfully, as he closed the trap-door behind him, "we +can have a quiet squabble and no one can come up to interfere with us. +But look here, boys," he added, stepping to the parapet and looking +over. "It's a mighty far ways to the ground--five stories or so--and if +you go down, you will be sure to get hurt. On the whole, I think we had +better adjourn for a while." + +Rodney knew just how to take these words. Like that notice in the +post-office, "there was reading between the lines." Seeing that he and +his friends were taken at disadvantage and greatly outnumbered, he +thought it best to handle his cousin with a little less rudeness; but he +would not cease his efforts to pull down that hated flag and hoist his +own Stars and Bars until he was compelled to do so. He let go his hold +upon his cousin and seized the halliards. + +"Never mind the relationship," he yelled, when Marcy said that if Rodney +were not his cousin he would be tempted to thrash him within an inch of +his life. "I am more ashamed of it than you can possibly be. Let go +those halliards." + +"Looks as though there might be a slight difference of opinion between +the parties most interested, and there's no telling who is Governor +until after the election," said Dixon quietly. "But I respectfully +submit that the top of a high tower is no place to settle a dispute that +may end in a scrimmage. We don't want to begin killing one another until +we have to, and there are two ways in which the matter can be arranged: +Wait until after dark, and then go silently to the parade and have it +over before anybody knows a thing about it, or else kiss and make +friends right here." + +Dick Graham, who had thus far kept himself on the other side of the +belfry out of sight, broke into a loud laugh when Dixon, speaking with +the utmost gravity, made the last proposition. Dick had a cheery, +wholehearted laugh, and the effect was contagious. The laugh became +general and finally such an uproar arose that the students at the foot +of the tower, who had been watching proceedings on the top with no +little interest and anxiety, pulled off their caps and joined in with +cheers and yells, although they had not the faintest idea what they were +cheering and yelling for. Marcy smiled good-naturedly as he looked into +his cousin's face, but Rodney scowled as fiercely as ever. When anything +made him angry it took him a long time to get over it. He was almost +ready to boil over with rage when he caught his cousin in the act of +hoisting a brand new flag in place of the one that had been stolen, and +if his friends had only been prompt to hasten to his support, he would +have torn that flag into fragments in short order. But they had held +back and given Marcy's friends time to come to his assistance, and now +there was no hope of victory. This made him believe that the boys who +pretended to side with him were cowards, the last one of them. + +"If I will give you the halliards, will you promise not to haul the +colors down?" asked Marcy, who had no heart for trouble of this sort. + +"I'll promise nothing," answered Rodney, in savage tones. "You and your +gang have the advantage of me this time, but it will not be so when next +we meet. Mark that." + +"Hear, hear!" cried some of the boys. + +"You shut up!" shouted Rodney. "You fellows are mighty ready to talk, +but I would like to see you do something. As for you, Marcy, you are a +traitor to your State. Let go those halliards." + +"I'll not do it. Your ancestors and mine have fought under this flag +ever since it has been a flag, and if I can help it, you shall not be +the first of our name to haul it down." + +"But that flag does not belong up there any longer, and I say, and we +all say, that it shall not stay there. Here's our banner," exclaimed +Rodney, and as he spoke he drew the Stars and Bars from under his coat +and shook out its folds. "It's a much handsomer flag than yours, and if +there's a war coming, as some of you seem to think, it will lead us to +victory on every battle-field." + +The sight of the Confederate emblem seemed to arouse a little martial +spirit among Rodney Gray's friends. They cheered it lustily, and Rodney +began to hope that they would make energetic and determined effort to +run it up; but they lacked the courage. The disgusted Rodney told them +in language more forcible than elegant that they were nothing but a lot +of wind-bags. + +"Sentry, you were stationed here to protect that flag," said Marcy, as +he made the halliards fast to a cleat beside the door leading into the +belfry. + +"Are you officer of the day?" demanded the guard. "Then you are taking a +good deal upon yourself when you presume to tell me what my duties are. +Go below, the last one of you, or I will call the corporal." + +"That is what you would have done long ago if you had been a good +soldier, but I reckon he's coming without waiting to be called," +observed Dixon, as an imperious knock, followed by the command to "open +up here, immediately," was heard at the trapdoor. "Now, Rodney, don't +let's have any more nonsense over the flag." + +"I shall do as I please about that, and you can't help yourself," +replied Rodney. "I'll settle the matter with you on the parade tonight, +if you feel in the humor. That flag shall not float over this school +with my consent." + +"Then I am sorry to say that it will have to float without your consent. +It will be time enough to make war upon it when the North makes war on +us; and you will get plenty of that, I bet you. Now let's have a look at +our friend below, who seems to be in something of a hurry to come up, +and then we'll go down and attend to the business of the hour, which, I +believe, means breakfast." + +So saying Dixon raised the trap-door, revealing the flushed and excited +faces of the commandant and officer of the day, who were most +respectfully saluted when they entered the belfry. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + OLD TOBY'S MONEY. + +"Young gentlemen, what is the meaning of this new outrage?" demanded the +colonel angrily. + +"A tussle over the flag, sir," replied Dixon, standing very stiffly and +raising his hand to his cap. "The old one having mysteriously +disappeared, it became necessary to hoist a new one, sir." + +Of course the commandant knew long before this time that the colors had +been taken from his bureau, and he knew, also, that the theft had been +committed under cover of that sham fight in the hall; but he did not say +a word about it. To be candid, he did not think it would be good policy +to try to sift the matter to the bottom, for fear of implicating some +profitable student whom he could not afford to expel. Being proprietor +of the school, he desired to keep it intact as long as he could. + +"And during the tussle two of your number came very near being +precipitated to the ground," exclaimed the colonel. "I shall put a stop +to this insubordination if I have to order the whole school into the +guard-house." + +"Very good, sir," answered the boys. + +"Go downstairs, all of you," commanded the officer of the day. "Sergeant +Rodney and Private Marcy Gray, report to me at once." + +The students hastened down the ladder, wondering what was to be the +result of this "new outrage." When they reached the hall one of them +said, in tones loud enough to be heard by all his companions: + +"Graham is a traitor. He stole the old flag, but he furnished a new one +to be hoisted in its place." + +"There's where you are wrong," exclaimed Marcy promptly. "Dick had +nothing whatever to do with it, and when he saw this new flag, he was as +much surprised as the rest of you were. I have had it concealed in my +room for more than six weeks. I meant to be ready for you, you see." + +"Where did you get it? if that is a fair question." + +"It was made by a young lady who lives in Barrington, but of course you +do not expect me to mention her name. She is true to her colors, and +that's more than can be said in favor of you fellows who would have +hauled it down if you had possessed the pluck." + +"That was well put in, Marcy," said Rodney. "There isn't pluck enough +among the whole lot of them to fit out a good-sized cat. If the Yankees +should come down here, they could drive an army of such fellows with +nothing but cornstalks for weapons." + +The tone in which these words were uttered set Dick Graham going again, +and he started all the rest that is, all except a few who were so angry +they couldn't laugh. If that dread functionary, the officer of the day, +heard the uproar, he must have thought that the culprits who had been +commanded to report to him did not take their prospective punishment +very much to heart. + +Of course the boys who remained below were impatient to hear all about +the things that had happened in and around the belfry, and to know what +was going to be done with Rodney and his cousin. But the last was a +point upon which no one could enlighten them, not even the cousins +themselves when they came from the presence of the officer of the day, +who had given them a stern reprimand and a warning. Being from Louisiana +himself, and having offered his services to her in case they should be +required, he bore down upon Marcy harder than he did upon Rodney, and +even went so far as to try and convince the North Carolina boy that the +word "traitor," which had so often been applied to him by his +schoolmates, was deserved and appropriate. But Marcy could not look at +it that way, and even in the presence of the man who could have shut him +up in the guard-house, with nothing but bread to eat and water to drink, +he did not "haul in his shingle one inch." He never had made any trouble +in the school, and, what was more to the point, he did not intend to; +but neither was he going to stand still and permit a lot of rebels to +run over him. The colonel had said, in so many words, that the flag was +to be hoisted every morning until further orders; and in hoisting a new +one in the place of the one that had disappeared, he had not broken any +rule. The officer knew that to be true, and as he could not punish one +without punishing the other also, he was obliged to let them both go +scot-free; but he detained Rodney a moment to whisper a word of caution +to him. + +"Don't let this thing be repeated," said he earnestly. "I think just as +you do, and if I could have my own way, your flag would now be waving on +the tower; but it is my duty to obey orders, and it is your duty as +well. Don't make another move until this State joins the Confederacy, +and then there will be no one to oppose you. The hoisting of another +flag will break up the school, but that is to be expected. You may go." + +"He said, in effect, that he would keep this thing hanging over our +heads to see how we behave in future," said Rodney to Billings and Cole, +who were in the hall waiting for him. "He is on our side, but not being +the head of the school, he can't back us up as he would like to. But +then this will keep," he added, once more shaking out his flag, which he +had all the while carried under his arm. "I was afraid the teachers +would take it away from me, but as they didn't, we'll hold ourselves in +readiness to run it up when the other is ordered down." + +But the incidents of the morning, exciting as they were, did not long +monopolize the attention of the students, or remain the principal +subjects of discussion. They were forgotten the minute the mail was +distributed, for of course their papers contained news from all parts, +and the boys made it their business to keep posted. There was one thing +the papers had already begun to do that excited derisive laughter among +all the sensible boys in school. They called dispatches from the North +"Foreign Intelligence." But there were some, like Rodney Gray, who could +not see that that was anything to laugh at, and following the lead of +their favorite journals in politics, they soon learned to follow their +vocabulary also, and always spoke of the North as "the United States," +and of the South as "the Confederate States." + +When the adjutant's call was sounded Marcy Gray fell in with the other +members of his company who had been warned for duty, and marched to the +parade-ground to go through the ceremony of guard-mounting. Immediately +after that he went on post in a remote part of the grounds, a favorite +place with the sentries on hot summer days, for the woods on the other +side came close up to the fence, and the trees threw a grateful shade +over the beat. The only order the boy he relieved had to pass, was a +simple as well as a useless one. It was to "keep his eye peeled for that +fence and not permit anybody to climb over it"; but Marcy listened as +though he meant to obey it. Then the relief passed on, and he was left +alone with his thoughts, which, considering the incidents connected with +that skirmish on the tower, were not the most agreeable company. + +He had been there perhaps a couple of hours, out of sight of everybody, +when he was brought to a stand-still by a rustling among the bushes on +the other side of the fence, and presently discovered old Toby looking +at him over a fallen log. A smile of genuine joy and relief overspread +the black man's features when he saw who the vigilant sentry was, and he +immediately got upon his feet and came to the fence. + +"The top of the morning to you, parson," said Marcy pleasantly. "You act +as though you might be looking for some one." + +"Sarvent, sah," replied Toby. "I is for a fac' lookin' for you, an' +nobody else. I was up to de gate, an' Marse Dick Graham done tol' me you +down heah. You-uns gwine get in de biggest sort of trouble, you an' +Marse Dick, an' I come heah to tol' you." + +"I assure you we are grateful to you for it," answered the boy, with a +smile. "But how are we going to get into trouble? Talk fast, for I have +no business to hold any communication whatever with you." + +"Dat white trash, Bud Gobble; he's de man," began Toby. "You an' Marse +Dick done sont him into de woods to look for de way to dat underground +railroad--" + +Marcy leaned upon his musket, threw back his head, and laughed heartily +but silently, for he did not want to bring the corporal of the guard +down to his post until he had heard what the old negro had to tell him. + +"Dat's jes' what you-uns done, Marse Marcy," continued Toby. "An' now +dat man gwine tote you bofe out in de woods an' lick you like he was de +oberseer an' you two de niggahs." + +When Marcy heard this he did not know whether to laugh again or get +angry over it. As time was precious he did neither, but began +questioning Toby, who told a story that made the boy open his eyes. When +it was concluded the fact was plain to Marcy that somebody had been +trying to get him and Dick Graham into trouble; but who could it be? He +knew that he had been airing his Union sentiments rather freely, but he +wasn't aware that he had made any enemies by it. He wished the hour for +his relief would hasten its coming, so that he might compare notes with +Dick. + +"You think it was the letter Bud received that put all these things into +his head, do you?" said he, after a moment's reflection. + +"You haven't any idea who wrote the letter or what else there was in +it?" + +"No sah, I aint. I wish't I had, so't I could tell you." + +"Bud Goble mentioned Dick's name and mine while he was threatening us, +did he?" continued Marcy. + +"He did for a fac'. I didn't hear him, kase I wasn't dar; but Elder +Bowen's niggah Sam was in de store when he 'buse de storekeeper, an' he +was at de house when he come dar an' 'buse de elder for a babolitionist. +You-uns want look out, Marse Marcy. Dat man mean mischief, suah's you +born." + +"Don't be uneasy," replied Marcy. "If Mr. Goble thinks he is going to +catch us napping, he will find himself mistaken. I should like to see +him and his friends come to this school and try to carry out their +threats. There are plenty of Union boys among the students, parson." + +"I'se suspicioned dat all along, sah, an' I'se mighty proud to hear you +say so; I is for a fac'. Dere's a few of 'em in de settle_ment_, but +I'se mighty jubus what will happen to 'em when Marse Gobble gets on de +war-paf, like he say he gwine do. He say he gwine lick de las' one." + +"Then it is high time he was put under lock and key," said Marcy +indignantly. "I hope if he goes to Mr. Bowen's house the elder will turn +loose on him with that double-barreled shotgun of his." + +"He say dat's what he allow to do; but I dunno," replied the old negro, +shaking his head and looking at the ground as if he felt that troublous +times were coming upon the earth. "It's gwine be mighty hot about yer, +an' I dunno what we niggahs gwine do. I wish dem babolitionists up Norf +shet dere moufs an' luf we-uns be. Dey gwine get us in a peck of +trouble." + +"And such fellows as Bud Goble seem perfectly willing to help it on," +said Marcy, whose indignation increased, the longer he dwelt upon the +details of the story Toby had told him. "For two cents I would muster a +squad and go down to his shanty and turn him out of doors. We'll do +something of the kind if the authorities do not put a curb on him." + +[Illustration: MARCY REFUSES TO TAKE CHARGE OF OLD TOBY'S MONEY.] + +"But dey _hire_ him to do all dis meanness, Marse Marcy," exclaimed the +negro. "He 'longs to dat committee." + +"Don't you believe any such stuff. It is likely that he is in the pay of +that committee, and more shame to them, but he doesn't belong to it. Now +you run away, parson, because--" + +"Hol' on, please, sah," interrupted the old man. "I want ax your device. +I got a little money--not much, but jes' a little" (here he pulled from +one of his capacious pockets a stocking filled half-way up the leg with +something that must have been heavy, judging by the care he took in +handling it),--"an' I'm that skeared of havin' it in de house dat I +can't sleep. Marse Gobble 'lows to steal bacon an' taters of me now as +often as he gets hungry, an' de fust ting I know he ax me for dis money; +den what I gwine do? Take keer on it for me, please, sah." + +"Why, parson, you're rich," said Marcy, reaching through the fence and +"hefting" the stocking in his hand. "Is this all silver? Where did you +get so much?" + +"I earn it ebery cent, an' sabe it, too," answered Toby, with some pride +in his tones. "It's all mine, but I 'fraid I aint gwine be 'lowed to +keep it, now dat de wah comin'." + +"I think myself that it will bring you trouble sooner or later. You +ought never to have told anybody that you had it." + +"Who? Me, sah? I never tol' de fust livin' soul in dis world. It got +round de quarter some way, I dunno how, an' some of dem fool niggahs had +to go an' blab it. Will you take keer on it for ole Toby, sah?" + +"If I were going to stay in this part of the country I would do it in a +minute," answered Marcy. "But I am liable to leave here at an hour's +notice, and what should I do with it if I did not have time to take it +to your cabin? Give it to your master, and ask him to take care of it +for you." + +"Oh, laws! Marse Riley secession de bigges' kind," exclaimed Toby, with +a gesture which seemed that such a proposition was not to be entertained +for a moment. + +"No matter for that," replied Marcy. "He's honest, and what more do you +want? He is a kind master, the best friend you have in the world, and +you don't want to keep anything from him. Come to think of it, I +wouldn't take the money, even if I were going to stay here. Go to Mr. +Riley with it." + +"You won't take keer on it for de ole niggah?" said Toby, who was very +much disappointed. "Den I reckon I'd best bury it somewhars in de +ground." + +"You will surely lose it if you do that," protested Marcy. "Does Bud +Goble know you've got it? Well, if he gets after you, he'll thrash you +till you will be glad to tell where you have concealed it; but if you +can tell him that it is in Mr. Riley's hands, he'll not bother you or +the money, either. Now run along, parson. I see a uniform over there +among the trees, and I shouldn't be surprised if the corporal was inside +of it." + +The old negro hastened into the woods, hiding the stocking somewhere +about his patched clothes as he went, and Marcy brought his piece to +"support arms," and paced his beat while waiting for the corporal to +come up. It wasn't the corporal, after all, but a private like himself, +who had come out to study his lesson and roll about on the grass. He did +not speak to the sentry, but he was so close to him that Marcy could not +have held any more private conversation with old Toby. + +"It is nothing more than I expected," thought Marcy, recalling some of +the incidents the negro had described to him. "Union men all over the +South have been the victims of hotheaded secessionists, like those who +compose that Committee of Safety, and now we're going to have the same +sort of work right here in our midst. I don't believe that Bud Goble has +organized a company for the purpose of running Northern sympathizers out +of the State; he said that just to frighten Toby and a few others. But +if he has, I hope he will bring them up here some night and try to take +Dick Graham and me out of the building. I am glad those men had the +courage to defy him to his face, and wish I could have seen Bud about +the time the elder was walking him out of the yard." + +It would seem from this that old Toby had told Marcy some things we do +not know, and that Bud Goble's plans were not working as smoothly as he +could have wished. Let us return to Bud and see where he was and what he +had been doing since he took leave of his wife in the morning. + +He left home with a light heart and a pocketful of bullets, and took a +short cut through the woods toward Barrington. A few of the bullets were +to be expended upon such unwary small game as might chance to come in +his way, and with the rest, if circumstances seemed to require it, +intended to make a show of being ready for business. He struck a +straight course for the little grocery and dry-goods store, at which he +had for years been an occasional customer, and thought himself fortunate +to find the proprietor in. He was busy dusting the counter, but he was +not alone. There were three or four others present, and when we tell you +that they were Bud Goble's intimate friends, you will know just what +sort of men they were. + +"Mornin'," said Bud cheerfully. "Famblies all well? Mine's only jest +tol'able, thank ye. What's the news?" + +"There aint none," was the reply from one, to which the others all +assented. "Are there any with you?" + +"Well," said Bud slowly, at the same time edging around so that he could +keep an eye on the storekeeper and note the effect his words produced +upon him. "I don't rightly know what you-uns call news. I reckon you-uns +heared that I was workin' for that Committee of Safety, didn't you?" + +They had heard something of it in a roundabout way. Was there any money +in the job, and what was he expected to do? + +"There's a little money into it," answered Bud. "Jest about enough to +pay me for my time an' trouble, but no more. I've gin some of them +loud-talkin' folks, who think a nigger is as good as a white man, notice +that they had best cl'ar outen the 'Federacy before they are drove out, +an' go up to the United States among them that believe as they do." + +"An' it sarves 'em jest right," observed one of Bud's friends, helping +himself to a handful of crackers. "I'd like to see the last one of 'em +chucked out bag an' baggage. But s'pose they wont go?" + +"I'm hopin' they wont, for that's where the fun'll come in. That'll give +we-uns--" + +Just at this moment Bud was interrupted by the entrance of "Elder +Bowen's nigger Sam," who removed his hat respectfully and kept on to the +counter where the storekeeper was at work. Bud and his friends listened +and heard him say: + +"I aint got no change dis mawnin', Mr. Bailey, but--" + +"That's all right, Sam," Mr. Bailey hastened to reply. "You are an +honest workingman, and your credit is good. What did you say you wanted? +A dress and a pair of shoes for your old woman? Well, how will these +suit you?" + +"Dog-gone the nigger, why didn't he keep away a little longer?" +whispered Bud. "Them's the very things I wanted, an' mebbe ole man +Bailey won't want to trust two fellers at once." + +"Then lick him," suggested one of his friends. "He's nobody but a +babolitionist, anyway." + +"That's what I allow to do," answered Bud. + +When the negro had received the goods he asked for, he leaned against +the counter as if he were in no particular hurry to go away. This suited +Bud, who drawled, in lazy tones: + +"Yes; I've warned some of them nigger-lovers that they aint wanted here +no longer'n it'll take 'em to get out, but I am hopin' they won't leave, +kase that's where the fun'll come in. I'm gettin' up a company of +minute-men to sorter patrol the kentry hereabouts, an' them that don't +do to please us we are goin' to lick, niggers _an_' whites. We jest aint +goin' to have no more talkin' agin the 'Federacy, an' them that's for +the North kin go up there. That's what the committee says. Will you-uns +jine?" + +Of course they would, to a man, and they would like nothing better. They +were ready at any time to prove their devotion to the Confederacy by +thrashing or hanging everybody, white _and_ black, who did not believe +that secession and disunion were the best things that could happen for +the South. Then Bud, seeing that he had plenty of backing, waxed +eloquent and made a short but stirring speech. He dwelt upon the wrongs +and insults that had been heaped upon the Southern States ever since +they had shown themselves foolish enough to join the Union; denied that +a black man was as good as a white gentleman; loudly proclaimed that all +Northerners, as well as those who thought as they did, were cowards; +denounced as traitors all Southern men who did not shout for President +Davis, and said they ought and must be whipped out of the country; and +through it all he kept watch of the two at the counter to see what +impression his patriotic words made upon them. + +Mr. Bailey was a little man who carried the weight of sixty-five years +upon his shoulders, and Bud talked for his especial benefit, hoping to +frighten him into compliance with the demands he was about to make upon +him. Mr. Bailey was opposed to secession, and never hesitated to say so +when politics came up for discussion, as they often did among his +customers; but Bud was sure the old fellow was frightened now. He did +not say a word in reply, but used his brush with more energy, and now +and then rapped the counter with the back of it; and these, Bud thought, +were unmistakable signs of timidity or, at least, nervousness. + +As for darkey Sam, there was no doubting the impression Bud's eloquence +made upon him. He was greatly terrified, for he remembered that his +master had once denounced secession from the pulpit, and told the +members of his congregation just what they might make up their minds to +endure if it were consummated. Possibly Bud Goble recalled the +circumstance, for he looked very hard at Sam while he was talking. As +soon as the speech was brought to a close Sam sidled along toward the +door, looking into the show-cases as he went, and presently found +himself safe on the porch. Then he clapped his hat on his head and +started for home post-haste. + +"I reckon he's gwine tell the parson what you said," exclaimed one of +Bud's friends. "Well, I do think Elder Bowen is one of the dangerousest +men in the whole kentry, an' that he'd oughter be snatched outen that +church of his'n before he has time to preach up any more of them pizen +docterings. Warned him yet?" + +"No; but I allow to do it soon's I get through with my business yer," +replied Bud, throwing his rifle into the hollow of his arm, and +sauntering up to the counter where Mr. Bailey stood. He affected a +careless, confident swagger, which was by no means indicative of his +feelings. Now that he could look closely at him he found that the +storekeeper wasn't frightened enough, and that his speech had not +accomplished half as much as he meant to have it. "You don't seem to be +right peart this mornin'," he continued. "What's the matter of ye?" + +"Nothing whatever," answered Mr. Bailey. "I'm as gay as a lark. +Something wanted?" + +"I reckon," replied Bud. "I want the same things you gin that there +nigger a minute ago--a dress an' a pair of shoes for my ole woman." + +"Got any money to pay for 'em?" + +"Not jest this minute, but I shall have plenty this evening, an' then +mebbe I'll--" + +"Can't help it," said Mr. Bailey, shaking his head. + +"Wont you trust me?" + +"No, I won't. I told you so the other day, and when I say a thing of +that sort I mean it." + +"Do you give credit to a nigger before my face an' eyes, an' then refuse +it to a white gentleman?" shouted Bud. "What do you do that-a-way for?" + +"I run my business to suit myself," answered Mr. Bailey, without the +least show of irritation. "If you don't like it, go somewhere else with +your trade. I don't want it, any way." + +"You think a nigger better'n a white man, do ye?" yelled Bud, growing +red in the face. "What do you say to that, boys? Look a here," he added. +"Mebbe you don't know who I am. I've got the power an' the will, too, to +turn you houseless an' homeless into the street before you see the sun +rise agin." + +"I'll make moonlight shine through you while you are doing it," said the +old man boldly. + +"You will?" Bud brought his fist down upon the counter with tremendous +force, and then he dived down into his pocket and brought out a handful +of bullets, which he placed before the storekeeper. "Do you see them? I +want to warn ye that they was molded a-purpose to be shot into traitors +like yerself; an' I brung 'em along to show ye--" + +"Take 'em off the counter. I've just dusted it," interrupted Mr. Bailey; +and with the words he hit the bullets a blow with his brush that sent +them in every direction. + +Bud Goble was astounded, and so were his friends, who had never dreamed +that there was so much spirit in that little, dried-up man. The former +looked at him a moment, and then he looked at the bullets that were +rolling about on the floor. + +"Come around yer an' pick 'em up, the very last one of 'em, an' say yer +sorry ye done it, an' that you'll never do the like agin, or I'll take +ye up by the heels an' mop the floor with ye," said Bud, in savage +tones. "Come a-lumberin'." + +"Pick 'em up yourself, and next time keep 'em off my counter," was Mr. +Bailey's answer. "What did you put them there for, any way?" + +A glance at his friends showed Bud that they expected him to do +something, and he dared not hesitate. He handed the nearest man his +rifle to hold for him, peeled off his coat, gave a yell that was heard a +block away, and was about to jump up and knock his heels together, when +he happened to look toward Mr. Bailey, and stopped as if he had been +frozen in his tracks. The old man was waiting for him. He leaned against +a shelf behind the counter, but he held a cocked revolver in his hand. + +[Illustration: MR. BAILEY ASTONISHES BUD GOBLE.] + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + BUD GOBLE'S WATERLOO. + +Did Bud Goble leap over the counter and wrench the threatening weapon +from Mr. Bailey's grasp with one hand, while he throttled him with the +other? We are obliged to say that he did not. He stood quite still, for +something told him it would be dangerous to do anything else. This was +the first time his courage had ever been tested, and he was found +wanting; but, strange as it may appear, his friends did not think any +the less of him for it. Under like circumstances they would have showed +the same reluctance to pass the intervening counter. It was not Bud's +lack of courage, but Mr. Bailey's pluck, that excited their ire. The +latter had insulted their friend by refusing him the credit he had +granted a field-hand, and now he had gone so far as to threaten Bud with +a weapon. It opened their eyes to the fact that Union men were dangerous +things to have in the community, and that they ought to have been driven +out long ago. + +"Sile, you've got the rifle," said Bud, who gained courage when his +friends closed about him. "Why don't you draw a bead on him an' make him +put that thing down?" + +"Can't ye see for yourself that he's got the drop?" replied Silas, who +thought discretion the better part of valor. + +"Laws-a-massy, what's the matter of ye?" exclaimed Bud. "He dassent +shoot." + +"I don't b'lieve in fightin' no man when he's got the drop," repeated +Silas. "Put on yer coat an' take yer rifle, Bud. This aint the onliest +day there is in the world, an' the next time you ax him for the credit +he's willin' to give a nigger, mebbe he'll hearken to ye." + +"Pervided he's able to hearken to anything," observed another. "Look +a-here, ole man, we-uns don't want sich chaps as you be in the kentry." + +"I can easily believe that, but I don't see what you are going to do +about it," answered the storekeeper, still holding the revolver so that +he could cover Bud or any of his friends in a second of time. "I paid +for this property with my own money, and I intend to stay here and enjoy +it; and if any of you dispute my right to do so, I'll make it warm for +you. Now clear out, the whole of you, and don't ever darken my doors +again. I'll not sell you any goods if you come with your pockets full of +cash." + +"We-uns will go this time, kase we aint ready to begin business jest +yet," said Bud, reaching out his hand for his rifle, but taking good +care not to point it in Mr. Bailey's direction. "But we'll come agin +when you aint lookin' for us, an' then you will want to watch out. We're +goin' to drive all you babolitionists outen the kentry, as well as them +fellers up to the 'cademy; an' as for that Gray an' Graham boy, who aint +no kin if their names is alike, we're goin'--" + +Here Bud was interrupted by a poke in the ribs given by one of his +companions, who did not think it prudent for him to say anything about +his plans, if he had any in mind. But he had already revealed enough to +interest Mr. Bailey, who was a firm friend to both the boys whose names +had been mentioned. + +"Those fellows never did you any harm," said he. + +"Didn't, hey?" vociferated Bud. + +"No, they didn't. They bought quinine right here in this store to cure +your wife and children of the ague when you did not have a cent or +credit, either; and they paid the doctor to go and see them when you +were loafing around, too lazy to do anything but eat. If you fool with +those students you'll get something you won't like. You'll have them all +on you." + +"I aint speakin' about them things," shouted Bud, as soon as he could +frame a suitable reply. "They're for the Union, dog-gone 'em. An' didn't +they go an' offer me money to look for that there underground--" + +"Haw, haw!" roared the storekeeper, at the same time raising the muzzle +of his revolver to a level with Bud's head, when the latter, almost +overcome with rage, made a motion as if he were about to draw his rifle +to his shoulder. "That underground railroad business was a joke on you, +wasn't it? But you don't want to fool with Rodney and Dick, for if you +do you will get the worst of it. The students will all help them. +Besides, Rodney is as wild a secessionist as you ever dare be." + +"'Taint so," exclaimed Bud. "I know better." + +"And Dick Graham stands ready to go with his State the minute she pulls +down the old flag and runs up the new one," continued Mr. Bailey. "He +said so the other day when he came in here for a pint of goobers +[peanuts]." + +"I tell ye it aint so," repeated Bud confidently. "Bein' one of the most +prominent and respected citizens of Barrington, I got a letter tellin' +me all about them chaps an' the docterings they're preachin' up. I was +told that the committee wants me to 'tend to their cases, an' I'm goin' +to do it; an' to your case too. Hear me, don't you?" + +"Who wrote that letter?" inquired the storekeeper, who did not think it +necessary to answer the question. + +"I don't know. There wasn't no name hitched to it." + +"Then the writer was a coward," said Mr. Bailey, in a tone of contempt, +"and you ought not to pay the least attention to it. Somebody wants to +bring those boys into trouble, and hopes to use you as a tool. If you +will take advice you will mind your own business and let those students +alone. Look here, Goble," he added suddenly, "if this State goes out of +the Union, will you go with her?" + +"You jest bet I will. I'll go whether she does or not." + +"Will you join the army and fight for her?" + +"Sartingly." + +"Well, we'll see who will go first--you or I." + +"You? Why, dog-gone it, you're for the Union." + +"Of course I am; always was and always shall be; but as I can't control +my State, I shall have to do as she does. So you see, when you tried to +gouge me out of a pair of shoes and a dress awhile ago, you tried to rob +as good a friend of the South as you are yourself. I'll make it my +business to see some of that committee and find out whether or not they +uphold you in such doings. Now, clear out and don't bother me again." + +Almost involuntarily Bud Goble and his friends turned toward the door, +and Mr. Bailey followed them, revolver in hand, to make sure that they +went without trying to "get the drop" on him. As they faced about, +"Elder Bowen's nigger Sam" glided across the porch, but they did not see +him. + +We said the negro, who was alarmed by Bud Goble's fiery speech, started +for home, and so he did; but he had not made many steps before he heard +Goble's voice pitched in a high key, and prompted by curiosity, and a +desire to learn something of the nature and purposes of that company of +minute-men of whom Bud had spoken, he came back and took his stand +beside the open door out of sight. The slaves were all eavesdroppers in +those days, and if anything escaped their notice and hearing, it was not +their fault. They were better posted and took a deeper interest in the +affairs of the day than many people supposed. The Northern papers, which +now and then in some mysterious way came into their hands, just as the +_Tribune_ came into Uncle Toby's hands, told them the truth; while the +white people around them pinned their faith to the falsehoods +disseminated by the secession press. Sam stood on the porch and heard +all that was said and saw all that was done in the store; and when Mr. +Bailey brought the interview to a close by ordering Bud and his +companions to "clear out," Sam made haste to get away before they caught +sight of him. This time he went home and hunted up his master, who was +at work in the garden. + +Bud Goble had encountered an obstacle where he had least expected to +find it; but although he was surprised, and a little disheartened, he +would not admit that he was beaten. All Union men could not be as plucky +as Mr. Bailey was, and Bud determined to try his plan again as soon as +he could rid himself of the company of his four friends. He had no use +for them just now, and if he succeeded in frightening Mr. Bowen into +giving him a ham or a side of bacon, he did not want to be obliged to +share it with any one. + +"That's a trifle the beatenest thing I ever heared of," declared Silas, +who was the first to speak. "I do think in my soul that that ole man +oughter be dealt with. When does that company of your'n meet, Bud, an' +how are we-uns goin' to get into it?" + +"We aint met nowheres yet, an' to tell you the truth, I aint got the +'rangements fairly goin'," was the answer. "What I meant to say was, +that I have been thinkin' of sich a thing; an' you can see from what +happened in the store that a company of that sort is needed, can't you? +S'pose you-uns talk it up. 'Pears like we'd oughter get twenty fellers +of our way of thinkin' together, an' if we can, jest see how much help +we-uns could be to that committee of our'n. Tell 'em what you've seen +an' heared this mornin', that the kentry is full of sich men as Bailey +is, an' that we aint goin' to have 'em here no longer. Now, where'll I +find you-uns agin in about an hour so't we can talk it over? I'll be +back directly I 'tend to a little private business I've got on hand." + +The place of meeting having been agreed upon, Bud hastened away, +confidently expecting to be successful in the attempt he was about to +make to frighten a supply of provisions out of the Methodist minister. +Elder Bowen did not believe in fighting, and of course it would be easy +to make him open his smoke-house as often as he chose to demand it. +Besides, Bud was made happy by a brilliant idea that suddenly popped +into his mind; and in order that there might be no hitch in it at the +critical time, he turned toward the post-office, hoping that he might +find Mr. Riley there. He was not disappointed. Mr. Riley and a good many +other planters about Barrington had taken to loitering around the +telegraph and post offices during the last few months, and were +generally to be met there or in the immediate neighborhood. + +"Well, Goble, what is the news to-day?" he inquired, as Bud drew near +and intimated by a wink that he would like to see him privately. There +had been a time when Mr. Riley would have resented anything like +familiarity on the part of such a man as Goble, but now that he wanted +to use him, he was forced to treat him with a faint show of friendship. + +"I don't get a bit of news of no kind," answered Bud, in a whining tone. +"'Pears like the babolitionists all shet up their mouths soon's I come +around. I've warned a few of 'em, but I aint seen no money for my +trouble yet. My time is wuth a dollar and a quarter a day, an' when I +give it all, it looks to me as though I oughter be paid for it; don't it +to you?" + +"Certainly," replied the planter, putting his hand into his pocket. "Our +committee hasn't been organized long enough to get into working order +yet, and so I shall have to give you something out of my own funds. How +will that do to begin on?" he added, slipping a few pieces of silver +into Bud's ready palm. "Go ahead with your work and come to me when you +want anything. Whom have you warned?" + +"Sarvent, sah," said Bud, pocketing the money. "Thank you very kindly, +sah. Well, I've warned that there ole man Bailey, for one. He's pizen." + +"Let him alone," said Mr. Riley, rather shortly. + +"Why, he's Union the wust kind," exclaimed Bud, who was astonished as +well as disappointed. He had hoped that the planter would tell him to +drive the storekeeper out of town, and so furnish him and his friends +with an excuse for any act of ruffianism they might be disposed to +indulge in. "He'd oughter be whopped, ole man Bailey had, an' drove out +before he has any more time to preach his docterings up amongst the +niggers." + +"You let him alone," repeated Mr. Riley. "He will come out all right. +When the first gun is fired he will be as warm a secessionist as I am. +Who else have you warned?" + +Bud mentioned the names of three or four suspected men whom he had +neither seen nor heard of for a week or more, and finally said that he +was on his way to Elder Bowen's to tell him that he could not get out of +the country any too quick. + +"I don't care what you say or do to that man," exclaimed Mr. Riley, who +grew angry at the sound of the minister's name. "He is dangerous, and +always has been. He takes abolition papers. I don't know how they come +into his hands, the mail being so closely watched, but he gets them, and +I suspect gives them to Toby to read. If I could prove it on him, I +would have him whipped this very night." + +Bud Goble opened his lips to tell Mr. Riley that he could furnish him +with all the evidence he needed, but suddenly remembered that that was +something he intended to use for his own benefit. That was what he was +holding over Toby like an overseer's whip, ready to fall whenever he +didn't hoe his row right, and it was no part of his plan to expose the +old negro unless the latter declined to keep him in provisions, or +refused to surrender his money on demand. So he said nothing about +finding that copy of the _Tribune_ in Toby's cabin the night before, but +came at once to the point he desired to reach. + +"Then there's them boys up to the 'cademy," said he. "They need lookin' +after, some of 'em, the very wust kind." + +"I've heard that the school of which we have been so proud is a hotbed +of treason, but I can hardly believe it," answered Mr. Riley. "No doubt +there is strong love for the old Union there, as there is here in +Barrington; but when the time for action comes, I think the majority of +those boys will go with their States." + +"But there's that Gray an' Graham boy," continued Goble; and it made him +angry to notice that Mr. Riley could scarcely refrain from laughing +outright. "If they was poor boys do you reckon they'd be allowed to hold +out agin the 'Federacy like they do, an' talk agin it? I'll bet they +wouldn't. But they are all rich. I reckon them boys' paps is wuth a +power of money an' niggers." + +"I don't know anything about Graham's family, but Rodney's is wealthy. +His father has six hundred blacks on one plantation. You want revenge, +don't you? Well, I don't see how you are going to get it, for if you +fool with any of the students the others will jump on you, sure." + +"Not if we whop the traitors," exclaimed Bud. + +"Yes, they will. They are as clannish as a drove of wild hogs, and if +one squeals the others will rush to his assistance. You had better take +my advice and pocket the insult Rodney and Dick put upon you when they +sent you to look for that underground railroad. Now I think I will go to +the telegraph office and see if there is anything new from Montgomery. +Keep us posted, for we like to know who our enemies are." + +"You bet I will," soliloquized Bud as he turned away, jingling the +silver pieces in his pocket as he went. "But I won't let them two boys +get off easy, nuther. Six hundred niggers on one plantation. They're +wuth eight hundred dollars, I reckon, take 'em big _an_' little, an' +that would make 'em all wuth--" + +When Bud reached this point he stopped and shook his head. Finding the +value of six hundred slaves at an average price of eight hundred dollars +was too much arithmetic for him. He was obliged to content himself with +the knowledge that Rodney's father was worth a good deal of money, and +that Rodney would give five hundred and perhaps a thousand dollars, +rather than be whipped as if he were a black boy. A Southern youngster, +no matter how disobedient and unruly he might be, considered it a +disgrace to be whipped, and the school-teacher who ventured upon +corporal punishment was likely to get himself into serious difficulty. +While Bud was turning these things over in his mind, he came within +sight of Elder Bowen's house. + +"Riley don't care what I do to this chap," said he to himself. "That +means that I can be as sassy as I please, an' mebbe I'll make up my mind +that I'd better lick him before I leave. I'll wait an' see how he acts +when I ax him for some of the things he's got into his smokehouse. Tell +your moster I want to see him directly," he added, addressing a little +black boy who was playing at the foot of the steps that led to the +porch. + +The pickaninny disappeared, but in a few minutes returned with the +announcement-- + +"Marse Joe workin' in de ga'den, an' he say if you want see him you best +come wha' he is." + +"That's an insult that I won't put up with from no babolitionist," +declared Bud, who was about as angry as he could hold; and one would +have thought, from the vicious way he settled his rifle on his shoulder +and crunched the gravel under his feet as he strode around the house, +that he would surely do something when he found himself face to face +with the object of his wrath. + +The first thing that attracted the visitor's attention was a very broad +back covered by a clean white shirt (Bud detested "boiled" shirts, for +he had never had one of his own), and when the owner of that back +straightened up and turned toward him, Bud was confronted by a man who +stood six feet four without his boots, and was built in proportion. He +had tucked up his sleeves to keep them from being soiled, and the white +forearms thus exposed were as muscular as a blacksmith's. He had been +waiting for this visit, for his boy Sam, who came from town a quarter of +an hour before, had told him just what happened in the store, and warned +his master that Bud had said in his speech that he was on the war-path, +and meant to drive every abolitionist out of the country before he quit. +But for all that the minister greeted Bud pleasantly. + +"Well, neighbor Goble, what do you find to shoot this time of year?" +said he. "It is rather early for young squirrels, and turkey and deer +will not be on the game list before September." + +"I aint a-lookin' for little game," answered Bud gruffly. "I'm huntin' +for babolitionists, an' you're one of 'em." + +"Well, now that you have found me what do you purpose doing about it?" +inquired the stalwart minister, smiling at Bud in a way the latter did +not like. Perhaps it wasn't going to be so easy, after all, to frighten +him into handing over a ham or a side of meat. + +"I came here pur_pose_ly to tell you that you an' your kind aint wanted +round yer no longer," said Bud. "You take babolition papers an' give 'em +to old Toby to read." + +"Can you prove that assertion?" + +"Yes, I can. I seen one of 'em in his shanty last night, an' had it into +my hand." + +"But can you prove that I gave it to him?" + +"Yes, I can," repeated End, growing bolder by degrees. "Everybody in +town says it's you who spreads them papers around, kase there's no one +else who is low enough down to 'sociate with niggers." + +"That will do. I have heard enough of such talk." + +"But I aint got half through," protested Bud. "One man told me, not +more'n half an hour ago, that if he could prove it was you who give Toby +them papers, he would have you licked before sun-up." + +"Ah! And what would _I_ do?" + +"What would you do?" echoed Bud, who did not quite catch the minister's +meaning. "You'd have to cl'ar yourself or take another an' wuss lickin'. +Go up to the United States where you b'long. You aint wanted here." + +"You don't understand me. If the gentleman of whom you spoke should +attempt any violence, would I submit to it without trying to defend +myself? I don't think I should. I have a double gun with fifteen +buckshot in each barrel, and you may say you have been assured by me +that I will shoot the first man who puts a hostile foot on my gallery +[porch]. Now go." + +"Then you'll shoot--" + +"Go!" interrupted the minister; and Bud ought to have been warned by the +flash in his eye that he was thoroughly in earnest. + +"The best men in town say--" + +"Will you go peaceably," said the minister, pointing toward the gate, +"or shall I be obliged to pick you up and throw you off my grounds?" + +He took a single step forward as he spoke, and in an instant Bud Goble +jumped back and swung his rifle from his shoulder; but before he could +think twice his antagonist, whose agility equaled his strength, was upon +him, the weapon was twisted from his grasp, and Bud buried his face in +the soft earth of a flower-bed. But the minister was not yet done with +him. Holding the rifle in one hand he seized Bud by the neck with the +other, jerked him to his feet, and walked him out of the gate and into +the road at double time. Then he fired the rifle into the air and leaned +the weapon against the fence. + +"I think this ends our interview, neighbor Goble," said he, without the +least sign of anger or excitement, "and I will bid you good-day. The +next time you visit me come in a proper frame of mind, and I will +receive you accordingly; but please do not bring me any more threatening +messages." + +"This beats me," soliloquized Goble, who, after seeing the minister +disappear around the corner of the house, felt of the back of his neck +to make sure that the strong fingers which grasped it a moment before +had not left any holes there. "Who'd a thought that a preacher could a +had sich an amazin' grip? I wasn't no more'n a babby in his hands. Now +what's to be done? Be I goin' to put up with sich an insult? I guess I'd +best set down yer an' think about it." + +Bud Goble was a thoroughly subdued man now. The events of the morning +had satisfied him that open warfare was not his best hold, and that if +he hoped to accomplish anything and retain the confidence of the +committee, he must make a decided change in his tactics. He must work in +secret and under cover of the darkness, and now when it was too late, he +wished he had adopted that method at the outset. If he had he wouldn't +have lost his reputation. There were two men in the neighborhood he was +quite sure he would not trouble again unless he had a strong force at +his back, for they had threatened to shoot, and Bud believed they were +just reckless enough to do it. When he reached this point in his +meditations he chanced to look up and saw old Uncle Toby emerge from the +thicket on one side of the road, take a few long, rapid steps, and +disappear among the bushes on the other side. He held something tightly +clasped under his coat, and seemed so anxious to avoid observation that +Bud's suspicions were aroused at once. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE COMMITTEE AT WORK. + +Elder Bowen's negro boy Sam, who was working among the flower-beds with +his master, sought safety in flight when Bud Goble's coming was +announced, and, standing concealed behind an evergreen in the garden, +saw and heard all that passed between the minister and the man who had +come there to browbeat him. When Bud was ejected from the grounds Sam +came out from his hiding-place grinning broadly. + +"Marse Joe," said he, as soon as he could make himself understood, "dat +beats all de sermons you ever preached all holler. It does so. But, +Marse Joe, I 'fraid Marse Gobble gwine make ole Toby trouble all along +of dat babolition paper. De nex' time he go dar he ax Uncle Toby whar he +got dat money of his'n stowed away. Dat's what I 'fraid of, sah.' + +"I didn't think of that, and perhaps it would be well for you to run +over and put Toby on his guard," replied Mr. Bowen. "Neighbor Goble is +on the war-path sure enough, and he would just as soon rob that old +negro as to rob a white man. Tell Toby to give the money into his +master's keeping." + +Sam obeyed instructions, but we have seen that the suspicious old Toby +was not willing to listen to advice. He was terribly alarmed when Sam +told him what Bud had been about that morning, and taking advantage of +his master's absence, and of his own position as helper about the +stables, he dug up his money which he had buried before daylight, and +posted off to the academy to have a talk with one of the Gray boys. He +kept to the fields and gave the roads a wide berth; but he was obliged +to cross one highway during his journey, and that was the time Bud Goble +saw him. The old negro's actions excited Bud's interest as well as his +suspicions, and having nothing else to do, he rose from his log and +followed him. + +And right here it is necessary to make a short explanation in order that +you may understand what happened afterward. Rodney and Marcy Gray had +been studying at the academy for almost four years, and although they +were popular among all classes in and around Barrington, there were +some, whites as well as blacks, who invariably got them mixed up, and +never could tell one from the other unless they chanced to meet them in +company. It was Rodney, the rebel, who helped Bud Goble when his family +were all prostrated with the ague, and offered him a reward for finding +that underground railroad, but it was Marcy, the Union boy, who picked +the banjo with superior skill, danced and sung his way into the +affections of the plantation darkies, and saved old Toby's melon-patch +from being devastated by the students. These two had eaten a good many +of old Toby's melons, and more than one Thanksgiving turkey which graced +his table had been bought with their money. Believing from what Sam told +him that his hard-earned wealth was not safe as long as he knew where it +was, Toby decided that one of these two boys, the one he happened to +find first, should be its custodian. Dick Graham, who was on duty at the +front gate, told him where Marcy was, and the old man lost no time in +making his way through the woods to his friend's beat. But Marcy +declined to accept the responsibility, as we have seen, and so Toby took +the money back and hid it in the ground whence he had taken it. He would +have been better off--almost two hundred dollars better off--if he had +done as Mr. Bowen and Marcy advised him to do; for Bud Goble dogged his +footsteps every rod of the way, and Toby never once suspected it. Bud +did not hear what passed between Toby and the sentry--he dared not go +close enough for that; but he saw the stocking that went back and forth +between the iron pickets of the fence, and he was in plain sight of the +negro when he returned it to its hiding-place. + +Here again Toby made a great mistake. If he had concealed the money +under his cabin, within hearing and scenting distance of the coon dogs +that were so numerous in the quarter, it would have been comparatively +safe; but he was so very much averse to having it around him that he +took it behind his garden-patch, rolled a decayed log from its bed and +buried it there, covering it with his hands, and rolling the log back to +its place. + +[Illustration: TOBY HIDES THE MONEY.] + +"Dar now," said Toby, loud enough to be overheard by the man who was +crouching in the bushes not more than twenty yards away. "Nuffin can't +find it dar 'ceptin' de hogs, an' dey can't eat it." + +"That's a fact," soliloquized Goble, chuckling to himself. "But a +two-legged hog like me can eat an' wear the things it will buy. Who +keers for preachers an' storekeepers now? 'Pears like this mornin's work +is goin' to turn out all right after all; don't it to you?" + +Through the rails of the fence Bud Goble watched Toby until he +disappeared in the quarter, and then he crept up to the log. In ten +minutes more old Toby's money was tightly buttoned under the breast of +his coat, and Bud, highly elated with the result of his morning's labor +was taking long strides toward his cabin. + +"I aint got the dress an' shoes I promised to have for ye when I come +home," said Bud, when he burst in upon his wife, whom he found engaged +in her usual occupation--sitting in front of the fire with her elbows +upon her knees and a cob pipe between her teeth. "Old man Bailey +wouldn't trust me, but Toby wasn't so perticular. He hid this here +stockin' under a log, an' bein' afeared that the hogs might come along +an' root it up an' carry it away, I jest thought I'd take keer on it for +him," added Bud, laughing loudly at his own wit. + +The woman's eyes glistened as she thrust her bony arm into the stocking +and brought out a handful of shining silver coin. She would have her +dress now in spite of old man Bailey; and as for Toby--she gave scarcely +a thought to the consternation and alarm that would almost overwhelm him +when he discovered his loss, for a field hand had no business to have a +stocking half-full of money, when white folks did not know where their +next meal was coming from. Her only fear was that Mr. Riley might +somehow learn that Bud had taken the money, and then there would be +trouble. + +"You must look out for that yourself," Bud declared. "I've done my part, +an' if you can't hide the stockin' where nobody can't find it, an' keep +a still tongue in your head about our havin' it, you aint the woman I +take you for. Now give me what you think your dress'll cost, an' a +trifle more to put in bacon an' meal, an' I'll go an' get 'em." + +His wife complying with the request, Bud hung his rifle upon its hooks +over the fireplace and posted off to Barrington, where a surprise, that +was not altogether an agreeable one, awaited him. He could not find any +of his friends, but every one on the street, with whom he exchanged a +word of greeting, seemed to know all about the adventures he had had +that day. Bud didn't mind being told that he had permitted a little old +man, who could not stand against a twelve-year-old boy, to scare him +with a revolver, for he was not the only one in that scrape. Four other +men had stood on the outside of the counter while Mr. Bailey talked to +them as he pleased; but when folks came to joke him for being walked out +of the yard by a preacher, it was more than he could endure. + +"Jest let him get the grip on you that he got on me, an' he'll make the +best among ye walk turkey," Bud retorted sharply. "There aint a man in +town that's got any business with him, if he is a preacher. But let me +tell ye: He aint by no means heared the last of me yet." + +Bud saw signs of suppressed excitement on all sides and in the face of +every man he met; but, conceited as he was, he could not believe that +the excitement was occasioned by the incidents of which he had been the +hero. They might have had something to do with the grave look he saw on +Mr. Riley's face as the latter hurried by him without speaking, but Bud +believed that there was something else in the wind of which he had not +heard. It had such a depressing effect upon him that he transacted his +business with as little delay as possible and went home. + +"There's goin' to be doin's of some sort or another about yer, an' +before long, too," said he, as he handed his wife the articles he had +bought for her, and deposited the bag containing the meal and bacon on +the floor. "I don't know what's up, but Riley an' among 'em look sorter +uneasy. Mebbe that outbreak old woman, that's what's the matter, sure's +you're born. That outbreak's comin', an' who knows but it'll be here +this very night?" + +"Good lands save us!" exclaimed Mrs. Goble, in alarm; and even her +husband looked as though he would have liked to go to a little safer +place than Barrington was, if he had only known where to find it. + +"Yes, sir, that's jest what's the matter," repeated Bud. "Riley's +somehow got wind of it, an' that's what made him look so glum. Why +didn't he stop an' tell me all about it, I'd like to know. I'll jest +tell him he mustn't do that a-way no more, kase it aint right long's I +am workin' for that committee. Say," he continued, lowering his voice +almost to a whisper. "When John Brown made that raid of his'n, +Barrington was one of the places that was marked on his map to be +burned, kase there was more niggers here than white folks. 'Member it, +don't you?" + +"Good lands!" cried Mrs. Goble, who, if she had ever before heard of the +circumstance, had quite forgotten all about it. + +"That's what Riley says," continued Bud, "an' who knows but the thing +we've been a-dreadin' is comin' now? They do say that there's guns an' +things hid somewheres in the woods--" + +"You don't tell me!" + +"It's jest what I do tell ye, kase I've heard it often. Of course the +niggers knows where them guns is, an' when they an' the babolitionists +like Elder Bowen get ready, they'll fetch 'em out an' go for us." + +In a very short time Bud succeeded in talking himself into a most +uncomfortable frame of mind. He did not feel quite safe at home, for his +cabin was exposed, being fully a quarter of a mile from the nearest +house, and he was afraid to go into town. His utter ignorance of the +nature of the danger that threatened him made the situation hard to +bear. As for fighting in case he were attacked--that was something Bud +had not yet thought of. He would have preferred to run. His wife was so +badly frightened that she could scarcely cook the dinner, and Bud could +eat but little of it after it was cooked; but he smoked more than his +share of tobacco, managed to run a few extra bullets for his rifle, and +to bring in a supply of light-wood sufficient to keep a bright fire +burning during the night. + +As the sun sank out of sight behind the trees, and daylight faded and +darkness came on, Bud's fears grew upon him. He dared not stay in the +cabin for fear that some evil-minded Union man might slip up behind it, +and shoot him through some of the cracks where the chinking had fallen +out, so he drew one of the rickety chairs in front of the door and sat +upon it, with his rifle for company. That was a little better than being +cooped up within doors, but the unwonted silence that brooded over the +surrounding woods distressed him. + +"Durin' all the years we've lived yer I never seen the road so deserted +as it is to-night," he said, in a whisper to his wife. "There's always +somebody goin' one way or t'other, but now they seem to have holed up." + +"Mebbe they're feared the outbreak'll ketch 'em," Mrs. Goble suggested. +"What does it look like, any way?" + +"Now, listen at her!" exclaimed Bud, in accents of disgust. "'Tain't a +hant that'll run after you, all dressed up in white, an' retch out its +hands to grab--" + +"Don't, don't!" cried his wife, shuddering perceptibly and covering her +eyes with her hands to shut out the picture that Bud's words had +conjured up. "Don't talk that a-way." + +"Well, then, an outbreak is a-a-thing where the niggers an' +babolitionists run around, whoopin' an' yellin' like they was wild +Injuns, shootin' the men an' scalpin' the women folks an' burnin' an' +stealin'," said Bud. "That's what an outbreak is, an' you can see for +yourself what will happen to us if one of 'em gets loose in Barrington. +I wish't somebody would come along from over town so't I could ax him +how things is goin' there." + +But no one came, and for long hours Bud Goble sat there, listening and +peering into the darkness, and in momentary expectation of hearing or +seeing something alarming. About midnight, however, the excitement +began. At that hour Bud mustered up courage enough to start on a trip +around the cabin, and when he got to the back of it, where he could look +through the tops of the trees toward Mr. Riley's house, he stopped as if +he had suddenly been deprived of the power to go a step farther. The sky +in that direction was glowing with a brighter red than he had ever seen +at sunset, and the longer he looked at it, the brighter it grew. Beyond +a doubt Mr. Riley's house was on fire. When this thought flashed through +Bud's mind, the cold chills crept all over him, and instead of hastening +to render what assistance he could in saving the planter's property, he +turned and ran into the cabin, banging the door behind him, and dropped +the heavy bar to its place. + +"Good lands!" exclaimed Mrs. Goble, whom her husband, in his excitement +and terror had upset, chair and all, in front of the fireplace. + +"Don't stop to talk, old woman," said Bud, in a hoarse whisper, "but get +up an' fly around an' do something. The outbreak has come like I told +you it would. Riley's house is a mask of fire. If you don't b'lieve it +peep through this yer crack." + +For a minute or two the deep silence that reigned in the cabin was +broken only by the hurried breathing of its frightened inmates, and then +there came a sound from the outside--a quick, heavy step on the hard +ground, followed by the fumbling of a hand for the latchstring. Bud's +face grew as white as a sheet, his knees trembled under him, and the +muzzle of his rifle, which he tried to point toward the door, covered +every square foot of surface on that side of the cabin in two seconds' +time. + +"Who's there?" he demanded, in quavering tones. "Speak up, for there's +a bullet comin' right through the door where you stand." + +"What's the matter of the fule?" inquired the man on the outside; and +Bud recognized the voice of one of his friends. "Lemme in." + +Bud was only too glad to comply. He threw up the bar, opened the door, +and Silas Walker same in the man who held his rifle in the store while +he was making ready to punish Mr. Bailey for refusing him credit. Bud +was glad to see that he was not the only one who had been alarmed and +excited by that blaze in the sky. Silas's face had no color in it to +speak of, and he trembled as he moved across the floor. + +"How did you get home so quick?" were the first words he spoke. + +"Who? Me?" cried Bud. "I've been home sense noon; aint I, old woman?" + +"Then who done it?" questioned Silas. + +"Done what?" + +"Set the elder's house on fire." + +Bud was astounded, and so was his wife. The former looked sharply at his +visitor for a moment, and then backed toward the nearest chair. + +"Isn't it Riley's house?" he gasped. + +"Course not. I can see it plain from my door, an' there's Riley's house +standin' up safe an' sound as it ever was. It's Elder Bowen's, fast +enough. I kinder thought you done it to pay him for shovin' you outen +his lot by the neck, and I said to my old woman that you had sarved him +jest right; but if you didn't do it, then some of that Committee of +Safety must be to work." + +Bud hadn't once thought of that, and it put an entirely different look +on the matter. If it was true that the "outbreak had come," it must be +that-- + +"There's a light off this a-way, too," observed Mrs. Goble, who to +conceal her agitation from the visitor, had moved around the room until +she found an opening between the logs through which she could look out +toward Barrington. "'Pears like there might be an other house a-fire." + +"Hey-youp!" yelled Bud, whose terror had given away to almost fiendish +exultation. "The outbreak has come, like I said it was goin' to do, but +it aint the babolitionists an' niggers that's doin' of it. It's our own +friends. Come on, Sile. Me an' you mustn't hang back when there's work +to be done for the 'Federacy an' danger to be met." + +"Now's a good time to settle with old man Bailey," Silas remarked. + +"Couldn't find a better if we tried for a whole month," replied Bud +gleefully. "I knowed I would get even with him some day, but I didn't +think it would come before I'd had time to sleep. Hush yer noise, old +woman. Course I'm goin' up there. Riley said the 'Federacy would look +for every man to do his dooty when the time come, an' if it aint come +now, I'd like to know what's the reason. Nobody won't harm you here." + +In spite of the querulous protests of Mrs. Goble, who strongly objected +to being left alone now that "the outbreak had come," Bud and his +companion rushed out of the house and started for Barrington, running +full tilt all the way for fear that the fun would all be over, and the +home of every Union man in town be destroyed before they could get there +to lend a hand. There was no suspicion in their minds that these two +fires, located so far apart, could be the result of accident. If there +was any faith to be placed in that notice in the post-office there had +been an outbreak of some sort threatened, and beyond a doubt the members +of the Committee of Safety had thought it wise to anticipate it by +driving from Barrington every man who was suspected of being implicated +in it. That was the way Bud and Silas reasoned it out, and although they +were not altogether correct, they had hit pretty close to the mark. + +When they reached the cross-roads, so that they could look two ways and +see both the fires at once, they told each other that the houses must +have been burning for some time before they knew it, for the roofs had +fallen in and the blaze was beginning to die away. But where were the +engines? They could not hear any bells or brakes at work, and if there +were any commands given the breeze must have carried them the other +way. + +"That committee of our'n has got everything cut an' dried," was Bud's +gleeful comment. "Let Riley an' them fellers alone for doin' things up +in shape when they get at it. But it won't do for us to say that we +suspicion them, for I've kinder thought, from the way they acted, that +they wanted to stay behine an' pay sich chaps as me an' you for doin' +the work. Now le's scoot off this a-way an' set old man Bailey agoin'." + +Bud Goble, who had taken the precaution to put some matches in his +pocket before leaving home, led the way along the short cut, +congratulating himself on the fact that he and Silas would have a clear +field for their operations, for of course the little storekeeper, and +all of the rest of the men in town, were congregated at the fire. So +intent were they on taking vengeance on Mr. Bailey that they did not go +a step out of their way to locate the fire that was raging in town, but +went straight towards the store, and without taking the least care to +conceal their movements. + +"It's all dark," whispered Silas. "But I don't reckon we'd best go any +furder on the road. Le's go through the field an' come up behine it." + +Before Bud could say a word in reply or make a motion towards acting +upon the suggestion, a clear strong voice directly in front of them, and +but a short distance away, called out: + +"Halt! Who comes there?" + +"Well, I do think in my soul!" exclaimed Silas. "Who do you reckon that +is?" + +Bud was frightened again, and couldn't speak. He could not see anybody, +either; but if it should chance to be old man Bailey who was on the +watch, wouldn't he know in a minute what it was that brought Bud there +at that hour, and would he not be likely to use that revolver if he had +it about him? While Bud was trying to make up his mind what he had +better do, take to his heels, or stand where he was until someone came +up and identified him, the challenge came again, and in more peremptory +tones. + +"Who comes there?" cried the voice; and the question was followed by a +sound that was suspiciously like the clicking of a gun-lock. + +"It's us," replied Bud, who began to think he ought to say something. + +"Halt, us!" commanded the voice. "Corporal of the guard number one!" + +All of this was quite unintelligible to the two men, who could scarcely +have been more bewildered and alarmed if they had found themselves +confronted by one of those "white things" that Bud had described to his +wife; and when they heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps on the +road, without being able to see who or what it was that made the noise, +they could stand it no longer, but faced about and ran for their lives. + +"Halt!" shouted the voice, three times in quick succession; but the +frightened men did not stop. A second later there was a flash and a roar +behind them, and a musket ball whistled through the air and threw up a +little cloud of dust a few yards further along the road. One of those +would-be incendiaries came very near getting his exemption papers that +night. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + THE CALL TO ARMS. + +The suppressed excitement which was so apparent to Bud Goble when he +made his second trip to Barrington, was not confined to the citizens. It +extended even to the military academy, but everybody there knew what +caused it, although they could not look far enough into the future to +see what the result of it was going to be. It was brought about by the +story Marcy Gray told his friend Graham when they met in the guard-tent +after dinner. Dick's cheery laugh ran out loudly when Marcy spoke about +that "underground railroad business," but he looked thoughtful and angry +when he learned that Bud had made up his mind to whip him for it. + +"Didn't I say that he and his kind would take advantage of this +excitement to get somebody into trouble?" exclaimed Dick. "The members +of that Committee of Safety are going to be sorry they ever thought of +getting up such an organization when there wasn't the slightest excuse +for it. I say bully for Elder Bowen; and I hope every one Bud interferes +with will serve him the same way." + +"Well, Marcy," said Ed Billings slowly. "I can't go your Union +sentiments, and I do think you ought to be slapped for preaching them up +the way you do; but I'll not stand by and see Bud Goble do it. Mind +that. If he opens his head to you, knock him down and I'll help." + +"All the boys in school will help," said Cole. "Mr. Riley and the rest +ought to be ashamed of themselves for employing such a man. We'll stand +by Mr. Bailey, too." + +"Of course we will," observed Dick. "Where would we get our goobers if +Bud and Silas should burn him out?" + +News of all kinds travels fast among a lot of boys, and in less than an +hour after Marcy had been relieved every student in school knew what Bud +Goble had threatened to do to him and Dick Graham. To say that they were +angry wouldn't half express it. Dixon was strongly in favor of calling +for volunteers that very afternoon, paying a visit of ceremony to Bud +and Silas, and telling them in plain language that if they did not stop +their nonsense at once and go to work to support their families, they +would have something further to say to them at some future time. + +"That underground railroad business," he began. + +"I didn't have the first thing to do with that," Marcy interposed. "I +didn't know about it until it was all over. If Bud wants revenge, let +him thrash Rodney and Dick; but he'll have to thrash me too, while he is +about it." + +"What's the matter with Rodney?" said Billings, in a low tone. + +Rodney stood around listening but taking no part in the conversation, +and every one noticed that he seemed ill at ease. When his name was +mentioned, he turned about and left the tent very abruptly. + +"He is so mad he dare not trust himself to speak," said Billings. "His +face is as white as a sheet." + +"That underground railroad business isn't at the bottom of the matter at +all," continued Dixon. "That proclamation in the post-office suggested +an idea to some loon, who told Goble that this school needs looking +after. I don't pretend to deny it. I say that every disunionist in it +ought to be chucked out of the gate neck and heels; but it will take +more men than that Committee of Safety and their paid spies can muster +to do it." + +These sentiments were received with a howl of derision from some and +enthusiastic cheers from the rest; but there was one point on which they +were united: The man, or body of men, who attempted violence toward any +of their number would surely suffer for it. There was one among them who +had not looked for this condition of affairs, who was utterly confounded +by it, and who would have given everything he possessed if he could have +undone a certain piece of mischief he had perpetrated in Barrington the +day before. + +During the afternoon many of the students acted and felt as if they were +to be called upon to perform some duty outside of the usual routine of +school work. Dick Graham was not the only one among them who scouted the +idea of an outbreak, while others honestly believed that such a thing +was more than possible. It was even probable. There were a good many +Union men round about, who were quite as fearless as the secessionists +were, and who held to their opinions with as great tenacity, the negroes +outnumbered the whites more than five to one, and what was there to +hinder them from striking a blow for the freedom that would be sure to +come to them if the people of the North made up their minds that +secession ought to be resisted by force of arms? Might it not be +possible that the townspeople were justified, after all, in calling that +meeting; that they had some information that the boys knew nothing +about, and that the lives and property of some of Barrington's +"prominent and respected citizens" might really be in jeopardy? If that +was the case, and the students were ordered out to preserve order, which +side would they support? Would they hang together, or would they split +up into factions? Somehow the students did not like to dwell upon these +questions, but dismissed them as soon they came into their minds. + +When four o'clock was struck by the bell on the tower, the usual number +of boys climbed the fence and set out for Barrington, and although they +came back fully satisfied that there was something afoot, there was not +one among them who had a word of news. + +"The town looks as though it had been struck by a panic," said Dixon. +"There was hardly anybody in the post-office, and the few people I saw +on the streets looked as if they might be on their way to a funeral. I +couldn't get a thing out of any man I saw, so I called on the Taylor +girls, who told me the committee has positive evidence that there is to +be an uprising among the negroes, led by such men as Elder Bowen. Of +course that is all humbug. I don't believe in running, but I really +think it would be pleasanter for the elder if he would sell out and go +up to the United States. He's got Bud Goble down on him--" + +"Did he and Bud have a squabble sure enough?" + +"Naw. Bud got impudent and the elder took him by the neck and showed him +the way to the gate. That's all there was of it. Of course there are a +few who are mad about it, but the majority of the folks I talked with +think Bud was served just right. I wish the colonel would call for +volunteers to guard the elder's house of nights. I'd go for one." + +As usual there was nothing said to the guard runners, and neither was +there another sham fight in the hall, the trouble over the flag having +been settled for a few days at least. The students were very quiet that +evening, and when Dick and Marcy went on post at eight o'clock, there +were no indications of the hubbub and confusion that one of them was +destined to create before he was relieved at midnight. Dick thought it a +part of his duty to keep watch of the town as well as over a portion of +the school grounds, and when he stopped to rest, he always turned his +face toward Barrington. Once he thought he heard faint shouts, and a few +minutes later he was sure he saw the first rays of the rising moon; but +that could hardly be, for, if he remembered rightly, the almanac said +there wasn't to be any moon that night. + +"By gracious!" thought Dick. "Can it be a fire?" + +He glanced toward the archway to make sure that the corporal was not +watching him, and then did a thing he had never done before in his life +and was never guilty of afterward. He deserted his post. He opened the +gate without causing the iron latch to click, and ran across the road +until he came to the fence on the opposite side. This brought him out of +range of a clump of trees that obstructed his vision at the gate, and +also enabled him to look around the edge of the piece of woods behind +which Marcy Gray was pacing his lonely beat. There was not only one +fire, but there were two; and they were a mile or more apart. + +"By gracious!" repeated Dick. + +He pulled off his cap and felt of his hair to see if it was standing on +end, and then hastened back to his post, closed the gate, and summoned +the corporal of the guard. + +"I was ordered to report anything that looked like a blaze," said Dick, +when the non-commissioned officer came up. "Just cast your eye in that +direction and tell me--" + +"Great Scott!" exclaimed the corporal. + +"See it, don't you?" said Dick. "Well, now, look over that way, and tell +me if there isn't another just breaking out." + +Dick pointed toward the woods, which were so thick that not the first +glimmer of light could come through them, and although the corporal bent +almost to the ground and twisted himself into all sorts of uncomfortable +shapes, he was obliged to confess that he could not see anything that +looked like a fire. + +"I'm sure I saw it not more than a minute ago," said Dick, who, of +course, did not tell the corporal that he had been several yards from +his post when he saw it. "Perhaps if you go across the road you can get +a view of it." + +The corporal went, and one look was enough to satisfy him. When he +returned he was highly excited. + +"The niggers are at it, sure as you live," said he. "That's right in +range of Mr. Riley's house." + +"Too far to the right for that," replied the sentry. "Looks to be more +like Elder Bowen's." + +"It can't be," exclaimed the corporal incredulously. "The negroes +wouldn't hurt him." + +"No; but the secessionists might." + +"Well, I--eh?" + +"I tell you the boot's on the other foot," said Dick confidently. "It's +Union property that's being destroyed this moment, and you'll find it +out to-morrow. Why don't you go in and report?" + +The non-commissioned officer thought it best to act upon the suggestion. +He ran into the building, and when he returned he was accompanied by the +officer of the guard, who took a long look at the two fires before he +went in to call the colonel. Then the latter hurried out and took a +look, and the two talked in low, earnest tones; and although Dick and +the corporal listened with all their ears, they could not catch a word +that gave them a hint of the course they had decided to pursue. But they +found out when the long roll echoed through the building, being followed +almost immediately by a shuffling of feet which announced that the +students were hastening to the armory. After five minutes or so of +silence so deep that Dick could hear the beating of his own heart, two +companies of boys, fully armed and equipped, marching four abreast and +moving with a free, swinging stride that took them rapidly over the +ground, emerged from the archway, passed through the gate and turned +down the road leading to Barrington. At the same time a +quartermaster-sergeant put ten rounds of ammunition into Dick's +cartridge-box and ordered him to load his piece. + +"Ball cartridges?" inquired Dick. + +"Correct," replied the sergeant. "If you halt a fellow and he don't +halt, these are the things that will make him halt." + +"Say," whispered Dick. "Hang around a minute; I want to ask you a +question or two." + +The sergeant "hung around" until the officer of the guard started with +the corporal to make his round of the posts, and then began without +waiting for the sentry to question him. + +"There isn't any thing to tell," said he. "The colonel made a little +speech to the boys in which he said that some fanatics, who ought to be +hanged without judge or jury, were destroying property in town, and it +was our business to put a stop to it if we could. He sent two companies, +and the others have been furnished with ball cartridges which they are +to use on anybody who comes fooling around here." + +"Did the colonel say who those fanatics were?" asked Dick. + +"Eh? Course he didn't. We all know who they are." + +"Who are they?" + +"Aw! Go up to the United States, you Yankee." + +"Hold on a bit," said Dick, as the sergeant was about to turn away. "I +ask for information; I do indeed. Does he think the negroes have broken +out?" + +"_And_ abolitionists? Of course he does. That's what we all think. It's +what we know." + +"Say," continued Dick. "The night is quiet, and the little breeze there +is stirring blows toward us from town, doesn't it? Now listen. Do you +hear any fire-bells ringing?" + +"That's so," replied the sergeant; and Dick thought he was reluctant to +say it. "I don't hear a tinkle." + +"That's all I've got to say," added Dick, as he settled his musket on +his shoulder and began pacing his beat. "On a still night like this you +can hear those big church bells four or five miles, and there hasn't one +of them said a word since those fires began. I noticed that from the +start." + +Dixon, the tall Kentuckian, who was marching with his company toward +Barrington, also took note of the fact that the bells, which usually +made noise enough to arouse the planters for miles around when there was +a fire, were silent now, and he called attention to it. He also noticed +that the house that was burning in town belonged to a prominent and +outspoken Union man; that both the engines were disabled (at least the +foremen said they were); that the crowd around the house stood with +their hands in their pockets, making no effort to keep the flames from +spreading to the house of another Union man close by; and that Mr. Riley +and a few other members of the Committee of Safety, who appeared to be +full of business, but who, in reality, were doing just nothing at all, +looked surprised and perplexed when the students marched up and came to +a halt at the corner of the street. There was still another thing that +the observant Dixon noticed and commented upon, and that was, that the +colonel was not in command as he ought to have been. The colonel did not +think it would be policy to take too firm a stand until he had learned +whether his State was going to stay in the Union or go out of it; and so +he sent in command of the students a teacher who had not yet made up his +mind which side he favored. Dixon had always believed that he leaned +toward the Union; and when he marched back to the academy the next +morning about daylight, he was sure of it. + +"I am surprised to see you here, Captain Wilson," said Mr. Riley, who +was the first man to meet him when he brought the students to a halt. + +"And I am surprised to see a man of your calibre get as nervous and +excited over a little fire as you seem to be," replied the captain, in +significant tones. "If I may presume to ask the question, how does it +come that yon are on the ground so early when there are no alarm-bells +ringing? What is the reason those engines are not at work? There's water +enough." + +"I happened to be awake when the fire broke out, and that's the way I +come to be here," answered Mr. Riley sharply. "And the reason those +engines are not playing on the flames is because they can't do it with +their valves out of order. Really, captain, this looks to me like an +uprising." + +"It's the way it looks to me, too. Attention." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"I am going to get my men in position to carry out my orders, which are +to protect property," answered the captain. "I shall put a guard around +the house of every Union man in town." + +"Why, Captain," exclaimed Mr. Riley. "You don't pretend to say that--" + +"I don't pretend to say anything but this," interrupted the captain. +"When the houses of two Union men, situated more than a mile apart, get +on fire at the same time, and no bells are rung, and the engines can't +work because they are out of order, and a big crowd like this stands +about without lifting a finger to save anything when all these things +happen, it makes me suspect that there are firebugs around, and that +they are after Union men and nobody else. At any rate I shall act on +that suspicion. These muskets are loaded with ball, and if any one +attempts to apply a match to a building in the presence of my guards, +he'll get hurt." + +"Three cheers for Captain Wilson," shouted some Union boys in the +ranks. + +"Silence!" commanded the captain. He was angry enough to put that boy +under arrest, but not foolish enough to try to find out who he was. He +knew by past experience that the students would not tell tales on one +another. + +The captain was as good as his word. Paying no attention to the protests +of the different members of the committee who gathered about him, the +details were quickly made, and so it came about that Dixon and five +others, including a non-commissioned officer, found themselves guarding +Mr. Bailey's store. Another and much larger squad was sent down the road +at double time to see what they could do to assist Elder Bowen. + +"Go up that by-path a piece, Dixon," said the corporal, as he stepped +upon the porch that ran in front of old man Bailey's door. "Keep your +eye peeled for fire-bugs, and if you see--" + +"Hey, there!" shouted a voice from the inside of the store. "Get off +that porch." + +"On the watch, are you?" replied the corporal. "Well, we'll watch too, +if you will give us some candy to eat while we are doing it. Come out +and see the Union men burn up. It will be your turn next." + +Mr. Bailey was astonished--at least the corporal thought he was, for he +heard him talking to himself as he stumbled around in the dark searching +for a jar of candy. The old man had not looked for anything like this. +Being on the watch he knew when the fire in town broke out, and +believing that Bud Goble was at work, he began patroling his store with +his revolver in his hand, ready to give the incendiaries a warm +reception if they came near him. This was what the old man told the +corporal when he opened the door and passed out the candy and a bag of +peanuts. + +"The nuts are for Graham, if he is with you," said he. "I never saw such +an appetite as that boy's got for goobers." + +"But he isn't here," replied the corporal. "He is on guard at the +academy. Now tell me all you know about this business. I'm here to guard +your property, although I can't see the sense of it. Mr. Riley wouldn't +let Bud touch you." + +"I don't think he would if he knew it, for he knows just where I stand," +answered Mr. Bailey. "But Bud might take it into his crazy head to +operate on his own hook, and that is what I am afraid of." + +"Halt!" shouted Dixon, who had scarcely taken the position assigned him +before he discovered Bud and Silas coming. + +"There!" exclaimed Mr. Bailey. "I'll bet that's Bud. If it isn't, what +is he sneaking around toward the back of the store for?" + +"All right," replied the corporal. "I'll give him such a scare that +he'll never trouble you again. If he doesn't tell a pretty straight +story I'll march him before Captain Wilson." + +As he spoke he stepped off the porch and started toward Dixon's post, +and it was the sound of his footsteps that frightened Bud and his +companion into a run. He was really alarmed when he heard the report of +Dixon's piece. + +"You've played smash on your watch, old fellow," said he, as he hastened +to the sentry's side. + +"Can't help it," was Dixon's answer. "Orders are orders." + +"Who was it?" + +"Bud Goble for one. I recognized his voice; but I don't know who his +companion was." + +"Did you hit either of them?" + +"Guess not. I shot to hit if they were firebugs, and to miss if they +were not. They both ran away, so I reckon they were innocent of any +wrong intent; but they ought to have stopped when I told them." + +The corporal walked up the road a few hundred yards, but could not see +anything of Bud and his friend. They had taken themselves safely off. +Just as he got back to Dixon's post a sentry on the other side of the +store shouted out a challenge. + +"I told you you had played smash," said the corporal. "The captain has +come up to inquire into the matter." + +That was just who the new-comer was, as the corporal found when he +responded to the sentry's call; but he did not have a word of fault to +find with the way Dixon had obeyed orders. His men had been commanded to +halt everybody who came near their beat, and to fire upon all who did +not come in and give an account of themselves. He was excited, and +possibly expressed his sentiments with more freedom in the presence of +his non-commissioned officer than he ought to have done. + +"Dixon did right," said he. "The colonel told me to protect property, +and if he doesn't approve of the measures I have taken to do it, he can +send somebody else in command the next time he finds it necessary to +order out a company of students. These are terrible times, corporal, and +they are getting worse every day. Terrible times when neighbors are +turned against one another as they seem to be in this town." + +"It's some consolation to know that they can't be much worse, sir," +observed the corporal. + +"My dear boy, you haven't seen the beginning of it," replied the captain +sadly. "I don't think you will be troubled again to-night, but carry out +your orders to the letter. That's all you have to do." + +Whether or not the colonel's prompt action in sending two hundred armed +students into town operated as a check upon the firebugs (if there were +any), the boys did not know; but when daylight came and the sentries +were called in, and the column formed preparatory to marching back to +the academy, they were all satisfied of one thing: They had made any +number of enemies among the townspeople by their night's work. + +"We've made a blunder, sure's you're born," said Billings angrily. + +"Tell us something we don't know," said the boy who marched at his +elbow. "I saw _that_ the minute Mr. Riley came up and spoke to the +captain. But what got it through your head at this late hour?" + +"I wouldn't have had it happen for anything," continued Billings. "We've +got every member of that Committee of Safety down on us, and they are +the best men in town. They wouldn't even look at me when they passed my +beat, but always turned their heads as if they did not want to see me." + +"Who cares for that?" demanded Dixon. "If they want to get down on us +because we carried out our orders, let 'em get. If their arrangements +have been interfered with, let them go up to the academy and look cross +at the colonel. He's the man." + +"Well, I know one thing," observed Cole. "If the colonel wants to send +any more boys into town on an errand like this, he'll send somebody +besides me. I'll refuse duty." + +"Hear, hear!" exclaimed every one of the students who were close enough +to Cole to catch his words. + +The boys who had been left at the academy were not turned out to receive +their returning comrades, who marched to the armory looking more like +culprits than like boys who had tried to do their duty, ordered arms +spitefully, and broke ranks sullenly. + +"What's the meaning of this, I'd be pleased to know?" Dixon demanded of +Marcy Gray and Dick, who were the first to greet him. "Where's our +speech of welcome? Why doesn't the colonel pat us on the back and say: +'Well done, little boys?'" + +"This is the reason," answered Dick. "Shortly after I was relieved, a +delegation from that Committee of Safety rode up and interviewed the +colonel for half an hour." + +"Aha!" exclaimed Dixon. "We stepped on their toes, didn't we? Well, we +suspected it from the first. Some of the fellows declare they'll not go +another time, but I will. As long as I stay here I'm going to obey +orders, I don't care what they are." + +"I don't think you will ever be called upon for like service again," +said Marcy. "The colonel has had a lesson of some kind. He looks as +though he had lost his best friend. Heigh-o!" he added, stretching his +arms and yawning. "What's the next thing on the programme? Will Fort +Sumter be reinforced?" + +Dixon couldn't say as to that, but there was one thing of which he was +sure: This backing and filling on both sides couldn't last much longer, +and the first thing they knew there would be an explosion of some sort, +and it would come from Charleston harbor. + +The students were not disturbed again that night, and on the following +day things passed off much as they usually did, only the colonel, to +quote from Dixon, was cross and snappish, not having had time to get +over pouting about the lesson he had received the night before. During +the day it leaked out that Mr. Riley and his friends had talked to him +very plainly, told him that it was absolutely necessary for the peace +and safety of the town that the Union men should be driven out of it, +and that the colonel's interference with the committee's plans was, to +say the least, unfriendly to the cause of the South. It was also +reported that the colonel had promised he would never do the like +again. + +"That means destruction to the Union men," said Marcy, in a tone of +contempt. "I believe I'll go home. I don't care to serve under a man who +has no more pluck than the colonel seems to have." + +If he had started at once he might have saved himself some anxiety, and +would certainly have carried away with him a better opinion of his +cousin Rodney than he had two days later. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + BUD'S MESSENGER IN TROUBLE. + +Although the hours from four until six in the afternoon were devoted to +recreation, it was expected that those of the students who wished to +visit friends in town would ask for a pass before attempting to leave +the grounds; but we have seen that they didn't. There were some +professional guard-runners among them, and on this particular afternoon +they appeared in full force. + +"Come on, old fellow," Billings shouted to Marcy Gray, who was carrying +a camp-chair toward a spreading maple that stood near the guard tent. + +"No; I think I will stay here and try to read," replied Marcy. "I know +this book will not quarrel with me, but some of the Barrington people +might. There must be a good deal of excitement down there, and I +shouldn't think you would care to go." + +"It's the very reason we do care to go," replied Rodney, who, with Dick +Graham at his side, was taking long steps toward the fence that +separated the academy grounds from the woods. "We want to see what the +folks think of last night's work. They'll not say a word to Dick and me, +for we were not there." + +"You'll find that that will not make any difference," said Marcy. "They +are down on the school, and you two will have to stand snubbing with the +rest." + +Dick laughed and said he did not believe it, and he and his companion +kept on to the fence, which they climbed without a word of remonstrance +from the sentry, who was obliging enough to turn his back when he saw +them coming. Marcy watched them until they disappeared in the bushes, +and then fastened his eyes on his book; but he could not read. The air +was too full of excitement for that, and he could do nothing but think. +How he passed the time until the guard-runners and those who had +received passes began to return from town, he could not have told. There +was a good deal of feeling among the best of the Barrington people, they +said, but the members of the committee did not blame the academy boys +for marching into town. On the contrary, they were rather gratified at +the promptness with which they "showed up"; for it was an indication +that they would not be found wanting when the critical time came; but +they did not like the way the commandant had of meddling with their +municipal affairs, and had sent Mr. Riley and some others to extort from +him a promise that he would never be guilty of it again. + +"So that report was true," said Dixon, who brought this news to Marcy +Gray, "and that was the lesson the colonel has been pouting over all +day. He gave Mr. Riley the assurance that no matter what happened in +Barrington, not a single boy of us should be allowed outside the grounds +with a musket in his hand." + +"Rodney didn't come home with you, did he?" said Marcy. "I wish he would +make haste, for I should like to get my mail. Do you know where he is?" + +"That reminds me of something I made up my mind to ask you the minute I +got here," answered Dixon; and Marcy judged, by the furtive manner in +which he looked around to make sure there was no one within earshot, +that he did not want anybody else to know what he had to say. "Has +Rodney anything in common with that villain, Bud Goble?" + +"Not by a long shot," exclaimed Marcy indignantly. "Why do you ask? +Don't you know him any better than that?" + +"I thought I did; but the last time I saw him and Dick Graham, they were +searching everywhere for Bud. Graham is, or _was_, all right; there's no +discount on him, but--" + +"But what?" demanded Marcy, when Dixon paused. "Don't say a word behind +Rodney's back that you would not say to his face." + +"I won't," replied Dixon, who was neither angry nor frightened. "I hope +you have been acquainted with me long enough to know that I am not that +sort of fellow. I say Dick is all right, because he will not make a move +either way until his State moves; and in the mean time, he will not want +to do harm to those whose opinions differ from his own. But, Marcy Gray, +that cousin of yours is about half crazy." + +"That's a fact," said Marcy, after thinking a moment. + +"Consequently Rodney is _not_ all right, and there's a heavy discount on +him," continued Dixon. "He is down on everybody who does not think as he +does, and I am afraid--Look here: Why is Rodney so anxious to see Bud +Goble if it isn't to put him up to some mischief?" + +"That's so," replied Marcy thoughtfully. "Why is he?" + +"There was a time when Rodney's blood would have boiled at the idea of +standing by and seeing helpless people served as those two Union men +were served by the members of Mr. Riley's committee last night, but it +isn't so now," continued Dixon. "He believes that Northern sympathizers +ought to be punished, and he don't care how it is done or who does it!" + +"But Dick Graham is with Rodney, and you think Dick is all right," Marcy +reminded him. "Dick wouldn't be likely to stay with him if he thought +Rodney was going to put any more mischief into Bud Goble's head." + +"Dick was all right the last time I talked with him, but how do I know +but that Rodney has succeeded in bringing him over to his side." + +"Oh, I hope not," said Marcy earnestly. "I'll speak to Rodney when he +comes, and tell him to let all such fellows as Goble alone. Don't repeat +what you have said to me, will you?" + +"Of course not. I think too much of Rodney for that, and if he gets +himself into trouble through his foolishness, I'll be one of the first +to jump in and help him out." + +Marcy was on nettles after Dixon went away, and it is a question whether +he would have felt much easier in his mind if he had known why it was +that his cousin was so anxious to find Bud Goble. Rodney did not want to +put any more mischief into the man's head; he wanted to take out some he +had put there two days before. He did not feel as bitter toward Marcy +and Dick Graham as he did when he slipped away from his friends on the +evening that Confederate flag came to him through the post-office, and +wrote that letter calling Bud's attention to the fact that there were +some Union boys in the academy who ought to be told that their room was +better than their company. The threats that Bud had made against Marcy, +and the destruction of the property of those two Union men, frightened +Rodney, who would have given up all his worldly prospects to know just +how much his letter to the paid spy had to do with bringing about the +present state of affairs. His desire now was to stop Bud before he could +go any further. + +Marcy, depressed in spirits and fearing, he knew not what, waited and +watched in vain. Dress parade was over, supper had been eaten, and the +gate closed for the night, and still Rodney and Dick had failed to +report. + +"I feel a little worried myself," said Dixon, to whom Marcy went for +sympathy and comfort. "And I don't believe Captain Wilson is altogether +right in his mind, for I have heard him making inquiries among the boys. +In fact he has been to me to find out where I last saw the missing +chaps, and what they were doing. But don't be uneasy. I didn't tell him +that they were looking for Bud Goble. I almost wish I had," he added, to +himself. "I may have to do it yet if they don't turn up all right." + +"Captain Wilson doesn't think they could have got into any trouble, does +he?" said Marcy anxiously. + +"He didn't say a word on that score." + +"But it looks as though he was afraid of it," replied Marcy. "If he +wasn't afraid something had happened to them he would not ask about +them." + +This interview with Dixon would have added to Marcy's fears, even if he +had not learned, as he did a few minutes later, that all the boys in the +hall were talking about it, and wondering what had become of Rodney and +Dick. Like many others these two had openly defied all the rules for +weeks past, but they had never before stayed out after dark, and some of +the students declared that they wouldn't do it now if they were not +prevented from coming back to the academy. When Marcy heard this, he +decided that something ought to be done. He went upstairs and told the +orderly to ask if he might speak to the colonel. + +"I think I know what you want," whispered the orderly, "and I tell you +plainly that he won't let you do it. But I'll go in with your message." + +There were others among the students who thought they knew what Marcy +wanted, and who followed him to the head of the stairs to "see how he +would come out with the old man." The orderly disappeared through the +colonel's door, but came out a few minutes afterward to report-- + +"What did I tell you?" + +"What did he say?" inquired Marcy. + +"He says he doesn't want to be bothered. I put in a good word for you, +suggesting that perhaps you wanted permission to go to Barrington and +see what has become of Rodney, and he said in reply that you need not +trouble yourself. You could not go. He will not allow a boy outside the +gate after dark, no matter what his business is, and he'll chuck Rodney +and Dick into the guard-house the minute they return, and keep them +there." + +For the first time since he had been a student at that school Marcy Gray +felt rebellious. He stood high in his class, was always on hand when +duty called him, never ran the guard, hadn't asked for a pass for more +than a week, and for the colonel to send him off in this way, without +even listening to the request he had to make, was rather more than Marcy +could stand. + +"I was going to ask him to let me go to town and see if I could learn +what has become of Rodney and Dick," said he to the boys who were +waiting for him at the top of the stairs. "But he sent word by the +orderly that he wouldn't see me. I'm going to Barrington all the same." + +"Do you want company?" asked Dixon. + +"I should like to have three or four good fellows," replied Marcy, "but +mind you, I shall not ask anybody to go with me. I am bound to get into +trouble." + +"Well, you can't find any better guard-house companion than I am," +answered Dixon. + +"I'm another good fellow for that cheerful hole," observed Billings. "I +ought to be, for I've been there often enough." + +Bob Cole said he was a third candidate for a court-martial, announced +his determination to go if Billings went, whether Marcy said so or not, +and the latter decided that three boys were as many as he cared to bring +into trouble on account of their friendship for him and the missing +students. + +"Now, fellows," whispered Dixon to the other boys who were gathered +about. "You stay in the hall, and if anybody asks you where we have +gone, you can tell him you don't know. Be quiet now, all of us, and +don't act or look as though there was anything in the wind." + +This was easier said than done, for now that these four students had +decided to run counter to the colonel's express orders, and find out +what had become of Rodney Gray and his companion, they were impatient to +be off. But three of their number managed to leave the hall without +attracting very much attention, and halted in the shade of the trees to +wait for Dixon, who, being an experienced guard-runner, had loitered +behind to ascertain who were on posts three and four, between which they +would have to pass in order to reach the fence. + +"They're solid boys," said he, when he joined Marcy and the rest under +the trees. "If we can get close enough to give them a hint of what we +want to do before they challenge us, they'll let us through. After we +get a little farther along, perhaps it would be best for me to go on +ahead." + +Of course the suggestion was adopted, for among all the boys in school +there was not one who knew how to manage affairs of this sort better +than Dixon. He succeeded in getting within sight of one of the sentries +without being stopped, made him understand, in some mysterious way, that +secrecy was not only desirable but necessary, and in a few minutes +whistled for his companions. Such a proceeding as this would not have +been successful, nor would it have been attempted, at any other time in +the history of the academy. + +"I've been thinking about those two boys ever since I came on post," +said the sentry, in a low tone. "And I am glad you have made up your +minds to go in search of them, in spite of the colonel. Crawl over +whenever you get ready, but I mustn't see you do it." + +The sentry faced about, and the four guard-runners placed their hands +upon the fence and were about to "crawl over," when their movements were +arrested by a sound coming from the thicket close in front of them. +Remembering how old Uncle Toby had approached Marcy Gray's post, they +stopped and listened. + +"St--St--!" was the sound they heard, and something told them that the +person who made it desired to communicate with them secretly. + +"Who is it?" whispered Dixon. + +"It's me," answered a voice. + +"Who's me? If you are a friend come out and show yourself. If you are an +enemy, get away from there or we will be down on you like a +shower-bath." + +"It's me; Caleb Judson. Don't you know me?" + +"Whew!" whistled Dixon softly, while the rest of the boys nodded and +winked at one another. "It's one of Bud Goble's friends. Are we not in +luck? I know of you," he said aloud. "But what are you doing there in +the bushes? Come close to the fence and tell us what you want. Be quiet, +for there are guards on both sides, and we mustn't let them hear us." + +Thus encouraged, Caleb Judson arose from his hiding-place and came +forward; but, as if he were afraid of treachery, he halted just out of +reach of the fence. + +"That won't do," said Dixon. "Come up close so that we can talk between +the pickets. It's too late for you to run now, even if you wanted to. +You see this fellow?" he added, calling Caleb's attention to the sentry, +who came up holding his musket at "arms port." "That gun of his has got +a bullet in it, and his orders are--" + +"Don't shoot," said Caleb; and in his excitement and alarm he spoke so +loud that the boys trembled. + +"Don't you know enough to keep still?" exclaimed Marcy angrily. "No one +is going to hurt you. Come up to the fence. Now, what brought you here? +Talk fast." + +"Well," said Caleb, speaking slowly, as if he did not know how to +explain his errand; "you mind them Gray an' Graham boys, don't ye?" + +"We have a slight acquaintance with them," answered Dixon. "What about +them? Do you want to see them?" + +"See 'em?" repeated Caleb. "I jest did see 'em, not more'n an hour +ago." + +"Um," said Dixon. "Where did you leave them?" + +"Down in the woods on Riley's place, a little piece back of nigger +Toby's cabin. Bud Goble's got 'em." + +"Hold on, or you will spoil everything," whispered Dixon, looking over +his shoulder at Marcy Gray, who began breathing very hard and trying to +work his way closer to the fence. "What does Bud intend to do with +them?" + +"Well, it's jest this a-way," replied Caleb. "A day or two ago Bud got a +letter from somebody tellin' him that them two boys oughter be drove +outen the kentry, kase they was Union all over an' preachin' up their +docterings as often as they got a chance. Bud, he thought so too, an' +this afternoon he grabbed 'em." + +"Who wrote that letter?" inquired Dixon. + +"There don't none of us know; Bud himself don't know, kase there wasn't +no name to it." + +"It was written by some coward who was afraid to let himself be known, +was it? And Bud acted upon the advice that letter contained and grabbed +the boys, did he? How did he go about it?" inquired Dixon; and his three +companions, who knew how quick he was to get angry, wondered that he +could speak so quietly and without the slightest show of excitement. + +"When they was in town to-day Bud sont 'em word that there was a sick +man up the road a piece, an' asked them would they get some quinine an' +take it to him," replied Caleb. + +"And of course they went," said Dixon, through his clenched teeth. "Bud +worked upon their feelings and caught them as easy as falling off a log. +When they got to that cabin there wasn't any sick man there, but a party +of ruffians who jumped on Rodney and Dick and made prisoners of them," +added Dixon, who was so impatient that he could not wait for Caleb to +tell the story. "Was that the way of it?" + +"It were; but you see he got the wrong one. Both of 'em are the wrong +ones." + +"How so?" + +"Well, you see they're the wrong ones; not the ones he thought he was +goin' to get. Rodney is secession the very wust kind." + +"Of course he is; and Graham is State rights, which is the next thing to +a rebel. Well, what of it?" + +"Rodney is the wrong one, I tell ye. We-uns wanted the other Gray +boy--the Union feller." + +"What would you have done to him if you had got hold of him?" + +"We-uns kalkerlated to lick him good an' send him outen the kentry with +a striped jacket." + +Caleb did not hesitate to acknowledge this. He had heard it said that +there were some wild secessionists in the school, and taking his cue +from the Barrington people, who thought it right to destroy the property +of Union men, he believed that the students who were in favor of the +Confederacy would be willing to take summary vengeance upon those of +their number who were foolish enough to stand up for the old flag. But +he thought it would be wise to make sure of that point before he went +any further. + +"You're Jeff Davis men, I reckon, aint ye?" said he "We are for the +South every day in the week," replied Dixon. "When the Stars and Stripes +are pulled down and the Stars and Bars run up in their place, I'll +holler as loud as the next fellow. You may speak freely." + +Caleb might have had some doubts on that point if he could have seen the +flashing eyes and clenched fists there were on the other side of the +fence. But Dixon spoke so calmly, in spite of the towering rage he was +in, that the man's suspicions were not aroused. + +"You calculated to whip Rodney and drive him out of the country; but +when you learned that he was a good rebel, you thought you wouldn't do +it," said Dixon. "Is that the way of it? Then what are you holding him +for? Why don't you let him come home?" + +"All the company was in for lettin' both of 'em go, 'ceptin' Bud. He +wouldn't hear to it." + +"What sort of a company have you?" + +"One we-uns got up yesterday and last night while them houses was +burnin'. Minute men, you know, who are ready to grab their guns an' +fight in a minute. Bud wanted to capting the company, but we-uns put in +another feller, an' mebbe that makes him madder t'wards the boys than he +would be if he was capting." + +"Very likely; and it is a good idea to pound them for it. What was the +reason he wouldn't listen when you proposed to let Rodney go?" + +"Kase Rodney an' that Graham boy was the fellers that offered to give +him a hunderd dollars if he would show them where that underground +railroad was that used to tote the niggers off to Canady," replied +Caleb. "Bud says they needn't think they're ever goin' to come back to +the 'cademy less'n he gets them hunderd dollars. He looked for the +railroad in good faith, an' allows that he'd oughter be paid for his +time an' trouble." + +"And this is the way he takes to get his pay, is it? Well, he must have +it, and if I have any influence with the boys he will get more than he +asks for. But why did you come here to tell us this?" + +"Kase Bud sont me up here to get the money." + +"You know right where he is, I suppose?" + +"I do, for a fac'." + +"Are there many men with him?" + +"Nobody but jest Silas Walker. The rest of the company wouldn't have +nothing to do with it, an' so they went home." + +"And you expect us to send the money back by you, do you? How much of it +will you get?" + +"Not a dog-gone cent. I don't want none of it. I come kase I want to see +them two boys let go. Hold on, there. What you doin'?" exclaimed Caleb, +when he felt himself suddenly seized by the elbow and his whole arm +pulled through the fence. "Turn me loose." + +"Take hold of the other arm, Billings," said Dixon quietly. "Now, old +man, keep perfectly still and do just as you are told, and no harm shall +come to you. You are friendly to Rodney and Dick, and that makes us +friendly toward you. Come over the fence. Up you go." + +"What for?" + +"We want you to tell the officer of the guard, and perhaps the colonel, +just what you have told us, word for word." + +"By gracious, boys, you're going to get me into a pretty mess," said the +sentry nervously. "You can't get him over without alarming the whole +school, and how shall I explain matters to the corporal? He's a chap who +will not stand any nonsense. Come over that fence," he added, an idea +striking him; and as he spoke he drew up his loaded musket and pointed +it at Caleb's head. "Quick and still, or I'll cut loose." + +The sight of the black muzzle that looked him squarely in the eye was +too much for Caleb's nerves. Beseeching the sentry, in whining tones, to +turn that weapon t'other way, he shinned up the pickets, Dixon and +Billings shifting their hold from his arms to his legs and feet as he +ascended, and in two minutes more he stood within the academy grounds. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + THE FIRST COMPANY IN ACTION. + +"There," said Dixon soothingly. "I told you you shouldn't be hurt if you +obey orders without making any fuss. Now come with us, and don't speak +above a whisper." + +"What do you reckon the kurn'll do to me?" inquired Caleb, who could +scarcely have been more frightened if the students had threatened him as +Bud Goble had threatened Rodney and Dick. + +"He'll not do the first thing to you," Billings assured him. "Why should +he when you come here as a friend to those two prisoners? We'll see you +safe outside the gate as soon as the officers are through questioning +you." + +"An' will you-uns give me the money?" asked Caleb. "If you don't, them +boys is bound to get whopped." + +"Did Bud say so?" + +"He made that same remark. An' he said, furder, that if I wasn't back by +sun-up with the hunderd dollars, he would know you-uns had held fast to +me, an' then he would lick 'em, sure hope to die." + +"I promise you that you shall be back there before sunrise," said Dixon +significantly. "We can't permit those fellows to be whipped on account +of a joke, and we won't, either. You are quite sure you can go straight +to him?" + +Yes, Caleb was sure he could do that; and then his conductors, who had +all the while held fast to his arms, halted in front of Captain Wilson, +the officer of the guard, who chanced to be pacing back and forth in +front of the tent. The captain listened in amazement while the boys told +their story, and the light from the tent showed that there was a shade +of anxiety on his face when he inquired: + +"Where did you find this man?" + +"Outside the grounds, sir," Dixon promptly responded. + +"And what were you doing outside the grounds at this hour, when you know +that such a thing is positively forbidden?" continued the officer +severely. + +"I had started for Barrington, sir," answered Marcy. "The commandant +wouldn't give me a chance to ask permission to go." + +"And so you went without it?" + +"Yes, sir, I did. I was resolved to learn something about Rodney and +Dick before I slept." + +"I shall be obliged to shut you up," said the captain. + +"Very good, sir," replied Marcy. "But how about Rodney and Dick? Is that +villain Goble to be permitted to abuse them as he pleases?" + +"I am surprised at your insolence, Private Gray," said the officer +sternly. "Go inside the tent under arrest." + +Marcy went, and all the boys, as well as Caleb Judson, went in with him, +and Captain Wilson hastened away to lay the matter before the colonel. + +"Now, I'll tell you what's a fact," said Marcy. "Captain Wilson would do +something for those boys if he were in command, but the colonel will not +do the first thing." + +"So be it," answered Billings. "Then we'll see whether or not the +fellows will do something. They are not the lads I take them for if they +do not rally on center the minute they find out how the land lies." + +"What's up?" whispered a student, thrusting his head into the tent and +then looking back to see if there was any one coming. "Who's that +gentleman" (nodding at Caleb), "and what are you doing in there?" + +"In arrest for being sassy," replied Cole. "Say--" + +Here all the boys got upon their feet, stepped to the door and held a +short but earnest conversation with the student outside, who muttered, +ejaculated, and scratched his head in a way that indicated the +profoundest surprise and bewilderment. Then he said: "You bet I'll do +it," disappeared around the corner of the tent, and the boys ran back to +the table, beside which they stood, with their caps off and their hands +to their foreheads, when the officer of the guard came in accompanied by +the colonel. The latter looked and acted as if the burden of his +responsibility was too heavy for him to carry; and the worst of it was, +it was growing heavier every day. He was out of patience, too, and as +cross as a bear. + +"What sort of a cock-and-bull story is this I hear about Sergeant Gray +and Private Graham?" said he snappishly. "I am in no humor for wasting +words." + +"Neither are we, sir," Marcy replied boldly. "My cousin is in trouble, +and I should like to have him helped out of it." + +"If he hadn't run the guard and gone to town without permission, he +wouldn't be in trouble," answered the colonel. "Now let me hear the +story from beginning to end, and in as short a space of time as +possible." + +Marcy Gray and Dixon could talk to the point when they made up their +minds to it, and the colonel was not kept in his chair a second longer +than was necessary to make him understand just how Rodney and Dick were +situated. That the recital made him nervous was plain from the way he +rubbed his hands together and tumbled his hair about his forehead. + +"Well, what do you expect me to do about it?" he asked, when the story +was concluded. + +"We should like to have you send an officer down there, under guidance +of this man Judson, and rescue those boys," said Marcy. + +"That is the duty of the civil authorities, and I cannot interfere with +them," replied the colonel, in a tone which seemed to say that the +matter was settled so far as he was concerned. "Last night I tried to do +a friendly turn for the citizens of Barrington, but I will never do it +again. They can be burned up or whipped for all I care." + +"But, sir, these boys are not citizens of Barrington," said Dixon. "They +are pupils of this school, and as such they are entitled to all the aid +and comfort it is in your power to give them." + +"When I think I need to be instructed in my duty toward those who are +placed under my care, I will send for you, Private Dixon," replied the +colonel loftily; but the boys all saw, and so did the officer of the +guard, that he could not make up his mind how to act under the +circumstances. The colonel knew well enough that there was little +dependence to be placed upon the Barrington authorities, and that the +surest way to help Rodney and Dick was to do as Marcy suggested; but he +could not make a move without running the risk of offending the +influential members of the Committee of Safety. As he spoke he pointed +toward the door, and Dixon saluted and went out. + +"In order to relieve your suspense, Private Gray, I will tell you what I +purpose doing," continued the colonel. "I will send this man with a note +to the police justice in town, and request him to take some steps +looking to your cousin's release. That is all I can do." + +"An' will you give me the hunderd dollars to hand to Bud?" inquired +Caleb. + +"I shall not give you a cent." + +"Then I sha'n't go nigh Bud, an' that's flat," declared Caleb, with more +spirit than he had previously exhibited. "Them chaps will get licked if +I don't have that money to hand to Bud when I see him, an' I aint +wantin' to get into trouble." + +Dixon, who was loitering about on the outside of the tent, did not wait +to hear any more, but posted off to the hall, where he found an excited, +almost frantic, crowd of students impatiently looking for some one to +come from the guard tent and tell them what the commandant had decided +to do. + +"Colonel," said Marcy, whose white face showed how desperate was the +conflict that was raging within him, and how hard it was to be +respectful to the man who had it in his power to help Rodney, and who +refused to use that power because he was afraid of the Barrington +secessionists. "Your plan will not work, sir." + +"I can't help it," was the colonel's answer. "It is the only thing I can +do. If Rodney had stayed within bounds he would not be in need of help. +Now go, all of you." + +As soon as they were safe out of the tent Marcy caught Caleb by the arm +and whispered-- + +"If the colonel hands you a note to carry to town, don't go away with it +until I see you again. If you do you may get into difficulty. I'll raise +some money for you." + +"That's talking sense," said Caleb, in the same cautious whisper. "It's +the only way to get 'em off without a lickin'." + +"Look here," exclaimed Billings, as the three moved away leaving Caleb +standing near the guard tent. "Are you going to raise a hundred dollars +for Goble?" + +"Not much. I don't think I could; but I'm going to raise something to +pay Caleb for guiding me to Bud's hiding-place." + +"Bully for you. Count us in." + +"I'll not ask any one to go with me," answered Marcy. "If you want to +help, you can do it by telling me how I can smuggle my musket and +cartridge-box out of the armory." + +"Now, that's an idea. Of course we'll help. Great Scott! What a crazy +crowd, and what do you reckon they're going to do?" + +It was no wonder that Bob Cole asked this question. While he and his +companions were talking they walked through the archway into the hall, +which was filled with pale, determined-looking students, who were +quietly making their way up the wide stairs toward the armory. + +"What's up?" repeated Cole. + +"We're going after our muskets," replied one. "Fall in." + +"Not the whole school?" Billings managed to gasp, while Marcy Gray stood +speechless, wondering at the magnitude of the rebellion which had been +brought about by the colonel's refusal to send a squad to Rodney's +assistance and Dick's, and by the stirring appeals to which they had +listened from Dixon, as well as from the lips of the boy who had +received those hasty instructions at the guard-tent. + +"Talk about rebels! Why, this is a riot," said Cole. + +"It looks very like it," replied Dixon, who stood at the foot of the +stairs urging every boy to fall in. "They're all going except the +company officers, who have taken themselves off out of sight, so that +they cannot be called upon to oppose us. Where's Caleb?" + +"I made sure of him by saying that I would raise some money for him," +replied Marcy. + +"If we were only outside the gate we should be all right." + +"We'll get out easy as falling off a log," said Dixon. "If you had +glanced toward the gate when you came in, you would have seen four good +fellows there talking with the sentry. It will be their business to +disarm him, if he shows fight when we attempt to march out, as it is his +duty to do; and if the officer of the guard tries to turn the key upon +us, those four fellows will quietly take the gate from its hinges and +tumble it over into the road. It's all cut and dried, and if the boys +keep as still as they are now, we'll be out before the colonel knows +what we are up to. Oh, I haven't been idle since the commandant ordered +me from the guard-tent." + +There was no need that Dixon should say this, for the actions of the +students proved that he had done a good deal of talking since he was +ordered out of the tent. Although they were pushing and crowding one +another in their haste to get into the armory and out of it again before +some busybody (there are boys of that sort in every school) could run to +the colonel and apprise him of what was going on, there was not the +least noise or confusion, not a word spoken above a whisper, and if +there had been any studious scholars in the dormitories, they would not +have been in the least disturbed. In five minutes more the armory was +thronged with students, who having taken their muskets from the racks, +were buckling on their cartridge-boxes. The weight of the boxes +dispelled the fear that the colonel might have had the ball cartridges +that were put in them the night before removed. Why he hadn't done it, +seeing that he had promised to remain neutral in future, was a mystery. + +"This is a high-handed proceeding, boys," observed one, "and if a +shoulder-strap should come in and order us to put these guns back, then +what?" + +"Then would be the time for you, to prove that you were in earnest when +you promised that you would stand by Rodney and Dick if the colonel +refused to help them," said another. "Who cares? We're rebels anyhow, +and we certainly would not go back on our principles at the command of +anybody up North." + +"Don't stop to discuss politics," said Dixon, who, by common consent, +was the commander of the expedition, there being no commissioned +officers present. "Some of you take muskets number twenty-two, +thirty-four, forty-four, and fifty-six from the racks in addition to +your own for those four fellows at the gate. Now fall in, in your places +as near as you can. We'll not stop to count fours or to divide the +companies into platoons. So long as we get there, we don't care whether +we go in military form or not. Fours right: Forward, column left, +march!" + +"Charge bayonets!" shouted some half-wild fellow in the ranks, when the +colonel and officer of the guard, both with drawn swords in their hands, +suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Run over everything that gets in the +road." + +"Young gentlemen! Boys! Private Dixon, what are you about?" cried the +colonel, who was so amazed that he hardly knew what he said. "I'll put +the last one of you in the guard-house. Just one moment, boys. Listen to +reason. I'll do everything I can to get Rodney and Dick out of that +scrape. I will, I assure you." + +"Forward, double quick!" somebody shouted; and although the command came +from one who had no business to give it, Dixon being the acknowledged +leader, the most of the students would have obeyed it with the greatest +promptness, had not the Kentucky boy jumped in front of the first four +and barred their way with his musket, which he held at the height of his +shoulders. + +"Halt!" he shouted. "Colonel, this is too plain a case, as you see. If +you will not help our friends who are in difficulty, we will. If we will +break ranks, will you send the first company, under Judson's lead, to +bring Rodney and Dick to the academy?" + +"I will," replied the colonel, who saw that if he didn't agree to the +proposition, the boys would go without being sent. + +"Very good, sir," said Dixon; while the most of the rebels looked +disappointed. "That is all we ask. Forward, column right, march. Fours, +left, halt, right dress, front, order arms!" + +This brought the boys back into the armory, in line, and in readiness to +hear what the colonel had to say to them; but the latter was in no humor +for making a speech. He could not praise the students for what they had +done, and he was afraid to find fault with them, because there was an +expression on their faces which said as plainly as words that the +rebellion was not yet subdued, and that they were ready to go on with it +if the colonel did not do as he promised without any unnecessary delay. +This was something new in the history of the Barrington Military +Institute. It was the first time the students had ever taken the law +into their own hands, and they had showed the colonel that he could not +carry water on both shoulders without running the risk of spilling some +of it. + +"I shall close the school and send you to your homes the first thing in +the morning," sputtered the commandant, jamming his sword into its +scabbard, as if to say that he had no further use for it. "This is a +state of affairs to which I will not submit." + +"And in the meantime, sir, permit me to remind you that my cousin is in +the hands of a ruffian who has threatened to beat him, if certain +demands he has made are not complied with," said Marcy, who was +impatient to be off. + +The colonel bit his lip, glared savagely at Marcy for an instant, said a +few hurried words to Captain Wilson, and left the armory. The first +thing the officer of the guard did was to remove his red sash and hand +it to another teacher--an action which all the boys in line greeted with +hearty cheers; and his second move was to march the first company out of +line, and order the others to break ranks. This looked like business. +Captain Wilson was going in command, and that meant that Rodney and his +companion in trouble would be found and released before the company +returned. But would the captain permit them to give Bud a whack or two +with the butts of their muskets just to teach him to mind his own +business in future? Probably not; and if Captain Wilson forbade it Bud +would be safe, for the boys thought too much of him to rebel against his +orders. + +"We will wait a few minutes for the officers," said the Captain, "and in +the meantime--count fours." + +But the boy officers did not "show up." They had concealed themselves so +effectually that the orderlies sent out by the colonel could not find +them, and so the captain was obliged to go without them. They would be +disappointed when they came out of their hiding-places and found that +their company had gone off with the colonel's permission, but that could +not be helped. Caleb Judson was much surprised when he found himself at +the head of the column, surrounded by a corporal's guard who were +instructed, in his hearing, to see that he did not give them the slip, +but he did not refuse to act as guide. + +"All I ask of you, capting," said he, "is to let me stay back out of +sight when you grab Bud, so't he won't suspicion that I had anything to +do with bringin' you-uns onto him. He's a bad man when he's mad--" + +"So I have heard," said the captain dryly. "He must be a terrible fellow +to let Elder Bowen walk him out of the yard by the back of the neck. But +your wishes shall be respected, and my boys will never mention your name +in connection with this business." + +This satisfied Caleb, who strode ahead as if he were in a great hurry to +reach his destination. + +"It's queer doings, this taking nearly a hundred boys to capture two +vagabonds," whispered Dixon, who had taken pains to secure a place in +the ranks next to Marcy Gray. "But it's the best thing that could be +done. If any of us had been ordered to stay behind, there might have +been another rebellion. Besides, Bud and Silas are Injuns, and I +shouldn't be surprised if they slipped through our fingers." + +"I hope they will," said Marcy honestly. "Bad as they are, I shouldn't +want to see them hurt." + +The students marched through the principal street of Barrington, but if +any one saw then! they never heard of it. There was but one man +stirring, and that was old Mr. Bailey, who devoted a wakeful half-hour +to patroling his premises with his revolver in his hand. If he was +surprised to see the boys he did not say anything about it, for the +rapidity of their movements and the strict silence they maintained were +indications that they did not care to have the citizens know they were +out. Mr. Bailey would have given all the candy and peanuts in his store +to know what their errand was, but was forced to content himself with +the reflection that he would learn all about it the next time Dick +Graham came to town. + +"Now, capting," said Caleb, after they had gone a long distance down the +road that led to Mr. Riley's house, "Bud's camp is off that a-way about +a mile. The woods is tol'able thick, an' I don't reckon you can go +through 'em in a bunch, like you be now, without scarin' him. He's got +ears, Bud has. You-uns had best scatter out an' go one at a time." + +"Form skirmish line, I suppose you mean." + +"I don't know what you call it. Couldn't make 'em into something like a +horse-shoe, could ye?" + +"Certainly. Hold back the center and push the flanks forward. That's +easy enough." + +"Eh?" said Caleb. + +"I'll make a horse-shoe, if that's what you want." + +"All right. An' when you get to where his fire is, you can kinder bring +the heels of the shoe in t'wards each other, an' there Bud an' Silas'll +be on the inside of 'em. See?" + +The captain understood, and thought it a good plan to act upon the +guide's suggestion, although he could not make up his mind that he would +permit his men to make prisoners of Bud and Silas. Perhaps, on the +whole, it would not be safe. Good-natured, obedient Dick Graham could be +easily controlled, but how about fiery Rodney Gray, angry as he +undoubtedly was? The latter, quick-tempered and impatient of discipline +as he was known to be, when he found himself backed by nearly all the +boys in his class and company might avow a determination to take ample +vengeance upon his captors; and if he so much as suggested the thing, +the students were in the right mood to help him through with it. + +"We don't want to make captives of those two men," said the captain, as +he passed along the ranks getting the skirmish line in shape. "We'll +scare them out of a year's growth and show them that they cannot fool +with our boys with impunity, but that is as far as we will go. If they +can get away, let them." + +It took ten minutes to form the "horse-shoe" and make each boy +acquainted with the signals that were to be used for his guidance, and +then the order was given to advance. The woods were pitch dark, and it +was a task of no little difficulty for the boys to find their way +through the thick underbrush, and over the fallen logs that obstructed +every foot of the mile that lay between the road and Bud Goble's camp, +but they did it without making noise enough to alarm him. What they were +most afraid of was that he would hear them coming and drag his prisoners +away from the fire and deeper into the woods, where they could not be +found until Bud had had time to wreak vengeance upon them. But they need +not have borrowed any trouble on that score. If Bud Goble had had the +faintest idea of the commotion his senseless act had caused among the +academy boys, money would not have hired him to lay a finger upon Rodney +and Dick. + +[Illustration: TOO MUCH FOR THE MINUTE-MEN.] + +At the end of an hour Captain Wilson, who was in the center of the line, +came within sight of Bud's camp-fire, and the order was passed for the +flanks to close upon each other. In fifteen minutes more a shrill +whistle coming from the opposite side of the fire announced that the +command had been obeyed, and with a charging yell, that was never +surpassed by any they afterward uttered in battle, the boys sprang up +and rushed for the fire. Not a bayonet had been fixed or a piece loaded +that is, by orders; but some of the young soldiers had quietly driven +home a cartridge while working their way through the woods, and when the +signal to advance was given, they fired their muskets into the air with +such effect that Bud and Silas gave themselves up for lost, and the +prisoners jumped from their beds of leaves by the fire, and shouted and +waved their caps to show their comrades where they were. + +"Death to all Minute-men!" somebody yelled; and the cry was taken up and +carried along the line with such volume that Bud's frantic appeals for +"quarter" could not be heard. + +In less time than it takes to write it the students crowded into the +camp, and Rodney and Dick were being shaken by both hands. Their captors +were so completely surprised, and so very frightened that they had not +thought of their rifles, which were leaning against convenient trees. +And now came the very demonstration that Captain Wilson had been afraid +of. Jerking himself loose from the detaining hands of his comrades, +Rodney picked up a heavy switch lying on the ground near the log that +Bud had been using for a seat. + +"Turn about is fair play, old fellow," said he. "You promised to use +this on our backs if you did not receive the hundred dollars you said we +owed you, and now we'll see--" + +"Give it to him!" shouted the students, almost as one boy. "We'll stand +by you. Put it on good and strong. Stand back, Captain Wilson. We don't +want to go against you, but these men must have a lesson they will not +forget." + +Thus encouraged Rodney raised the switch, and in a second more it would +have fallen with full force upon Bud's head and shoulders, had not Marcy +Gray, dashing aside three or four friends who stood in his way, jumped +forward and seized his cousin's arm. + +"Rodney," said he, "is this your manhood?" + +The angry boy glared at his cousin for an instant, and then, to the +surprise of all, he lowered his arm and gave up the switch. + +"You here, Marcy?" he exclaimed. "There isn't as much manhood in my +whole body as there is in your little finger. Don't look at me in that +way. Don't speak to me; I am beneath contempt. Goble, you're free to go, +but don't come near me again." + +"Yes, Goble, clear yourself," shouted Dixon, who, although he did not +understand the matter at all, thought Bud had better get out of danger +while the students were in the mood to let him go. "I'm about to stick +the butt of my gun through the air right where you are standing, and if +you're there, you'll get hurt. One--two--" + +Goble turned and ran for his life, the boys dividing right and left, and +jeering him loudly as he passed through their ranks. + +"He's a minute-man," said one. + +"Yes; and he'll get there in a good deal less than a minute," cried +another. "Go faster than that, for he's close after you. Ah, He came +pretty near hitting you that time! Next time you'll be a goner." + +Dixon had not moved an inch from his tracks, but he had accomplished his +object and sent Bud off without injury. Silas Walker must have gone +about the same time, for when the boys looked around for him they could +not find him. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + HAULING DOWN THE COLORS. + +Having accomplished the work he was sent out to do, Captain Wilson shook +hands with the rescued boys, who did not seem any the worse for their +short experience among the members of Bud Goble's company of minute-men, +and commanded the students to "fall in." Some of the boys were in favor +of smashing the rifles which the two vagabonds had left behind in their +hurried flight; but better counsels prevailed, and the weapons were +leaned against a tree where Bud could easily find them, in case he +should muster courage enough to come after them. The return march +through the woods was rendered less dismal by the numerous light-wood +torches that were carried along the line; but there was not much +opportunity for talking until the timber had been left behind, and the +ranks were closed up on the road leading to Barrington. + +"Now tell us all about it," said Marcy Gray to his cousin, who marched +by his side. "We know that you were enticed into a cabin to see a sick +man who needed quinine, and that when you went in Bud and some others +jumped out and made you prisoners. The man Bud sent to the academy after +the money you and Dick promised to give him for finding that underground +railroad told us about that; but what happened afterward? How did they +use you?" + +"We haven't a thing to complain of," replied Rodney, "except the +suspense we were kept in while Judson was absent. I knew he would bring +help, as well as I knew that Bud had threatened to whip us if he did not +have that hundred dollars in his hands before sunrise. But I didn't +think the colonel would send it. While I was in Barrington I learned +from a dozen different sources that he had agreed to keep us inside, and +never again interfere with anything that might happen in town." + +This gave Marcy a chance to tell about the riot at the academy, but, +contrary to his expectation Rodney did not seem to be very jubilant over +it. + +"I didn't know I had so many friends," said he, sinking his voice almost +to a whisper, "and, to tell you the honest truth, I don't deserve them. +You fellows ought to have stayed away until Bud gave me the licking he +promised, and then come up in time to save Dick. He was in no way to +blame for what I did." + +"And I reckon you didn't do anything very bad," replied Marcy, with a +laugh. "It was no part of our plan to let either of you be whipped. But, +look here, Rodney. Why were you so anxious to see Bud Goble the last +time you were in town?" + +"I had put it into his head to do something to you and Dick Graham, and +I wanted to stop it if I could," answered Rodney. "I tell you I was +frightened when I saw those fires. I began to see what we were coming +to, and I wanted to warn Goble that he was watched, and that he would +surely bring trouble upon himself if he paid any attention to that +letter." + +"What letter?" + +"Why, the one old nigger Toby told you about. I wrote it. Mean as you +may think me, and as I am, I wrote it. I said to myself that I would +drive you and Dick from the school, and that was the way I took to do +it." Having got fairly started on the confession he had longed to make, +and paying no sort of attention to his cousin's efforts to stop him, +Rodney made a clean breast of the matter, and told just how far his +loyalty to the Stars and Bars and his hatred for everybody who had a +lingering spark of affection for the Stars and Stripes had led him. On +the evening his new flag came he slipped away from his companions, ran +into a store, wrote the letter that Bud afterward read to his wife, and +got it into the office without any one being the wiser for what he had +done. That letter sent Bud on the war-path, and encouraged him to impose +upon Mr. Bailey and Elder Bowen, both of whom met his attempts in a +manner so vigorous that Mr. Riley and his Committee of Safety became +alarmed. They held a secret meeting, and determined upon a plan of +operations which they hoped would drive Union men and abolitionists from +the country, and bring the State-rights men, like Mr. Bailey, over to +the Confederacy. The committee was responsible for those two +fires--Rodney had heard enough from his rebel friends to make him sure +of that; and they had but just begun operations, when Captain Wilson and +his boys put in an appearance. That was what made Mr. Riley so angry +that he would not speak to the students that night, or even look at +them, and it was possible that he and the others who rode up to the +academy had talked to the colonel in very plain language. + +"I supposed, of course, that I would find Goble somewhere in town, and +kept Dick with me because I wanted him to help with a word now and +then," said Rodney, in conclusion. "He played a very slick trick on us +when he sent word that that sick man was in need of medicine, and we +fell into the trap as easy as you please. He was awful mad when he found +that he had caught the wrong boy, that it was Marcy he wanted and not +Rodney, but he hadn't forgotten the underground railroad joke, and was +resolved that we shouldn't forget it, either. I didn't think Bud would +be fool enough to threaten anybody with a whipping. If I had, I never +would have written that letter, I assure you. If lie had whipped me for +it, it would have served me right." + +Marcy listened in silence to this astounding revelation, and although he +was intensely grieved and shocked, he said everything he could to make +Rodney understand that he was freely and fully forgiven, and that it +would never be remembered against him; but Rodney refused to be +comforted. + +"Dick knows it, and you know it," said he. "And if the other fellows do +not suspect it, they must be both blind and deaf. I don't care to stay +longer about the academy where everything I see will remind me of events +I should be glad to forget, and I shall start for home by the first +train that leaves Barrington to-morrow. If the colonel will not let me +go--" + +"I don't think he will object to any of us going," replied Marcy. "During +the riot, when Dixon marched us back into the armory, he said he +intended to disband the whole thing at once. Matters were coming to such +a pass that he couldn't and wouldn't stand it any longer." + +"I hope he will stick to it," said Rodney. "We might as well have been +home three months ago for all the good we've done in school. If he won't +permit me to go I'll skip, if you will send my trunk after me." + +Marcy said he would, provided he was there to attend to it, and then +gradually led the conversation into other channels; for that letter was +a sore subject to Rodney, and Marcy never wanted to hear it again. No +matter what happened, it would never get to his mother's ears or Sailor +Jack's either. + +When the company reached the academy, after four hours' absence, they +learned that the teachers had made repeated efforts to get the boys to +go to bed, but without doing much toward accomplishing the desired end. +They went to their dormitories as often as they were told, but leading a +horse to water and making him drink are two different things. As soon as +the teachers' backs were turned, they would slip out into the hall, run +downstairs, and join some of the excited groups strolling about the +grounds. They were all up and awake when the rescuers returned, and +accompanied them into the armory; but they did not cheer them as they +would like to have done. The coolheaded ones among them thought that +would be carrying their triumph a little too far. When ranks were broken +Marcy reported to Captain Wilson, and asked if he should go into the +guard-house. + +"What for?" inquired the captain. + +"Have you forgotten, sir, that you put me under arrest?" + +"Why did you not stay in the guard-tent when I put you there?" said the +officer, with a smile. + +"Because the colonel ordered me out, sir. I am glad he did so, for it +gave me a chance to go with my company and see Rodney and Dick helped +out of their scrape." + +"Well, behave yourself in future, and we'll not say any more about your +being under arrest." + +Marcy knew that would be the upshot of the matter. If the captain meant +to put him in arrest, he had no business to permit him to go on that +expedition. + +The next morning things went on in their usual haphazard way, and the +colonel did not say a word about disbanding the school. He thought +better of it after he had taken time to cool off; but it was not so with +Rodney Gray. By allowing himself to be led away by the excitement of the +hour he had done something he never could forget if he lived to be a +hundred years old, and he longed to leave the academy and everybody in +it behind him, and mingle with people who believed as he did, and who +did not know of the meanness of which he had been guilty. And, what was +very comforting as well as surprising, the colonel permitted him to go +without asking any disagreeable questions. + +"I don't know that I blame you," said he, in a discouraged tone. "I +think I should be glad to go somewhere myself. I have been hoping almost +against hope that these troubles might be settled without a war, but I +don't believe they ever will be. The folks about here seem to think that +the people of the North are cowardly, but they are not. They are simply +patient; but there will come a time when their patience will be +exhausted, and then they will sweep over us like an army of locusts." + +"You don't really think they will fight, do you, sir?" said Rodney, who +was surprised to hear the colonel talk in this strain. + +"I am sure of it. When Beauregard opens his batteries upon Sumter, you +will see an uprising that will astonish the world. I am sorry to part +with you, but you may go. You would no doubt get a letter from your +father in a few days any way, so I don't suppose it makes much +difference." + +Rodney went, but he did not go alone. Instead of one carriage, there +were four that drove away from the academy an hour later, and they were +filled as full of students as they could hold. But the departing crowd +did not whoop and yell as they were in the habit of doing when they set +out for home at vacation time. They were sober and thoughtful, and so +were those they left behind. The events of the last few hours had made +them so. Rodney Gray voiced the sentiments of all of them when he said +to Marcy and Dick, as he extended a hand to each: + +"I realize now as I never did before that we're not going to have the +easy times we looked for. I don't back down one inch from my position. I +say the South is right, and that if the North will not give her the +freedom she demands, she ought to fight for it, and I'll do all I can to +help her; but I don't believe, as I did once, in abusing everybody who +differs from me in opinion. So let's part friends." + +"We've always been friends to you," said Dick, in rather a husky voice. +"But your abominable ideas--dog-gone State rights anyhow! Good-by." + +"Why, Dick, you are on our side," said Rodney. + +"If Missouri is, I am; if she isn't, I aint. That's me." + +The parting was a good deal harder than the boys thought it was going to +be; but it was over at last; the carriages rolled out of the gate, the +sentry presenting arms as they passed, and the boys who remained turned +sorrowfully away to take up the drudgery of school routine. After that +there were no more loud, angry discussions, no shaking of fists in one +another's faces, and the orderlies who raised the flag at morning and +hauled it down at night, handled it tenderly out of respect to the +feelings of their Union schoolmates. They could not bear to think that +there might come a time when they would be called upon to face some of +their comrades with deadly weapons in their hands. Every one, from the +colonel commanding down to the youngest boy in the academy, seemed +resolved to do what he could to make their few remaining school days as +pleasant as possible. + +That afternoon the guard-runners were out in greater numbers than usual. +Nearly all the students were anxious to go to Barrington, for there were +several things they wanted to have cleared up. What had become of the +Union men who had been burned out of house and home, and what did that +Committee of Safety intend to do next? Marcy Gray did not go. He was too +dispirited to do anything but lounge about and read, and long for a +letter from his mother telling him to come home. He missed his cousin +Rodney, and wondered if fate would ever bring them together again and +under different flags. He sat under the trees and tried to read while +awaiting the return of Graham and Dixon, who, for a wonder, had asked +for passes. The first item of information they gave him, when they came +back with his mail, was one that did not much surprise him, although he +did not expect to hear it so soon. + +"That old darkey parson has lost his money," said Dick. + +"There now," exclaimed Marcy, "I told him he would if he did not put it +where it would be safe. Who's got it?" + +"I didn't hear, and don't know that any one is suspected. He hid it +under a log back of the garden, and when he went there to see if it was +all right, the place looked as though it had been rooted over by a drove +of hogs. But of course the hogs had nothing to do with it." + +"Some one like Bud Goble must have been on the watch when Toby put it +under the log," said Marcy, who thought he knew just how the old negro +felt when he discovered his loss. "He'll not see that money again. I +told him to give it to Mr. Riley." + +"And that reminds me that we saw and talked with Mr. Riley, who was as +smiling and agreeable as you please," said Dixon. "If I had been guilty +of burning out two innocent men because they differed from me in +opinion, I don't think I could have had the cheek to show myself on the +street. But Mr. Riley did not seem to mind it." + +"Do you really think he had a hand in that affair?" inquired Marcy. "I +don't like to think that he is that sort." + +"When a fellow allows himself to be carried away, as he and the rest of +that committee have, by prejudice and rage, he will do some things he +would not think of doing if he were in his right mind. Look at Rodney," +said Dixon; and Marcy wondered if he knew or suspected that Rodney had +written that mischievous letter. "It's in the mouth of every rebel in +town whom we talk with that the committee burned those houses, and what +everybody says must have some truth in it." + +"Listen to me a minute, and I will condemn Mr. Riley out of his own +mouth," said Dick, in an earnest whisper. "When Captain Wilson asked him +how it came that he could reach the fire so quickly, seeing that it was +more than a mile from his own house and there were no alarm bells +ringing, Mr. Riley replied that it was because he happened to be awake +when the fire commenced. Now, if that was the case, why did he run right +by Elder Bowen's burning house to come up town? I was on post that very +night, and know that the two fires were started almost at the same +moment. Mr. Riley wasn't at home, I tell you. He was in Barrington; and +that was the way he got to the fire before we did. Put that in your +pipes." + +"You have made out a pretty strong case against him so far as +circumstantial evidence will go," Dixon remarked. + +"Plenty strong enough to make him prove an alibi if he were prosecuted," +said Marcy. "Where are those Union men now?" + +"Living quietly and comfortably in two of the Elder's negro cabins," +replied Dick. "Some of the rebels we talked to think they need another +and larger dose, for they are as independent and saucy as ever." + +"I glory in their spunk," said Marcy. "See anything of Bud or Caleb +Judson? I don't care what becomes of Bud, but if you happen to run +across Caleb, I wish you would send him to me. I promised to raise some +money for him that night, when I thought I should have to go after +Rodney and Dick alone, and I want to give it to him. We couldn't have +found them without his help." + +As we are almost, if not quite, through with these two gentlemen, Bud +and Caleb, we may remark that, a few days after this conversation took +place, Marcy went to Barrington and found opportunity to square accounts +with Caleb by handing him double the amount of money the man thought he +ought to have for acting as Captain Wilson's guide. But Caleb couldn't +or wouldn't give him any news of Bud Goble. In after-years some of the +academy boys heard of him once or twice in a roundabout way--not as a +brave soldier of the Confederacy, doing and daring for the sake of the +principles he had so loudly promulgated when he thought old Mr. Bailey +was afraid of him, but as a sneaking conscript, hiding in the woods and +living, no one knew how, but probably keeping body and soul together by +the aid of the bacon and meal that his wife bought with old Toby's +money. + +Not another thing happened at the academy that is worth recording until +it became known that President Lincoln, instead of surrendering Fort +Sumter on demand of the Confederate commissioners who had been sent to +Washington, decided that provisions should at once be forwarded to the +garrison. It was high time, for Major Anderson and his men had nothing +but a small supply of bacon and flour left, and the commissary was not +permitted to purchase provisions in Charleston. The Southern people +were, or pretended to be, very angry at this decision, and gave notice +that they would resist it as an act of war. "My batteries are ready. I +await instructions," was what Beauregard telegraphed to President Davis; +and on the 11th of April the answer came back: "Demand the immediate +surrender of Fort Sumter." How the brave major's reply, helpless as he +knew himself to be, thrilled every heart in the loyal North! "I cannot +surrender the fort," said he. "I shall await the first shot, and if you +do not batter me to pieces, I shall be starved out in three days." + +Now was the time for the Confederates to show to the world that they +were sincere when they declared that all they desired was to be +permitted to leave the Union in peace. But they did not do it. They +could not wait three days. They wanted the honor of reducing Fort +Sumter, and of humbling the flag which had never been lowered to any +nation on earth. They wanted to "fire the Southern heart," and make sure +of the secession of Virginia by "sprinkling blood in the people's +faces," and so they opened their batteries upon the fort. After a long +waiting, which was "symbolic of the patience, endurance, and long +suffering of the Northern people," the fort replied, and the war between +Union and Disunion, freedom and slavery, was fairly begun. Major +Anderson knew from the first that this battle could end but in one way, +and when his provisions were all gone, and his ammunition so nearly +exhausted that he could not respond to the enemy's fire oftener than +once in ten minutes, he hauled down his flag and marched his handful of +men out with the honors of war. It wasn't a victory to be proud of, but +the Governor of South Carolina must have thought it was, for that night +he said to the excited people of Charleston: + +"I pronounce here before the civilized world that your independence is +baptized in blood; your independence is won upon a glorious +battle-field, and you are free now and forever, in defiance of the world +in arms." + +So thought the aged Edmund Ruffin of Virginia, who claimed the privilege +of firing the first gun upon Sumter; but he did not think so a little +while afterward, when he was preparing to hang himself because he saw +that his dreams of Southern independence could not be realized. + +Of course this thrilling news, and the fiery editorials commenting upon +it, had an effect upon the students at Barrington academy. The Union +boys were sadly depressed; Dixon and Graham shook their heads every time +their eyes met; while Billings, Cole, and the rest of the rebels were +fierce for another fight, and immediately became as noisy and aggressive +as they had ever been in Rodney Gray's time. + +"'The proud flag of the Stars and Stripes has been lowered in humility +before the Palmetto and Confederate flags,'" shouted Billings, reading +an extract from the speech of Governor Pickens. "Cole, where is the flag +those Taylor girls gave you? Now is the time to unfurl it to the breeze, +and let the good people of Barrington see that they are not the only +ones who can rejoice over this glorious news. When it is once hoisted on +the tower, we will keep it there in defiance of the world in arms." + +This was another quotation from the Governor's speech, and when Billings +roared it out so that it could be heard by all the boys in the corridor, +he looked at Marcy as much as to say: "Help yourself if you can." + +It did not take Cole many minutes to produce the flag, which he had kept +hidden in his trunk for just such an emergency as this; but when he and +his backers got to the top of the tower with it, they were rather +surprised to find Marcy, Graham, Dixon, and a good many other sturdy +fellows there before them. They were walking around with their hands in +their pockets, and Marcy's flag was still floating from the masthead. + +"Do you mean--are you going to fight about it?" faltered Cole, who began +to fear that his chances for receiving a standing invitation to visit +those Taylor girls were as slim as they ever had been. "You have heard +the news from Charleston, and ought to see for yourself that this flag +can't stay up any longer." + +"We may be of a different opinion, so far as this academy is concerned, +but still we have given up the contest," replied Marcy. "Hold on, there; +don't touch those halliards, please. This flag belongs to me, and when +it comes down for good, I must be the one to pull it down. Major +Anderson was allowed to salute his flag when he lowered it, and I claim +the same privilege." + +"I don't know that we have anything to say against that," replied +Billings, looking around upon his friends to see what they thought about +it. "Holler as much as you please. That's the only way you can salute +it, for the colonel would go crazy if you asked him to lend you the +battery." + +"That's the only way," said Marcy as he unfastened the color-halliards +from the cleat. "I shall not ask for the guns, for I shall have my +trouble for my pains. Attention! Three cheers for the Star Spangled +Banner; and may the traitors who caused it to be lowered in Charleston +harbor for the time being be glad to turn to it for protection." + +"That flag will wave over Sumter again, and don't you forget what I tell +you," shouted Dixon. + +It was not a very noisy salute that greeted the flag as it fluttered +down from aloft, but it was a heart-felt one, and there was not a rebel +on the tower who dared utter a derisive word, however much he might have +felt inclined to do so. But when the Stars and Bars were bent on to the +halliards and run up to the masthead, the yells of its supporters were +almost deafening and their antics quite indescribable. There was an +abundance of enthusiasm about that time. There wasn't quite so much one +short year later, when some of those same boys learned, to their great +disgust and rage, that the Confederate Congress had passed a sweeping +conscription law, and that their one year's enlistment had been +arbitrarily lengthened to three. Then they began to see what despotism +meant. + +All hope of conciliation or peace at any price was gone now. There was +nothing to hold them together any longer, and the following morning saw +another and larger exodus of students from the academy who were homeward +bound. Among them were Cole, Graham, Billings, Dixon, and Marcy Gray. It +was not quite so solemn a parting as the first one was, for the drooping +spirits of the rebels had been raised to blood-heat by that glorious +news from Charleston. + +"Shoot high, Marcy, when you meet the Stars and Bars on the +battlefield," said Billings. "There may be a Barrington boy thereabouts. +But you can't deny that we've whipped you once in a fair fight, can +you?" + +"I don't know what you call a fair fight," replied Marcy. "Of course +five thousand men, well supplied with grub and ammunition, ought to whip +fifty-one soldiers and a few hired mechanics. But they held out against +you as long as they had anything to eat or powder to shoot with. I +wouldn't crow over it, if I were in your place." + +"Well, we have given you a taste of what is in store for you, at all +events." + +"And you have learned something that I have tried to get through your +thick heads ever since these troubles began," chimed in Dixon. "I told +you the North would fight. But let's jump in if we are going home. You +know the trains meet here, and we haven't much more than time to get to +the depot." + +The boys once more shook hands with their teachers, cheered lustily for +the Barrington Military Academy and everybody connected with it, shouted +themselves hoarse for their respective flags, and then sprang into the +carriages and were driven away. + +"We're done playing soldier," said Dick Graham. "The next time we +shoulder muskets or draw sabers, there will be more reality in it than +some of us will care to face. Let's keep track of one another as long as +we can, and bear always in mind that we are not enemies, if we do march +under different flags." + +Marcy Gray was glad when his train came along and bore him away from +Barrington. He wanted to settle back in his seat and think; but that was +something he was not permitted to do. The passengers, with now and then +a notable exception, acted as though they were fit candidates for a +lunatic asylum. They were walking about the car, flourishing their hats +or fists in the air, talking loudly and shaking hands as often as they +met in the aisle. "Glorious news," "Southern rights," "Yankee mudsills," +"Fort Sumter," were the words that fell upon Marcy's ear when he opened +the door and walked into the car. In an instant his uniform attracted +general attention. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + MARCY CHANGES HIS CLOTHES. + +Marcy Gray was blessed with as much courage as most boys, but he would +have been glad if he could have backed out of that car without being +seen, and gone into another. Perhaps the conviction that he was "an odd +sheep in the flock," and that he held, and had often published, opinions +that differed widely from those that animated the excited, gesticulating +men before him, had something to do with his nervousness and timidity; +and it may be that the revolvers he saw brandished by two or three of +the half-tipsy passengers had more effect upon him. But he could not +retreat. They saw his uniform as soon as he opened the door, and some of +the noisiest among them stumbled to greet him. + +"Here's one of our brave fellows now," shouted one, firing his revolver +out of the window with one hand while he extended the other to Marcy. +"Got his soldier clothes on and going to the front before our guns in +Charleston harbor have got through smoking. Young man, you're my style. +I'm a member of the Baltimore Grays, and I'm on my way home to join 'em +in defense of our young republic. What regiment?" + +"Company A, Barrington Cadets," replied Marcy, rightly supposing that +the Baltimore man was too far gone to remember, if indeed he had ever +heard, that there was a military school in the town they had just left. +"I'm going home on a leave of absence." + +"Course you are," replied the man. "Services not needed at present and +mebbe never will be. The Yankees are all mechanics and small +trades-people, and there's no fight in such. We're gentlemen, and +there's fight in us, I bet you. But you show your good will in putting +on those soldier clothes, and that's what every man's got to do, or go +up to the United States. Those who are not for us are against us, and +we'll make short work with 'em. Say, we licked 'em, didn't we?" + +"Of course," answered Marcy. "Fifty-one soldiers without food or powder +don't stand much chance against five thousand well-equipped men." + +"It would have been all the same if there had been fifty-one thousand of +'em," declared the Baltimore man. "Aint got any business there. Fort +belongs to So' Car'lina. Why didn't they get out when Beau'gard told 'em +to, if they didn't want to get licked? Three cheers for Southern +Confed'sy!" + +Much disgusted, Marcy Gray finally succeeded in releasing his hand from +the man's detaining grasp and forced his way 'to a seat; but he was +often stopped to hear his patriotism applauded, and President Lincoln +denounced for bringing on a useless war by trying to throw provisions +into Fort Sumter. + +"I don't see what else he could have done," soliloquized the North +Carolina boy, as he squeezed himself into as small a compass as possible +in a seat next to a window. "The fort belonged to the United States, and +it was the President's business to hold fast to it if he could. South +Carolina wanted a pretext for firing on the flag, and she got it. She'll +be sorry for it when she sees grass growing in the streets of her +principal city. So I am taken for a rebel, am I? What would that +Baltimore fellow do to me if he knew that I have two Union flags in my +trunk, and that I mean to hoist them some day? My life wouldn't be worth +a minute's purchase if these passengers knew how I feel toward them and +their miserable Confederacy." + +All the way to Raleigh, which was nearly three hundred and sixty miles +from Barrington, Marcy Gray lived in a fever of suspense. Although he +did not know a soul on board the train, he might have had companions +enough if he had been a little more sociable; but he did not care to +make any new acquaintances, especially among people who were so nearly +beside themselves. They all took him for just what he wasn't--a rebel +soldier; and being ignorant of the fact that he was going toward home as +fast as steam could take him, they supposed that the reason he was so +silent and thoughtful was because he was lonely, and felt sorrowful over +parting from his friends; and so it came about that now and then some +one would sit down beside him and try to give him a comforting and +cheering word. All the ladies who spoke to him were eager for war and +disunion. They were worse than the men; Marcy found that out before he +had gone fifty miles on his journey. + +Marcy mentally denounced these sympathetic and well-meaning rebels as so +many nuisances, for they drew upon him attentions that he would have +been glad to escape. They asked him all sorts of questions, and the boy +adroitly managed to truthfully answer every one of them, and without +exciting suspicion. Matters were even worse when the train stopped. The +flags that were fluttering from the locomotive and the car windows +attracted the notice of the station loafers, who whooped and yelled and +crowded up to shake hands with the passengers. At such times Marcy +always took off his cap; but that did no good, for some one was sure to +see his gray overcoat, and propose cheers for him. Marcy trembled when +he thought of what they would do to him if they learned that he was the +strongest Union boy in the school he had left. But there was little +danger of that. His secret was safe. + +Raleigh was reached at last, and Marcy Gray, feeling like a stranger in +a strange land, changed cars for Boydtown, which was a hundred and +twenty miles further on. But before doing that he stepped into a +telegraph office and sent the following dispatch to his mother: + +"Will take a late breakfast with you to-morrow if you will send Morris +to meet me at the depot. Three cheers for the right." + +"How much?" he asked the operator, after the latter had read it over. + +"Not a cent to a soldier," he replied, reaching out his hand, and taking +it for granted that the boy was fresh from the seat of war. "Warm times +in Charleston the other day, I suppose?" + +"I shouldn't wonder if it was hot in the fort," answered Marcy, with a +smile. + +"But you happened to be on the outside." + +"You're right, I did. It was no place for me in there." + +"No; nor for any other man who believes in the right. Tell us all about +it. Were you frightened when you heard the shells bursting over your +head, and did the Yankees--" + +"I must ask you to excuse me," said Marcy, hastily, "my train is ready +to go, and I have barely time to catch it." + +"Well, good luck to you." + +Marcy hastened from the telegraph office before any one else could speak +to him, and thanked his lucky stars that before another night came he +would be at home where he could appear in his true character; but he was +satisfied, from what his mother had said in her letters, that he would +find few friends among the neighbors. They were nearly all +secessionists, Mrs. Gray wrote, and those who were not were compelled to +pretend that they were, in order to avoid being driven from the country. +It was a bad state of affairs altogether, but Marcy knew he would have +to get used to it. He slept but little that night, and it was a great +relief to him when the train stopped at Boydtown, which was located on a +navigable arm of Pamlico Sound, and was as far as the railroad went. As +Marcy lived near Albemarle Sound, there was still a ride of thirty-five +miles before him, but that would be taken in his mother's carriage, +provided any of the negroes had been over to Nashville and got the +dispatch he sent from Raleigh the day before. All doubts on this point +were removed when the train drew up at the station, for the first person +he saw on the platform was Morris, the coachman, who greeted him +heartily as he stepped from the car. This faithful old slave was Marcy's +friend and mentor, and Sailor Jack's as well; and the boy Julius, who +had come with the spring wagon to bring home the trunk, was their +playmate. Julius was just about Marcy's age. They had hunted and fished +together, sailed their boats in the same mudhole, and had many a fight +over their marbles, in which, we are sorry to say, Marcy did not always +come out first best. + +"There's my check, Julius," said Marcy, handing it over, and slipping a +piece of money into the black boy's palm at the same time. "Shut the +carriage door, Morris. I am going to ride on the box so that I can talk +to you. I want you to tell me everything that's happened since I have +been away. You are a good rebel, of course." + +"Now, Marse Marcy, you know a heap better'n that," replied Morris, who +plumed himself on being the "properest talking colored gentleman on the +plantation." "Git up, heah," he shouted to his horses. "Don't you know +that the long-lost prodigal son has come back? You don't want to say too +much around heah. Everything in town got ears. Wait till we git in the +country and then you can talk. Yes, sar, your mother is well; quite +well. But she's powerful sorry." + +"I know she is. Do you hear anything from Jack?" + +"Not the first word. He's on the ship _Sabine_, which done sailed for +some place, but I dunno where." + +"I wish he was safe at home," said Marcy. "Somehow I feel uneasy about +him." + +He would have felt more than simply uneasy if he could have looked far +enough into the future to see that Jack's ship was destined to be one of +the first of a large number of defenseless vessels to fall into the +hands of Captain Semmes, who, as commander of the _Sumter_, unfurled the +Confederate flag on the high seas, June 30, 1861. But, as we shall +presently see, the _Sabine_ did not "stay captured." She escaped, and +brought the prize crew that Semmes had thrown aboard of her into a +Northern port as prisoners. + +"There aint no secesh out on the watah, is there, Marse Marcy?" +exclaimed Morris. + +"I'm afraid there will be some there before long. We're going to have +war, Morris. I saw by a paper I bought on the train to-day that +President Lincoln has called out seventy-five thousand men." + +"Shucks!" cried the negro. "That aint half enough men. The secesh done +got a hundred thousand already." + +"I think myself that he might as well have mustered in half a million +while he was about it. But the thing that rather surprises me is that he +should call upon the border States for troops," said Marcy, pulling from +his pocket the paper of which he had spoken. "Of course he'll not get +them. Hear what the Governor of this State says: 'Your dispatch is +received; and if genuine, which its extraordinary character leads me to +doubt, I have to say in reply that I regard the levy of troops made by +the administration for the purpose of subjugating the States of the +South, as in violation of the Constitution, and a usurpation of power. I +can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country, and +in this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops +from North Carolina.'" + +"Marse Linkum oughter hang that man," exclaimed Morris wrathfully. + +"That's what I say. He's a pretty fellow to talk about violating the +Constitution when South Carolina has already violated it by levying war +against the United States. The Southern folks seem to have little sense +and less consistency. But don't let's waste any more time on politics. +How are everything and everybody at home? Is my schooner all right, and +has Bose got over the drubbing that big coon gave him last fall? How +many of the boys have run away?" + +"Now, just listen at _you_," exclaimed Morris. "Who going to run away +from the Missus, and where he going to run to?" + +"To the Yankees, of course. This war will make you black ones all +free." + +"Aw! Go on now, Marse Marcy." + +"I really believe it. You darkies are the cause of all this fuss, and +you will have to be killed off or made free before we can be a united +people again." + +The coachman's inimitable laugh rang out cheerily. The Northern folks +need not trouble their heads about him, he said. He was better off than +thousands of the poor whites in the free States, and wouldn't accept his +freedom if it was offered to him. His subsequent actions proved that he +meant every word he said; for when Marcy read the Emancipation +Proclamation to him and his fellow-servants two years later, and told +them that they were free to make their way into the Union lines if they +could, Morris refused to budge an inch. A few of the slaves had already +gone; a few more took Marcy at his word and slipped away by night with +their bundles on their shoulders, but those who could get back to the +plantation were very glad to come. Freedom wasn't such a beautiful thing +after all, because it did not bring the freedom from work that they had +looked for, and the Yankee soldiers were really harder task-masters than +the ones from whom they had been so anxious to escape. + +During the ride homeward Marcy did not see a single thing to remind him +that there was a war impending--not a tent or Confederate flag or +soldier in uniform was in sight. Negroes sang as they went to their work +in the wide fields that stretched out on either side of the road, the +birds chirped, the air was soft and balmy, the wheels hummed a melodious +tune as they spun rapidly along the hard road, and all his surroundings +spoke of peace and plenty. + +At last an abrupt turn brought him within sight of his home,--in every +respect a typical Southern home, with wide, cool halls, large and airy +rooms, broad piazzas, and spacious, well-kept grounds, in which fruits, +flowers, and grand old trees abounded. A few miles away, but in plain +view, were the sparkling waters of the sound, peaceful enough now, but +destined ere long to be plowed by the keels of hostile ships, and tossed +into wavelets by shrieking shot and shell. On the left, and about three +hundred yards in front of the house, was Seven Mile Creek; and the first +thing in it that caught Marcy's eye was his handsome schooner, the Fairy +Belle, riding safely at her moorings. Marcy would have found it hard to +find words with which to express his admiration for that little craft, +and the way she behaved in rough weather. With her aid, and with Julius +for a companion, he had explored every nook, corner, and inlet along the +dangerous and intricate coast of the sound for miles in both directions; +and they were as familiar to him as the road that led from Barrington to +the academy. He and Sailor Jack were good pilots for that coast as far +down as Hatteras Inlet, and on one or two occasions had been fortunate +enough to assist distressed vessels in finding a safe anchorage. + +Old Bose, the dog that had been so roughly handled by the last coon +Marcy helped dispatch, was the first to welcome him when the carriage +turned into the yard, and said, as plainly as a dog could say anything, +that he was both surprised and hurt because his usually attentive master +had scarcely more than a word and a pat for him. The boy did not even +hear the greetings of the numerous house-servants who clustered about +the carriage when it was brought to a stand-still, for his eyes and +thoughts were concentrated upon the pale woman in black who stood at the +top of the wide steps leading to the porch. It was his mother, and in a +second more she was clasped in his arms. + +"Are you so sorry I've come that you are going to cry over it?" +exclaimed Marcy, when he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "I know +you'll not expect me to shake hands with you until I have had a chance +to say a word to my mother," he added, addressing the blacks who had +followed close at his heels. "I will see you all after a while. Come in, +mother. I told you I would be late to breakfast, but I know you have +saved a bite for me." + +After a few earnest questions had been asked and answered by both of +them, Marcy went up to his room, whither his trunk had already been +carried. His first task was to remove some of the North Carolina dust +that had settled on his hands and face, and his next to divest himself +of his uniform and put on a suit of citizen's clothes. During his long +ride that gray coat had brought him in pretty close contact with some +people he hoped he would never meet again. + +"Stay there," said he, as he hung the garment upon a hook in his closet. +"I shall never wear you again, but I'll keep you to remind me of old +Barrington." + +The boy afterward had reason to wish he had hidden that uniform or +destroyed it. A detachment of Sherman's cavalry scouted through the +country, after completing their famous march to the sea, went all over +the house in search of valuables and contraband goods, and one of the +first things they pitched upon was that gray suit. It might have been a +serious thing for Marcy, had it not been for the flag Dick Graham gave +him. What became of the other, the one that was hauled down on the day +the news of the surrender of Fort Sumter was received, shall be told in +its proper place. + +"I feel like a free man once more," he said, when he rejoined his mother +in the parlor and walked into the dining-room with his arm thrown +protectingly around her waist. "Where's Dinah?" he added, seeing that +there was no one to wait at table. + +"I preferred to have our first breakfast in private," replied Mrs. Gray. +"In times like these one doesn't know whom to trust. There's been +nothing like open enmity yet," she continued, noticing a shade of +anxiety on her son's face. "I have thought it wise to keep my own +counsel, and have taken no part in the discussions that have been held +in my presence; but I have not escaped suspicion." + +"I understand you perfectly," answered Marcy. "Are there no Union people +at all in this country?" + +"There may be, but I do not know who they are. There are some who have +told me, privately, that they are opposed to secession, but having the +best of reasons for believing that they said so on purpose to induce me +to express my opinion, I have kept silent. You must do the same, and be +constantly on your guard. If your friends, or those who were your +friends once, assure you that their sympathies are all for the Union, +you may listen, but you must not say one word. If you do, you may regret +it when it is too late to recall it." + +"Why, this is worse than Barrington," Marcy declared. "There you know +who your enemies are; but here you've got to look out for everybody, or +the first thing you know some sneak may get on the blind side of you. +Now, mother, let's talk business. How are the darkies?" + +"They seem to be as happy and contented as they ever were, and as +willing to work. The overseer hasn't a word of fault to find with +them." + +"So far so good. How's the overseer; Union or secesh?" + +"You must decide that for yourself after you have talked with him," +replied Mrs. Gray. "I think he will bear watching. At any rate, I do not +trust him." + +"Then if I have anything to say, he shall not stay around here a minute +after his contract runs out. We don't want anybody about that we are +afraid of. You're going to run the plantation right along. I suppose?" + +"I thought I would, unless you have something better to propose." + +"Well, I haven't. This is my boyhood's home and Jack's. By the way, +where is Jack?" + +"On the high seas somewhere, and that is all I can tell you." + +"And Rodney once said he might never get back again," replied Marcy. "He +thinks the South is going to have a navy that will beat anything the +world ever saw. Yes, Rodney is a rebel to the backbone," he added in +response to an inquiry from his mother. "Says the Northern folks will be +whipped before they can take their coats off; but for all that he showed +considerable feeling when he came to say good-by. He is under a promise +to enlist under the Stars and Bars within twenty-four hours after he +reaches home, and I know he will do it, if he can get to a recruiting +office. But to return to business. I am sure we had better keep right +along as we have been going, instead of pulling up stakes and moving to +some new place to meet dangers and difficulties of which we know +nothing. We've got to eat, and we must have something to wear; and how +are we to get things if we have no crops? Have you any money?" + +Mrs. Gray started perceptibly at this abrupt question, and before +replying arose to her feet and opened, in quick succession, all the +doors leading out of the dining-room. + +"Aha!" said Marcy, who thought he knew the meaning of this pantomime. +"You remind me of old Uncle Toby. _He_ had money which he lost because +he hid it in the ground instead of putting it where it would have been +safe." + +"That is what I have done with ours," said his mother, in a scarcely +audible whisper. "That is to say, I have concealed it." + +"How much?" + +"Nearly thirty thousand dollars, and it is all in gold." + +"W-h-e-w!" whistled Marcy. "What put it into your head?" + +"I took warning; that is all. The Southern people have often threatened +to secede if a Republican President was elected, and I was sure they +meant it; so when the election returns came in and this excitement +began, I made several quiet business trips to Newbern, Wilmington, +Norfolk, and Richmond." + +"Why, you never said a word about it in your letters." + +"I know it. I did not think it necessary to trouble you with it. I drew +a little money each time, brought it home in safety, and I trust without +exciting suspicion, though on that point, of course, I cannot be sure, +and hid it in the cellar at dead of night, after I had taken the +greatest pains to assure myself that every one in the house was soundly +asleep." + +"How did you cover up the place where you had been digging?" + +"I didn't do any digging," his mother answered, with a smile. "I took a +stone out of the wall as heavy as I could lift, and cemented it in place +again, after keeping out a sum sufficient to meet our immediate wants. +It took me three nights to do it." + +"It's a shame that there wasn't someone here whom you could trust to do +the work for you," said Marcy. "I am here to bear the hard knocks now." + +The Southerners were careful of their women. If they had had the +faintest conception of the trials and privations their mothers, wives, +and sisters would be called upon to bear, they never would have fired +upon Sumter. The patience and heroic endurance exhibited by these +carefully nurtured women, during the dark days of the war, were little +short of sublime. + +Marcy and his mother sat a long time at the table, and when they arose +from it Mrs. Gray knew pretty nearly what had been going on at +Barrington during the last few months (not a word was said, however, +concerning the letter Rodney wrote to Bud Goble), and Marcy had a very +correct idea of the way matters were being managed on the plantation. He +had nothing to suggest. The only thing they could do was to keep along +in the even tenor of their way, and await developments. There was one +thing for which he was sorry, and that was that he could not discharge +Hanson, the overseer, that very day. He believed his mother was afraid +of him; but the man was under contract for a year, and could have +claimed damages if he had been turned adrift without good and sufficient +reason. It was not the damages that Marcy cared for, but he was +restrained from urging Hanson's dismissal through fear of setting the +neighbors' tongues in motion. + +"Hanson is secesh, easy enough," he said to himself. "If he were not, +some of those officious planters would have demanded his discharge long +ago. If we turn him away without a cause, they will say that we are +persecuting him on account of his principles, and that would be bad for +us. The man will have to stay for the present, and I'll make it my +business to know every move he makes." + +Marcy devoted the first few days to renewing old acquaintances among the +black people on the plantation, who were overjoyed to see him safe at +home, and in calling upon some of the neighboring planters; but the last +proved to be rather a disagreeable duty, and one which he did not +prosecute for any length of time. It seemed to him that something +intangible had come between him and those who used to be on the best of +terms with him something that could not be seen or felt, but which was +none the less a barrier to their social intercourse. He was not of them, +and they knew it; that was all there was of it. Before he had been at +home ten days he began to see the force of his cousin Rodney's warning, +that if he did not turn his back upon the Union and proclaim himself a +secessionist, his neighbors would not have the first thing to do with +him, and during those ten days two things happened that made the +situation harder to bear than it was at first. + +The little town of Nashville, to which Marcy sent his dispatch from +Raleigh, was situated about three miles distant from the plantation. +Besides the telegraph, express, and post offices it contained a court +house, two hotels, and the homes of about five hundred inhabitants. The +mail was received twice each day, and as often as it came in, rain or +shine, there was some one from Mrs. Gray's house there to meet it. This +duty was at once assumed by Marcy, who, besides having a fast horse of +his own which he was fond of riding, was so impatient to see the latest +papers that he could not wait for anybody to bring them to him. He +always read them on his way home, allowing his filly to choose her own +gait. On the day he reached home the papers told him that President +Lincoln had placed an embargo upon the seaports of all the seceded +States; but Marcy did not pay much attention to that. It was nothing +more than those States might have expected, but it was a question +whether or not the navy was strong enough to enforce the blockade. The +same paper informed him that President Davis was ready to issue letters +of marque and reprisal to anybody who would equip a privateer, and give +bonds that the laws of the Confederate States regulating the capture of +prizes should be obeyed. The boy didn't give a second thought to that +either. His schooner wasn't heavy enough to engage in the business of +privateering, and she would not have gone into it if she had been. She +had always floated the flag of the Union, and as long as she remained in +his keeping, she never would carry any other. But when on the 29th of +April Marcy read that President Lincoln, two days before, had included +the ports of Virginia and North Carolina in the limits of his +proclamation, it made him open his eyes. + +"My State hasn't seceded yet, and here he has gone and shut up her +ports," exclaimed Marcy indignantly. "That's a pretty thing to do, isn't +it now? Hurry up, Fanny. Let's get home and see what mother thinks about +it." + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + FORCED INTO THE SERVICE. + +Marcy Gray thought he had watched the movements of his native State +pretty closely since the result of the presidential election became +known, and perhaps he had; but there were some things connected with her +recent history that must have slipped his mind, or he would have seen at +once that the government at Washington was justified in closing her +ports to the world. The State had been in armed rebellion ever since the +month of January, when her local authorities committed treason by +seizing the forts along her coast. It is true that her Governor +disavowed the action, offered to restore the forts on condition that +they should not be garrisoned by United States troops, and that the +proposition was accepted; and it is also true that the State forces very +soon took possession of the forts again, this time acting under the +Governor's authority. The latter's refusal to send troops to the aid of +the national government proved him to be as much of a rebel as the +Governor of South Carolina was. + +"So North Carolina is no whit better than the States that have joined +the Confederacy, is she?" said Marcy, when his mother had reminded him +of all these things. "But there's a great difference between talking and +doing," he added, wisely. "Three thousand miles make a pretty long +coast, the first thing you know, and I don't believe Uncle Sam has ships +enough to guard it. I'll bet you that when the blockade is established, +I can take the Fairy Belle and slip out and in as often as I feel like +it. It will be nothing but a paper blockade; but if it could be made +effectual, it would send the price of things up so that you couldn't +reach them with a ten-foot pole, would it not?" + +Blockading more than three thousand miles of sea-coast, some portions of +which were noted for sudden and violent storms, was a gigantic +undertaking, and Marcy Gray was not the only one who did not think the +attempt would prove successful. To begin with, there were only ninety +vessels of all classes in the United States navy, and of the forty-two +in commission all except twelve had been sent to foreign stations on +purpose to have them out of the way when they were wanted. Of the +vessels comprising the home squadron, all except four were in the Gulf +of Mexico, where they stood a fine chance of falling into the hands of +the secessionists. The officers, who had been educated at the expense of +the government, and who had taken a solemn oath to support that +government, were so badly tinctured with disloyalty that the authorities +did not know whom to trust, some of the best men in the service, the +gallant Porter among the rest, being suspected of disunion sentiments. +During the time that elapsed between March 4 and July 5, two hundred and +fifty-nine officers resigned their commissions and went over to the +Confederacy. Some of them, who had been entrusted with commands, had the +grace to give their vessels up to the government instead of surrendering +them into the hands of the secessionists, and one Southern writer +declared, with some disgust, that they carried their notions of honor +altogether too far when they did it. His exact language was: + +"If a sense of justice had prevailed at the separation of the States, a +large portion of the ships of the navy would have been turned over to +the South; and this failing to be done, it may be questionable whether +the Southern naval officers in command would not have been justified in +bringing their ships with them, which it would have been easy for them +to do." + +But the trouble was, the government never acknowledged that there had +been any "separation of the States." The war-ships belonged to the +nation, and not to a discontented portion of it, and were needed to aid +in enforcing the laws that had been trampled under-foot. + +In spite of all these disadvantages the loyal people of the North went +resolutely to work, and before the fourth day of July the blockade was +rendered so effectual that "foreign nations could not evade it and were +obliged to acknowledge its legality." And this was done, too, after +Norfolk navy yard, with its immense stores of munitions of war, +twenty-five hundred pieces of heavy ordnance, and all its ships, save +one, had been doomed to destruction by the perfidious officers who +surrounded and advised its loyal but too credulous commander. It was +something to be proud of. + +But we have anticipated events a little. On the day Marcy Gray went to +Nashville after the mail the blockade was not established, except on +paper; there was not a ship of war on the coast so far as he knew; +Hatteras Inlet was still open to the world, and privateers and coasting +vessels were free to go and come as often as they pleased. Up to this +time such a thing as a privateer had scarcely been heard of, but they +appeared as if by magic when it became known that President Davis had +invited applications for letters of marque and reprisal from good +Southerners who were able and willing to fit out armed vessels to prey +upon our commerce. The first one that attracted any attention was the +_Savannah_, which ran out of Charleston on the 2d of June, and was +shortly afterward captured by a ship of war that she mistook for a +merchantman; but she was not the first privateer to operate in Southern +waters. As early as May 7, several light-draught steamers, mounting two +or three guns each, were hastily fitted out at New Orleans, and brought +in prizes that were taken off the mouths of the Mississippi. There were +also some along the coast, principally sailing-vessels, and although +they did not succeed in making a name for themselves or in spreading +much alarm among our merchant marine, they made a few good hauls. One of +them was fitted out in Seven Mile Creek, not more than a mile from Mrs. +Gray's plantation, and, wide-awake as Marcy thought himself to be, he +never knew a thing about it until she was almost ready to sail. Then he +found it out through her owner who came up to see him. He was sitting on +the porch when the man came up the walk, and something told him that he +had come there for no good purpose. + +"What in the world does Lon Beardsley want here?" said Marcy to his +mother, who was sitting near by. "He hasn't been to see me since I came +from Barrington, and I don't think he would come now if he wasn't up to +some meanness." + +"Don't allow him to throw you off your guard with any of his specious +talk," replied his mother, in a cautious tone. "To quote from Morris, he +is a mighty palavering sort of fellow." + +"I'll watch him. Good-afternoon, Mr. Beardsley. Will you come up and +take a chair?" The man was a visitor, and as such was entitled to civil +treatment even if his company wasn't desired. + +"Yes, I reckon I'll set while I talk," answered Beardsley, taking +possession of the seat that was placed for him. "Rough times these." + +"Yes; and they'll be rougher before we see the end of them," was Marcy's +reply. + +"Don't reckon there'll be any fighting, do you?" + +The boy said he was sure of it. + +"Well, what's one man's pizen is another man's meat," said Mr. +Beardsley, with a wink that no doubt meant a great deal. "By the way, +Marcy, you've been to school and oughter be posted in such things,--what +is a letter of mark-we and reprisal? I've been down to Wilmington a time +or two on business, but I did not like to ask the folks there what it +meant. They're strangers mostly, and I sorter scringed against letting +'em see how ignorant I was." + +"It's a commission granted by a sovereign of a State to his subjects, +authorizing them to prey upon the property of the subjects of another +State, if they happen to find any at sea," answered Marcy. "That's as +near as I can tell it without looking the matter up." + +"It is about what I thought it meant. Now, does that letter or +commission give protection to the crew of the privateer if they happen +to be caught? They won't hang 'em, will they?" + +"I don't think they will. A few years ago some European powers tried to +induce Uncle Sam to enter into an agreement to abolish privateering, but +he wouldn't do it. Our private armed vessels gave England a good deal of +trouble while she was trying to whip us, and might do the same thing +again under like circumstances." + +"So the United States wouldn't agree to no such bargain," exclaimed Mr. +Beardsley, with something like a sigh of relief. "Then Uncle Sam can't +find fault with us for going into the business, can he?" + +"He'll make prisoners of you and destroy or confiscate your vessel, if +he can catch you," replied Marcy. + +"_Of_ course. That's to be expected; but he'll have to catch us first, +and even then he won't treat us like we was pirates. That's what I want +to know." + +"Why do you ask? Are you interested in the matter?" + +"Somewhat," answered the man, with a laugh. "My schooner is fixed over +and fitted with bunks for twenty men and three officers, and I've +bargained for two howitzers in Newborn. That's what I meant when I said +that one man's pizen is another man's meat. Now is the time to slip out +to sea and make a prize or two before that blockade comes and stops the +business." + +Marcy was astonished and so was his mother; and neither of them could +imagine why Mr. Beardsley had taken the pains to come to the house and +tell them all this. + +"Make hay while the sun shines, eh?" said he, with a chuckle. "I aint +got my commission yet, and can't get it till my bond for five thousand +dollars, which I give to the collector at Wilmington to send to the +Secretary of State, has been approved. I've got to promise to obey the +laws, you know, and that's easy." + +"What do you intend to do with your prizes, if you make any?" inquired +Mrs. Gray. + +"Take 'em into Newbern and have 'em appraised and sold by a competent +tribunal, whatever that means. I heard while I was in Newbern that there +aint no admiralty court in this country like there is in England, and +that the district court would most likely 'tend to the matter. As owner +of the schooner I will, of course, get the lion's share of the money, +and the rest will be divided up among the officers and crew. But I'll do +the fair thing by you, Marcy." + +"By me!" exclaimed the boy. + +"Yes. You know this coast like a book--" + +"There are plenty of others who know it better," interrupted Marcy, who +now saw what the man's object was in coming there. It was two-fold: If +Marcy would help him, he would give him good wages and a big share of +prize-money to act as pilot; but if he wouldn't help him, then Mr. +Beardsley would denounce him among the planters as unfriendly to the +cause of the South, and that would be a bad thing for him to do. Marcy +read the whole scheme as easily as he could have read a printed page, +and if it had not been for his mother, he would have refused, +point-blank, any offer that the owner of the privateer could have made +him. But he would do anything rather than add to his mother's troubles. + +"You must remember that I am not a professional pilot, and that a good +many months have passed since I sailed my schooner along this coast," +continued Marcy. "I might run you aground at the wrong time. You can get +plenty of better men in Newbern or Wilmington." + +"If I am willing to trust you it's all right, aint it? I don't want a +professional pilot. I want somebody who knows Crooked Inlet. You've been +through there often." + +As Marcy could not deny it he said nothing. + +"I aint going to follow the reg'lar routes of travel," continued Mr. +Beardsley. "If I was, I could sail my own vessel without hiring anybody +to act as pilot. My plan is to slip down to Newbern some dark night, +after I get notice that my application has been granted, take my guns +aboard, ship a good crew, and then run up to, and out of, Crooked Inlet. +That will bring me a good piece above Hatteras, and out of the way of +any war-ship that may be prowling along the coast. If one see me and +gives chase, I'll put back through the Inlet where she can't follow on +account of shoal water. What do you think of the scheme?" + +Much against his will Marcy was obliged to say that he thought it would +work, provided the pursuing vessel did not happen to be a steamer fast +enough to cut the schooner off from the Inlet. + +"And if she is, I won't go nigh her," replied Mr. Beardsley, with a grin +which was intended to mean that he was altogether too sharp to be caught +in that way. "We won't chase steamers, kase we know we can't catch 'em; +and 'taint no ways likely that we'll go to sleep and let one of 'em get +between us and the coast." + +"Did you have to buy the guns you intend to put on the schooner?" asked +Marcy, when the visitor paused and looked at him as if waiting for him +to say something. + +"No. They came from one of the forts taken by the State troops awhile +ago. I borrowed 'em on condition that I give 'em back when they are +wanted. They're too light for coast defense, but just the thing for our +business. Well, what do you say?" + +"You have not yet asked my consent," Mrs. Gray reminded him. + +"I didn't think I'd have to," answered Mr. Beardsley. "I reckoned you +were like all the other women folks--ready and willing to do anything +for the cause." + +"But if Marcy should be killed--" + +"Aw! He aint going to be killed," exclaimed the visitor rudely. "Don't I +tell you that we'll run the minute we sight a war-vessel." + +"But you might run aground and they might capture you," answered Mrs. +Gray, who knew as well as anybody how dangerous the coast was, even to +those who were acquainted with it. "And if Marcy should be sent to +prison, as he would if he were taken on board an armed schooner, what +would become of me? My oldest boy is at sea, and it is my desire to keep +Marcy with me as much as I can." + +"He can run up and see you when we come into port, which will be as +often as we take a prize, or see signs of a blow in the clouds outside," +said Mr. Beardsley, putting on his hat, and getting upon his feet. "Come +down and see the schooner, Marcy. Stop at my house, and I'll show you +right where she is." + +"How soon do you start?" + +"Some time this week, I hope. The sooner we get outside the better our +chances will be. That's why I say, make hay while the sun shines. Two or +three hauls will make us so rich that we needn't do no more work the +longest day we live." + +"And will you feel no sorrow for those who lose their property, and +perhaps their all, through your efforts to enrich yourself?" asked Mrs. +Gray. + +"That's why I say that one man's pizen is another man's meat," replied +Beardsley. "Not a mite of sorrow will I feel for them Yankees. Let them +come under our flag if they want protection. When will you be along, +Marcy?" + +"To-morrow about this time," answered the boy. + +"All right. Think over what I've said to you, and be ready with an +answer. When you learn a little more about a vessel I will give you a +chance as mate. Good-by." + +Beardsley walked down the steps and out of the gate, and Marcy kept his +eyes fastened upon him as long as he remained in sight. Then he faced +about and looked at his mother, who had dropped her sewing into her lap +and sat motionless in her chair, the picture of misery and dejection. + +"They're going for us, mother," said he, with a smile. "That interview +with Beardsley has satisfied me that I can't live up to my principles in +this country as I should like to." + +"I never dreamed of anything like this," said Mrs. Gray, at length. +"What are you going to do, Marcy?" + +"There's only one thing I can do and keep a roof over your head," +answered Marcy, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets and striding +up and down the porch. "I must accept his proposition; that's all there +is about it." + +"Oh, Marcy!" exclaimed his mother. + +"It looks fair enough on the surface, but I tell you there is something +back of it," said the boy, confidently. "He pretends to take it for +granted that I am a rebel, but he doesn't really believe it, and this +proposition of his is intended to try me and find out where I stand. +Almost the last question our class debated in school was: "Is a man ever +justified in acting from policy rather than principle." I took the +negative, and contended that he ought to act from principle, let the +consequences be what they might; but I don't think so now. I shall join +that rebel privateer, and I shall do it because I am sure something will +happen to your house if I don't. Now please don't say a word about it. I +feel bad enough as it is." + +If Mr. Beardsley really was testing the boy hoping to find him wanting, +he was doomed to be disappointed, for promptly at half-past two the next +afternoon Marcy rode into his yard and went with him to see the +schooner, which was hidden in a bayou half a mile away. Marcy knew the +little craft as well as he knew his own, but her appearance had been so +greatly changed that he would not have recognized her if he had seen her +on the sound. Her black hull had been painted white, so that she would +not offer so fair a mark for the cannon of any cruiser she might be +unlucky enough to fall in with; her midship section had been changed +into a berth-deck, and she had gun-decks fore and aft. The two white men +who had charge of her had hoisted her canvas to give it an airing, and +Marcy saw a large figure "9" painted on her fore and main sails. + +"That's to make folks believe that she is a pilot-boat," chuckled Mr. +Beardsley. "We'll be almost certain to find some fellow creeping along +inside of Diamond shoals, thinking of no danger, and he'll never try to +sheer off when he sees us coming, kase he'll think we're friendly. He'll +think different when he sees a puff of smoke go up from our bows, but +then it will be too late for him to square away. Good scheme; don't you +think so?" + +Although Marcy had never felt greater contempt for a man in his life, he +managed to get through the interview to his satisfaction; but whether or +not Mr. Beardsley was satisfied, the boy could not tell. Sometimes he +acted as if he was, and then again he looked and talked as if he +suspected that Marcy was not half as enthusiastic as he pretended to be, +and that his heart was set on something besides privateering. + +"I'd like to capture this vessel, hoist Dick Graham's flag over it, and +give her up to some man-of-war," he said to himself. "But if I should +try it, I'd never dare show myself around home again. The game isn't +worth the candle. Some of Uncle Sam's boys will knock her into +kindling-wood if she stays outside long enough, and possibly they may +send me to Davy's locker along with her. It's rather a desperate chance, +but it's the only thing that will save mother from persecution. Perhaps +the neighbors will be a little more civil to her when they find that I +am in the service of the Confederacy." Then aloud he said: "When she +gets her guns and stores aboard she will draw a good deal of water for +Crooked Inlet, and I'd feel safer if I could have Julius at my elbow +when--" + +"Oh, that wouldn't do at all," interrupted Mr. Beardsley, stamping about +the deck and shaking his head most emphatically. "Julius is a nigger and +an abolitionist, and we don't want no such around. I've had carpenters +at work on the schooner for almost two weeks, and there aint been one of +my black people aboard of her." + +"But they must all know that you have been doing something to her," +replied Marcy. + +"Of course. I told 'em that I was getting ready to go a-trading between +Plymouth, Edenton, and Newbern, and that I was fixing on her up so't I +could carry big cargoes." + +"Mebbe they believed it and mebbe they didn't," was the boy's mental +comment. "If the darkies hereabouts are as sharp as they are down +Barrington way, they understand what this vessel is intended for as well +as you do yourself." + +"I won't have no niggers aboard my privateer," continued Mr. Beardsley, +who talked and acted as if he had grown in importance since those +gun-decks were put into the schooner. "I wouldn't trust the best of 'em +in times like these, and so I shall man my ship with whites. These men +belong to my crew, and the rest will be just as good." + +Marcy thought they might be better without hurting anything, for he did +not at all like the appearance of the two fellows he had found in charge +of the privateer. They had probably been picked up among the sailor +boardinghouses in Newbern; and if the test of the crew were going to be +like them, Marcy thought he would not care to be in their company for a +great while at a time. He afterward learned that one of the men was deep +in Mr. Beardsley's confidence. + +Before the boy took leave of the owner of the privateer they came to a +plain understanding on all points, agreed upon terms, and Marcy was to +hold himself in readiness to sail for Newbern at any hour of the day or +night. He felt almost like a criminal when he rode home to meet his +mother, but, although he was among the first, he was by no means the +last, to serve the cause of the Confederacy because he could not help +himself. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + SECRET ENEMIES. + +"It's done and it can't be undone," said Marcy, after he had told his +mother just what passed between him and the captain of the privateer. "I +assured Mr. Beardsley that I didn't think the government would hang his +men as pirates if they were taken on the high seas, but since I have +seen a couple of them I have my doubts. If the ship-keepers are fair +specimens of the crew, they are a hard lot, and I don't want to be +captured in such company. This is being true to my colors with a +vengeance." + +That was what his mother thought, but she did not say a word to add to +the bitterness of his feelings. Knowing the temper of the people around +her as well as she did, she could not see that Marcy could have done +anything else. Marcy Gray ate little supper that night, and as soon as +it began to grow dark, he left the house and went out on the road to +take a stroll. He wanted to be alone, even though the thoughts that +crowded thick and fast upon him were anything but pleasant company. +Almost without knowing it he kept on until he arrived within sight of +the gate leading to Mr. Beardsley's yard, and saw three men standing +close inside of it. The night was so dark he could not see who they +were, and without giving the circumstance a second thought, he was about +to retrace his steps, when the men moved into the road, and two of them +made a few steps in his direction, but turned suddenly about as if +listening to some parting instructions from the one they had left +behind. Marcy waited to see no more, but walked rapidly homeward, +unconscious of the fact that the men followed a little distance in his +rear, although they did not see him. When he reached the carriage-way +Marcy did not immediately go to the house, but paced up and down the +road in a brown study, from which he was presently aroused by the sound +of footsteps. A few seconds later a figure loomed up in the darkness, +and Marcy thought he recognized in it one of the men he had seen on +board the schooner that afternoon. The figure discovered him at the same +moment, halted abruptly, and said in cautious tones, as if fearful of +being overheard: + +"Who's there?" + +"It's no one who will hurt you," was the boy's reply. "Toddle right +along about your business." + +"Any dogs laying around?" + +"Nary dog. I'm alone." + +These answers must have satisfied the man, for he advanced without +further hesitation, and peered sharply into Marcy's face. + +"What you doing out here?" he asked, as though he had a right to know; +and then Marcy saw that he had not been mistaken. The man was one of the +ship-keepers. + +"What's that to you, and who are you?" he replied, with spirit. + +"I don't mean any offense--I don't really," said the man hastily. "But +it is rather strange that I should find you so easy when you are the +very one I was looking for. I didn't know whether it would be safe to +come or not, for you have dogs in plenty, like all the rest of the +planters about here. I am Sam Tierney, and I belong to Beardsley's +privateer. You are Marcy Gray, and have been engaged to take the +schooner through out-of-the-way inlets that the old man is not +acquainted with. Let's go down the road a piece. I'd like to talk to you +a minute, if you don't care." + +"Why can't you say what you have to say right where you stand?" inquired +Marcy. "There's no one to overhear you if your communication is +private." + +"Private? Well, you'll think so when you hear what it is. Come down the +road." + +It was right on the end of the boy's tongue to ask the man why he had +come to see him so soon after holding that conversation at Mr. +Beardsley's gate, and what he had done with his companion; but, on +reflection, he decided that he would not say a word on these points. +This might be an opportunity to learn something, he told himself, but +there was one thing of which he was sure: he would not trust himself +within reach of that missing ship-keeper, who might be hidden somewhere +down the road, ready to pounce upon him the moment this man Tierney +brought him to the ambush. He would remain right where he was, within +earshot of the faithful Bose, who would be likely to make things lively +for the privateersman if he attempted any violence. There was something +in the wind, the boy was sure of that; but he could not, for the life of +him, think what it could be. + +"I don't care to go down the road," said he. "What objection can you +have to this place? We can see in every direction, and there are no +bushes behind which an eavesdropper could hide himself." + +It was plain that Tierney was not satisfied with this arrangement. He +walked about with his hands in his pockets, kicked a pebble or two out +of his way, and finally wanted to know if Marcy would promise, honor +bright, that he would not repeat a word of what might be said to him. + +"No; I'll not make any such promise," Marcy answered promptly. "And you +would be foolish to put any faith in it if I did. I don't want you to +tell me anything confidentially, for I must be left free to do as I +think best about repeating it." + +The ship-keeper was plainly surprised at this answer, for he gave +utterance to a heavy oath under his breath and kicked some more pebbles +out of the road. Marcy waited patiently for him to speak, for he was +positive that the man had come there with something on his mind, and +that he would not go away until he had told what it was. + +"You're mighty suspicious," said he, at length, "and I don't know but +you have reason to be. You are a Union man." + +"Who told you that?" exclaimed Marcy, somewhat startled. + +"A little bird whispered it to me." + +"Well, the next time you see that little bird tell him to mind his own +business. My political views are nothing to him or you either." + +"I wouldn't get huffy. The old man says--" began Tierney, and then he +stopped and caught his breath. + +"Aha! The old man says so, does he?" thought Marcy. "And he tells his +foremast hands what he thinks about his neighbors, does he? I must be +cautious. Well, go on; what does the old man say?" + +"He says he has engaged you to act as pilot," replied the man, with some +confusion. + +"So he has; and if he chooses to trust his vessel in my hands in +channels and inlets that he knows nothing about, what have you to say? +He wouldn't do it if he did not think I would serve him to the best of +my ability, would he? But what has my politics to do with the position I +hold aboard that privateer?" + +"Nothing much," answered Tierney, turning away. "But they have a good +deal to do with the proposition I was going to make to you if I had +found you to be the good Union I heard you were." + +Now Marcy thought he began to see daylight, but he said not a word. +Tierney acted as though he was about to go away, but the boy knew he +wouldn't. + +"I'm a Union man," said he. + +"That's nothing to me, but if you are, I don't see why you stay about +here. You've no friends in this State to speak of. Go up to the United +States." + +The ship-keeper was evidently waiting for Marcy to ask him about the +proposition to which he had referred a moment before, but he waited in +vain. It was no part of Marcy's plan to draw the conversation back into +that channel. Tierney saw that he must take the initiative himself, and +he did it very abruptly. + +"Look here, pilot," said he. "There's no use in your mincing matters +with me in this way. Just a moment," he added, seeing that the boy +raised his hand as if he were about to speak. "I am a Union man all +over, my pardner is another, and you are another. I know it as well as I +know anything, and the old man knows it--I mean, he as good as said he +had heard of it, too." + +"Well, what of it?" inquired Marcy. "What did he hire me for, when he +knows that it is in my power to run his schooner hard and fast aground +if a ship of war gets after us?" + +"But he doesn't quite believe all he has heard, and he's willing to give +you a chance to prove that you are true blue," said Tierney, with an +awkward attempt to undo the mischief he had done by talking too +rapidly. + +"I am true blue," replied Marcy, "although I confess that my actions +just about this time do not show it," he added, to himself. "As long as +I remain aboard that schooner I shall do my duty the best I know how." + +"And will you take her out of harm's way if a ship of war heaves in +sight?" + +"I will if I can." + +"Then it isn't of any use for me to say more, I suppose?" + +"Not the slightest; that is, if you mean to propose that I shall join +you in seizing the vessel for the purpose of giving her up to one of +Uncle Sam's ships." + +"I never said so," exclaimed Tierney. "I never said one single, solitary +word that could lead you to think I meant any such thing." + +"I haven't hinted that you did; but all the same that is the proposition +you came here to make me. I can see through a ladder as well as you +can." + +"Well, I don't see that it's any good to beat about the bush," said the +ship-keeper frankly. "That's just what I came here for. We could get a +reward for turning the schooner over, and you could run her up as far as +Fortress Monroe, couldn't you?" + +"I might do it on a pinch, but I won't." + +"We'll have men enough to take her without the least trouble," urged +Tierney. + +"I hope you'll not try it, but if you do, you will find me close by +Captain Beardsley's side." + +"Will you fight?" + +"I'll fight till I drop before I will go near the Yankees with the crew +of that privateer. They would take one look at us, and then go to work +and hang the whole lot." + +"Why, didn't you tell the old man that they wouldn't?" exclaimed +Tierney; and if Marcy could have had a view of his face, he would have +seen that the ship-keeper was both astonished and frightened. "You must +have changed your mind." + +He certainly had, but did not feel called upon to explain why he had +done so. His idea was that the faces of the schooner's crew, if Tierney +and his companion ship-keeper were to be taken as specimens, would be +quite enough to condemn them, and that the United States authorities +would be justified in putting it out of their power to do mischief. + +"I'll not have any hand in the mutiny, but will do my best to quell it +if it breaks out," Marcy declared, with emphasis. "You've had your walk +for nothing." + +"So that's the end of _that_ hope," said Tierney, looking down at the +ground and trying to act as though he was very much disheartened. "You +won't repeat what has passed between us, of course?" + +"Of course I will. I'll go to Mr. Beardsley with it the first thing in +the morning." + +"What's that you say?" Tierney almost shouted. "Take back those words or +I'll--" + +He made a step forward and raised his hands as if he were about to +spring at Marcy. His actions were certainly threatening, and the boy +believing that he might commit an assault just to keep up appearances, +thought it best to summon a friend upon whose loyalty he could always +rely. A single shrill whistle arose upon the air, an answering bark came +from the direction of the house, and Bose came bounding up to see what +was the matter. Tierney recoiled. + +"He'll not say a spiteful word to you if you let me alone," Marcy +assured him. "You see now why I did not care to go down the road. You +have nothing to fear from me, but I shall tell Captain Beardsley all +about this interview as soon as I can find him. And that is just what I +am expected to do," he added, to himself, as the ship-keeper turned +around and hurried away. "That fellow isn't half as good a Union man as +Bose is. Beardsley sent him here to test me, and I saw it almost from +the beginning. If I don't report the matter, Beardsley will have his +suspicions confirmed, and then he will set something else on foot +against me. Oh, I'm a sharp one," laughed Marcy, taking off his cap and +patting his own head, "but I'd give a good deal to know when and how I +am going to get rid of that man. Whatever I do I must look out for +mother's comfort and peace of mind, and so I will not lisp a word of +this to her." + +That night Marcy's sleep was disturbed by all sorts of bad dreams, +during which he was constantly detecting Captain Beardsley in some plot +to injure him, and when morning came he was not much refreshed. In +accordance with his usual custom he had his horse brought to the door +immediately after breakfast, kissed his mother good-by, and set out for +Nashville to bring the mail; but he stopped on the way to have a talk +with the owner of the privateer. Under almost any other circumstances +Marcy would have thought he was playing a contemptible part; but being +as certain as he wanted to be that Beardsley was trying to get a hold +upon him for some purpose of his own, the boy thought himself justified +in adopting heroic measures for self-defense. The ship-keeper was not +the Union man he pretended to be, and Marcy would tell Beardsley nothing +new when he revealed the plot at which Tierney had hinted the night +before. This was what Marcy believed, and the manner in which he was +greeted by the privateer captain confirmed him in his belief. + +"Have you been over to the schooner this morning?" inquired the boy, +when he had hitched his horse and taken possession of the chair that was +brought out for him. "If you will not think me too inquisitive, I should +like to know where you picked up the two men you left in charge of +her." + +"I found them in Newbern, and they were recommended to me, by a party in +whom I have all confidence, as men who could be trusted," replied the +captain. "What makes you ask the question? Don't you like the looks of +'em?" + +"No, I don't, and neither do I like their actions," said the boy +truthfully. "Tierney came to see me last night, and tried to induce me +to take a walk down the road toward the place where I think his +companion was concealed." + +"What did he do that for?" exclaimed the captain, who was so anxious to +be surprised that he could not wait until his visitor reached the +surprising part of his story. + +"He probably wanted a witness to the manner in which I received the plot +he intended to propose to me if I had given the chance," answered Marcy, +narrowly watching the effect of his words. "But he didn't propose it; I +will say that much in favor of Tierney. He simply hinted at it, and I +told him I wouldn't have a thing to do with it." + +"Why, the--the--brat!" cried the captain. + +"You wouldn't have thought it of him, would you?" + +"Indeed I wouldn't. I thought he was trustworthy." + +"But you see he isn't. I told him I would tell you all about it and I +have," continued Marcy, who had told nothing at all; but he had led +Captain Beardsley on to acknowledge, almost as explicitly as words could +have done it, that he knew all about Tierney's plan for seizing the +schooner. "I think you had better discharge him. I don't want to sail +with a man who is all the while watching for a chance to get me into +difficulty. And then see how he is going square back on the principles +he professes!" + +"I should say he was. I'll discharge him as soon as I can get where the +schooner is, and tell him the next time he--But what did he do? What did +he propose to you?" + +"He didn't propose anything, because I didn't give him time. He only +hinted at it, and I thought it an outrageous piece of villainy." + +"So it was; so it was. But what did he hint at?" + +"Why, seizing the schooner and turning her over to the Yankees. I told +you all about it." + +"So you did, and I say that hanging is too good for that traitor. What +would you do with him if you was me?" + +"Send him up to the United States or put him in jail," replied Marcy. He +knew very well that the captain would do neither one nor the other, but +Marcy wanted to get rid of that man. If he would go deliberately to work +to get him into trouble, as he had done the night before by his +employer's advice and consent, he might try it again when Marcy was not +so well prepared for him. + +"It scares me to think of it," said the owner of the privateer, who did +not look as though he were very badly alarmed. "Such a thing as taking +the schooner could be done easy enough, and where would you be if it was +attempted?" + +"I should be on the side of the authorities. There's where you will +always find me. I wouldn't fall into the power of the Yankees for ten +times the value of all the prizes that will be captured on this coast +during the war. I should never expect to see home again. I told Tierney +I would fight first." + +"I guess you will do to tie to, Marcy," said the captain; and the +visitor told himself that those were the only truthful words he had +uttered during the interview. "If all my crew is as loyal as you are, +and if all the men in the army stick up for the Stars and Bars as you +do, we'll gain our independence in less'n six months." + +Marcy was not aware he had "stuck up" for the Stars and Bars, but it +would not be safe to set the captain right, as he would have been glad +to do, and besides this was the time to learn something. + +"I don't know where Tierney got his information, but he has heard from +several sources that I am for the Union," said he. + +"That's what folks say," replied Beardsley. + +"What have I said or done since I came home to lead them to think so?" + +"Not a word; not a thing. It's what you haven't said and done that makes +'em suspicion you. You don't whoop and holler and yell and slosh around +with your revolver, like the most of the young chaps do." + +"I am not given to such antics, and these are no times for +monkey-shines. We need sober, thoughtful men who will do their best to +steer us safely through the difficulties by which we are surrounded, +rather than whooping and yelling young ones who seemed determined to +wreck us." + +"That's good, sound argument," assented Captain Beardsley, as the +visitor pushed back his chair and went down the steps to unhitch his +horse. + +"But there's one thing I want to tell you," continued Marcy. "I haven't +signed any papers and consequently I am still a free man; and if you +want me in that schooner worse than you want Tierney, well and good. If +you don't, you can keep him and I will stay ashore." + +Marcy had pinned a very slight hope of release right here. He was +satisfied that the owner of the privateer must think a good deal of the +man Tierney or he would not have placed so much confidence in him; and +he hoped the captain would decide to keep him and let his pilot go. For +a time it looked as though the hope might be realized, for the captain +hesitated and stammered in such a way that there was no doubt left in +Marcy's mind that he was loth to give Tierney up; but seeing the boy's +eyes fastened upon him with a most searching glance Beardsley aroused +himself to say: + +"Of course; _of_ course." + +"Would you feel safe at sea knowing that you had a traitor among the +crew--one who was waiting and watching for an opportunity to turn you +and your vessel over to the Yankees?" continued Marcy. + +"No, I wouldn't," and the words came out quickly and honestly. "I +wouldn't live on a vessel under them conditions." + +"Well, whom are you going to keep--him or me?" + +"You, of course. I couldn't get along without somebody who knows Crooked +Inlet better than I do. Going to Nashville after your mail? Well, when +you come back ride round to the schooner and you'll find that Tierney +isn't there." + +"What good will it do to ride around to the schooner?" thought the boy, +as he gave his horse the rein and galloped out of the yard. "Of course +Tierney wouldn't be there. He would hear me coming through the bushes +and have plenty of time to jump ashore and hide himself. A blind man +ought to see that I did right when I went to Beardsley with my story. He +never asked what the plot was until he committed himself, nor did he +inquire how many there were in it, nor did he get half as mad over it +as he would if Tierney were a sure-enough Union man. It was a put-up +job, I tell you, and who knows but there may be others of much the same +sort hanging over me at this very minute? I do despise secret enemies." + +News travels rapidly when all the people in a place are thinking and +talking about the same things, and Marcy saw the fact illustrated when +he reached Nashville. The mail and express packages were delayed by an +accident to the wagon in which they were conveyed to and from the +nearest stage station; it took two or three hours to repair it, so that +it was mid-day before Marcy was ready to start for home. He always +dreaded an enforced delay in town, and tried to time himself so that he +would reach the post-office after everybody else had left it. In the +days gone by he had been on friendly terms with all the Nashville people +who were worth knowing, but it was not so now. He was treated civilly +enough, but rather coolly, by those he met on the street and in the +office, and he noticed that few of them took the trouble to speak to +him. This being the case, he wondered what influence had been at work to +bring about the change he noticed before he was fairly inside the town +limits. It was "Hello, Marcy!" here, and "How are you, old fellow?" +there, and when he hitched his horse and went into the post-office, +where there was a crowd assembled, his greeting was as cordial as any +that had ever been extended to him. Marcy opened his eyes, but said +little, knowing that if he had the patience to wait somebody would +explain the matter to him. He got a clue to the situation when young +Allison, after telling him that the mail wagon had broken down and might +not be along for an hour or two, inquired: + +"How's your ship, Marcy? I suppose you calculate to sweep the sea of +everything that carries the Yankee flag, don't you? I shall look for +astonishing reports when you get among the war-ships that are coming to +blockade the coast." + +Allison was a loud-mouthed young rebel who had made himself particularly +obnoxious to quiet, peace-loving Marcy Gray. He did not say anything to +Marcy's face that the latter could resent (he was afraid to do that, +notwithstanding the fact that he always carried a loaded revolver in his +pocket), but he had said a good many insulting words to others that were +intended for Marcy's benefit. The latter turned upon him like a flash, +and said, so that every one in the office heard it: + +"We don't expect to whip the whole Yankee navy, but we shall do the best +we can, and that's more than you seem inclined to do. You have had a +good deal to say concerning the cowards who are stopping at home when +the South is calling for their services. Why did you not go to the front +yourself long ago, you noisy braggart? Put a uniform on before you speak +to me again." + +"Good for you, Marcy," cried a score of voices. "Actions and not frothy +sentiment are what we want now." + +"Hit him again and I'll help," shouted another; and Marcy's old-time +friend, Wat Gifford, elbowed his way through the crowd. He was in full +uniform, and was the only citizen of Nashville who had snuffed powder at +the bombardment of Fort Sumter. "Talk is cheap, but it takes patriotism +to face Yankees." + +If Marcy had had a week in which to consider the matter, he could not +have done a better thing than he did right there on the spur of the +moment. Young Allison slunk away abashed, and the privateer's pilot +regained at one bound all he had ever lost in the estimation of the +Nashville people. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + MARCY GRAY PRIVATEERSMAN. + +"Wat, you're just the fellow I want to see," exclaimed Marcy, taking his +friend by the arm and leading him from the post-office. "When did you +get home?" + +"Came last night to recruit after my arduous campaign, and to spread a +little enthusiasm and patriotism among you stay-at-home chaps," answered +Wat. "But, say," he added, in a lower tone. "I didn't expect to find you +in the service. You're Union." + +"Who told you that?" + +"I'll be switched if I know. It's all over the country and in +everybody's mouth. I reckon you're Union about as I am. I say that +secession is all wrong, that we would be better without it, and that the +people who are urging it on don't know what they are about. There's +Allison for one; and I'm heartily glad you gave him such a set-back. +He'll talk himself hoarse, but when it comes to shouldering a musket, +he'll not be there. He'll be a bully chap to stand back and holler +'St-boy'; but he won't take a hand himself." + +By this time the two friends had perched themselves upon a low fence +where they could be alone and talk without fear of being overheard, and +Gifford showed his Yankee descent by pulling out his knife and looking +around for a stick to whittle. + +"And is that the reason all our old friends have gone back on us, mother +and me--because they think we are for the Union?" asked Marcy. + +"I believe that is the reason a good many have turned the cold shoulder +upon you," replied Gifford. "You asked me a fair question, and I have +given you a plain answer; but I am sorry to have to do it." + +"It's all right," Marcy assured him. "I want to know where I stand--" + +"And then you will know how to carry yourself," added his friend. "But +every one hasn't gone back on you; I haven't." + +"You are the solitary exception." + +"Well, you have taken the right course to show people that they were +mistaken in you," said Gifford. "I don't see but that you were well +enough treated to-day." + +"And joining the privateer was what worked the change?" + +"I think so. Where do you stand, any way? You need not be afraid to be +honest with me." + +"I think as you do, only I go a little farther. The Constitution says: +'Treason against the United States shall consist in levying war against +them.' Did you fellows levy war against them when you fired upon Sumter? +If you did, you are traitors the last one of you." + +"W-h-e-w!" whistled Gifford. "And you think we ought to be hanged?" + +"I certainly hope you won't be, you especially, but you know as well as +I do that the penalty of treason is death." + +"And you don't call yourself a traitor to your State, I suppose?" + +"I don't, because I have made no effort to overthrow the legal +government of my State. Between you and me, I joined that privateer +because I did not think it would be safe to do anything else." + +"There's where you showed your good sense," said Gifford earnestly. +"Judging by what I have heard, you took the only course that was open to +you. The people here are not half as crazy as they are in Charleston, +Wilmington, and Newbern, but they are none the less dead in earnest, and +you will find that after the State goes out, a Union man will not be +safe in this country. I think you have completely allayed suspicion here +in Nashville, but you want to look out for secret enemies near home. +Whatever you do, don't run Beardsley's schooner aground." + +"What have I got to do with running the schooner?" asked Marcy, who was +surprised at the extent of his friend's information. He began to see +that he and his movements had been pretty thoroughly discussed. + +"You're going to pilot her," answered Gifford. "That's what you've got +to do with running her, and I say again, don't run her aground." + +"If I do accidentally, Beardsley will shoot me, I suppose." + +"No, he won't. He hasn't the pluck to shoot a squirrel; but you never +could make him believe that it was an accident, and when he got ashore +he would do all he could to inflame the secessionists against you. He +seems to have something against you. I can't imagine what it is--" + +"I can," replied Marcy, coloring to the roots of his hair. "He wants to +marry our plantation." + +"Whew!" whispered Gifford. "That is a piece of news, I confess, but it's +safe, old boy. He'll not make it, of course. Then you have a most +implacable foe in Lon Beardsley. He is one of your secret enemies, and +that overseer of yours--what's his name, Hanson?--is another. They are +sworn friends, I have heard, and if your mother has any money stowed +away--Mind, I don't ask whether she has or not, because it is none of my +business. But I understand that before you came home she made several +trips about the country that could not have been made for nothing. If +she has any money, take all the precautions you can think of to keep it +from Hanson's knowledge. He's far more dangerous than Beardsley, because +he's right there on the place. I'll ride up and see you to-morrow or +next day, and then I will tell you more." + +Just then the conversation was interrupted by the approach of a party of +young fellows who wanted to shake hands with the soldier who had faced +the Yankees in battle, and tell Marcy Gray that they were glad to hear +he had joined the privateer, and that they had been mistaken in him, +having supposed that he was for the Union and dead against secession. +Having discharged this duty, and promised the young pilot that they +would surely ride out and make him a visit before he sailed, they turned +to Gifford and demanded a complete history of the battle in Charleston +harbor. + +"If it was a battle I hope I may never be in a worse one," replied the +soldier, who was not as proud of that affair as were some of those who +had no hand in it. "The South Carolina boys had everything their own +way. There were few outsiders in it, except some who, like myself, were +doing business in the city. Five thousand against fifty-one! Shucks!" + +"But you heard the bullets whistle, and that's a thing to be proud of," +said one. + +"I didn't hear a single bullet, but I heard a shell or two, and saw the +old flag come down. That was something I was sorry for." + +Gifford could talk in this strain as much as he pleased because he had +"been there"; but If Marcy Gray had ventured upon it, being under +suspicion as he was, beyond a doubt he or his mother would have suffered +for it. During the time he spent in waiting for the mail, he was never +alone for a single minute. All his old friends seemed desirous of +"making themselves square" with him, and not one left his side without +first telling him that somehow the mistaken idea had got abroad that he +was strong for the Union. + +"And so I am," said Marcy to himself, as he mounted his horse and set +out for home, glad to get away from the people who so misunderstood him. +"I utterly despise this double life, but don't see any release from it +just now. I should like to show myself true to my colors, but what can I +do among a lot of ruffians who would burn the roof over my mother's head +if I gave them the slightest excuse for it?" + +When Marcy rode into his own yard he was surprised to see two strange +carriages under the shed (a sight that had been common enough once upon +a time, but which he had not seen before since his return from +Barrington), and when he entered the room where his mother was sitting, +he found that those carriages had brought to the house a party of ladies +who had kept aloof from Mrs. Gray ever since she failed to celebrate +South Carolina's secession by displaying a "nullification" badge. These +ladies were as friendly and sociable as they had ever been, and a +stranger would not for a moment have suspected that they had thought it +advisable to drop Marcy's mother from their list of acquaintances. They +fairly "gushed" over the boy when they told him how delighted they were +to learn that he had enlisted under the banner of the Confederacy. + +"But I haven't enlisted, and what's more I don't intend to," answered +Marcy, who was resolved that there should be no misunderstanding on that +point. "I've got to stay at home and look out for mother." + +"But you and your brave comrades can run out once in a while and annoy +the enemy's commerce, and that will be the same as though you were +fighting in the army. Now is the time for every true son of the South to +show his colors." + +"Then it's high time some of _their_ sons were showing their colors," +said Marcy, after supper had been served, and the ladies had gone away +and he was alone with his mother. "There were four women in that party +who have sons older than I am. I saw them in town to-day; and although +they showed themselves to be blatant rebels, and talked loudly about the +good times we are going to have whipping the Yankees, they never said a +word about going into the army. Why don't those women preach their +doctrines at home instead of coming here to bother us with them?" + +Then he told his mother what had passed between himself and Wat Gifford, +and said he hoped Wat would visit him as he promised, for he was anxious +to know what else his friend had to tell him. He had warned him against +two secret enemies, and Marcy was sure he would feel safer if he knew +who the others were. But it was a long time before he saw Wat Gifford +again. The latter rode up the very next day, but the boy he wanted to +see was on his way to Newbern in the privateer, to take on board the two +howitzers which Beardsley fondly hoped would be the means of bringing +him so much prize-money that he would not be obliged to do another +stroke of work the longest day he lived. Even while Marcy was talking to +his mother Captain Beardsley galloped into the yard with a smile on his +face and an official envelope in his hand, which he flourished in the +air when he drew his horse up at the foot of the steps. Marcy's heart +sank within him, and his mother turned away to conceal her agitation. +Beardsley had received his commission, and there was no backing out. + +[Illustration: CAPTAIN BEARDSLEY BRINGS THE OFFICIAL LETTER.] + +"Tain't nothing to turn white over, Mrs. Gray," exclaimed the captain +exultingly. "Seems to me that you ought to feel proud to know that your +boy has got the chance to strike a telling blow at the enemies of his +native State. That's the way it makes me feel, and, Marcy, we want to +get the schooner out as soon as we can, so as to catch the ebb tide to +take us down to Newbern." + +"That means that you need him this very night, I suppose?" faltered Mrs. +Gray. + +"Yes-um. That's what it means. The sooner he gets there to lend a hand, +the better I'll like it." + +"Has that man Tierney been discharged?" asked Marcy. + +"He discharged himself," answered. Beardsley. "He must have seen you +come into my yard and suspicioned what was up, for when I got to the +schooner, he wasn't there. And his partner couldn't tell me nothing +about him neither." + +"I'll be along as soon as I can put a few clothes in a valise," said +Marcy; whereupon Beardsley said good-by to Mrs. Gray and rode out of the +yard. + +"What was that man, whose name you mentioned, discharged for?" inquired +Mrs. Gray, who knew too well that Marcy was going away under command of +a man who would bring harm to him if he could. + +"He was discharged because I didn't like his looks," replied the boy. +"He told me he was for the Union, but I did not believe a word of it. +Now, mother, I need everything I took when I went with Julius last +vacation to explore the coast. I wish now that I had stayed at home, for +then Beardsley wouldn't have thought of hiring me. Let us be as lively +as we can, for it will look suspicious if I hang back." + +Although the mother's heart was almost ready to break, she exhibited no +sign of emotion. Like thousands of other women all over the land she +gave up her son, hoping almost against hope that the fates would be kind +enough to bring him back to her; but it is not to be supposed that she +called Heaven's choicest blessings down upon the heads of the secession +leaders who had made the sacrifice necessary. Marcy bustled about, doing +no good whatever, but just to keep from thinking, and in ten minutes +more there had been a tender farewell at the gate, a single kiss of +parting, and the pilot of the privateer was well on his way toward +Captain Beardsley's house. That gentleman saw him coming and waited for +him. Perhaps he had hoped that the boy would show the white feather at +the last moment. If so, he did not know Marcy Gray. + +"We'll be short-handed going down," said he, as he led the way across +the road and into the bushes; "but we shall be all right the minute we +strike Newbern. When I got my commission out of the office this +afternoon I telegraphed to my agent telling him we would start to-night, +and for him to be sure and have a crew ready for us." + +"Why, I thought your crew was already shipped," said Marcy. "You +certainly gave me to understand as much." + +"So they were, but I don't much expect to find 'em when I get there. +They'll get tired of waiting and go out on the first ship that sails. +But we'll have a crew. Don't worry about that." + +"Worse and worse," thought Marcy. "We'll get a crew undoubtedly; but +what sort of men will they be? Dock-rats and 'longshoremen, most likely, +such as a decent captain wouldn't have on board his vessel. If we get +into trouble and I run the schooner aground while trying to bring her +out, they will be just the sort to pitch me overboard." + +As this thought passed through Marcy's mind he slipped his hand into his +pocket. Captain Beardsley saw the motion and inquired: + +"Got a pop with you?" + +"You wouldn't go on an expedition like this without one, would you?" +asked Marcy, in reply. "Have you bargained for any small arms for the +schooner?" + +"I have, and know right where to get 'em. But I shall keep them locked +up in the cabin and give 'em out to the crew only when I think it +necessary." + +"That's a good plan," observed Marcy. "Do you know anything about +gunnery?" + +"No, but one of the men I expect to get does. He has served his time on +board an English man-of-war and knows all about howitzers, and such +things. We couldn't get along without a gunner, you know. If we didn't +have one, how would we bring the prizes to?" + +Marcy wondered why the captain had so much to say on this point. He +asked the question merely out of curiosity, and the man answered it as +though Marcy had objected to having a gunner aboard. He learned more +about it after a while. + +When they reached the bank of the bayou in which the schooner was +moored, Marcy found that Beardsley had acted promptly, and that the +vessel was ready to be towed into the river. He had stopped there on his +way home from the post-office to warn the ship-keeper, and immediately +on his arrival at his own house, he had sent a dozen or more stout +negroes to man the yawl with which she was to be hauled out. + +"Come here, you mokes, and set us aboard," said Captain Beardsley to the +negroes who were waiting in the yawl. "Now, let go the fasts and stand +by to take a tow-line out for'ard." Then he said to the ship-keeper, in +a low tone, "Is Tierney aboard?" and the man replied by pointing toward +the deck, indicating, no doubt, that the man who had "discharged +himself" could be found on the berth-deck whenever his services were +needed. + +By the aid of the negroes, who were handy with a boat, the schooner was +towed from the bayou into Seven Mile Creek and thence into the Roanoke +River a short distance above Plymouth. The jib and foresail were hoisted +before she got there, and when they began to draw and the schooner to +feel their influence, the darkies were commanded to cast off the +tow-line and make the best of their way to the plantation. Marcy went to +the wheel, not because there was any piloting to be done in that open +river, but for the reason that he happened to be nearest to it, and +Captain Beardsley came aft and spoke to him. + +"When she gets clear of Plymouth we'll run up the mainsail and then +she'll go a-humming," said he, rubbing his hands gleefully together. +"This is the first time I was ever in command of a vessel sailing by +government authority, and I feel an inch or two taller'n I ever felt +before on my own quarter-deck. But this is a gun-deck now, aint it?" he +added, stamping his foot upon it to see how solid it was. "If we only +had aboard the howitzer that belongs here so that we could salute +Plymouth as we skim by--You aint listening to me at all. What you +looking at so steady?" + +The captain faced about, and, following the direction of Marcy's gaze, +saw the man Tierney slowly climbing the stairs that led to the deck. +When he got to the top he turned around and came aft in the most +unconcerned manner possible. + +"Well, there," exclaimed the captain, dropping both his hands by his +side and acting as if he were too astonished to say more just then. "If +he aint got back I wouldn't say so." + +Marcy's first thought was to give the wheel a fling, spill the sails, +and demand to be put ashore at once; but he did not do it. As Dixon once +told the colonel of the Barrington academy, it was too plain a case. +Tierney had been aboard the schooner all the time, and Marcy might have +found it out if he had been sharp enough to look between decks. + +"I'm glad he's come back, for he's the gunner I was telling you about," +whispered the captain. "We couldn't get along without him, don't you +know we couldn't? Say," he added, as Tierney came up, "didn't you leave +word with your partner that you had discharged yourself and wasn't never +coming back any more? Aint you a pretty chap to show your face aboard my +vessel, and you talking of giving her up to the--" + +"Oh, what's the use of keeping that farce up any longer?" cried Marcy, +in disgust. "You can't fool me. I don't know what Tierney's object was +in trying to bamboozle me the way he did--" + +"Well, I'll tell you," the man interposed, "and I'll be honest with you, +too. I heard you were a Union man, and I did not want to sail with you +if you were." + +"That's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," chimed +in the captain, nodding and winking at Marcy. + +"Well, are you quite satisfied with the test you applied to me?" +inquired the pilot. + +"I am. I know that you are as good a Southern man as any body in the +country." + +"And you are willing to acknowledge that you and the captain talked the +matter over beforehand, and that when you came to me, to urge me to +seize the vessel and turn her over to the Yankees, you did it with his +knowledge and consent?" continued Marcy, controlling himself with an +effort. + +"Course he is," exclaimed Beardsley. "I told him he would find you true +as steel, but he--" + +"But I wouldn't believe it until I had proved it to my own +satisfaction," chimed in Tierney. + +The man acted as though he had half a mind to extend his hand to Marcy +in token of amity, but if he had, he thought better of it, and in +obedience to the captain's order called the other ship-keeper aft to +assist in hoisting the mainsail. + +"He didn't offer to shake hands, and that proves that he isn't as +friendly as he lets on to be," thought Marcy. "He and the captain are +playing into each other's hands. That story was all made up, and if I +don't keep my eyes open, they will spring another plot on me. This is a +lovely way to live; but I've got to keep suspicion down in someway, and +I don't know how else I can do it." + +Nothing exciting or interesting occurred during the run to Newbern, for +there were no war-vessels inside the sandy bars which inclose the coast +of North Carolina and protect it from the fury of the Atlantic storms. +Aided by the strong ebb tide and the favorable breeze that was blowing, +the privateer made a quick passage along the low, swampy shores of +Albemarle, and finally entered Croatan Sound, which runs between the +eastern coast and Roanoke Island, and connects Pamlico with Albemarle +Sound. The forts, water-batteries, and Commodore Lynch's fleet, which +were afterward destroyed by Burnside and Goldsborough, were not in +existence now. Forts Hatteras and Clark were being built at Hatteras +Inlet, but the Confederates wasted time in their construction, for on +the 28th day of August Butler and Stringham captured them without the +loss of a man, and in defiance of a storm which twice compelled the +assaulting fleet to put to sea for safety. How Marcy Gray's heart would +have throbbed with exultation if he had known that the flag his +Barrington girl gave him was destined to float in triumph over the very +waters through which he was now sailing, and at the masthead of a +Federal vessel of war! That glorious day was only seven months in the +future, but the young pilot had some tight places to sail through before +it came around to him. + +Marcy Gray had so little heart for the business in which he was perforce +engaged, that he hoped something might happen at Newbern to prevent the +schooner from sailing on her piratical mission--that the collector of +the port might find some fault with her papers; that the howitzers and +small arms might not be forthcoming; that it might be impossible to +raise a crew; or that anything, no matter what, would come at the last +moment to knock Beardsley's scheme in the head. But he was disappointed. +The collector could not find any fault with the vessel's commission, for +he himself had received it direct from the Confederate capital and +forwarded it to the captain; the agent had scarcely slept since he +received that dispatch from Nashville, and the result was that when the +schooner sailed up to her wharf, she found the howitzers, four cases of +muskets and sabers, and a crew of eighteen men, including two mates, +waiting for her. The patriotic agent unfurled a brand-new Confederate +banner as the schooner threw out a line by which her head could be drawn +into the pier, and jumped aboard with it the moment she touched. + +"May it be the means of bringing you many an honest dollar," said he, as +he spread the flag upon the deck so that the captain could see it. "Are +your halliards rove? Then why not go into commission at once, while +there is a crowd on the wharf to holler for you? Come aboard, you +fellows," he added, waving his hand to the crew, who were already +tumbling over the rail, "and stand by to cheer ship when the banner of +the Confederacy is run up. Did your vessel take a new name with her coat +of new paint, captain?" + +"Yes, I kinder thought I would call her the _Fish-Hawk._" + +"Isn't that a queer name for a privateer?" asked the agent. + +"Why is it?" inquired the captain, who was busy folding the flag and +getting it ready to be run up to the masthead. "Don't the fish-hawk get +her living from the water, and aint I going to get mine the same way?" + +"That's true. Well, then, call her _Osprey._ That sounds a little +better, _I_ think, and it means the same thing." + +"All right. _Osprey_ she is," answered the captain, as he hauled up the +flag which had been made into a little bundle. "You stand by to set 'em +going." + +The crew, as well as the rapidly increasing crowd on the wharf, who +watched the little bundle as it traveled toward the head of the mast, +did not wait for the agent to "set them going"! When it reached the top, +and a slight jerk from one of the halliards loosened the flag to the +breeze, they yelled vociferously, and patted one another on the back and +shook hands as though they considered it a very auspicious occasion. + +"Now, give three cheers for Captain Beardsley and his privateer +_Osprey_, who have so promptly responded to our President's call. May +they strike such terror to the hearts of the Yankee nation that they +won't have a ship on the sea in six months from this day." + +Of course such talk as this just suited the crowd on the wharf, who +yelled longer and louder than before. Of course, too, Marcy had to join +them in order to keep up appearances, but he almost despised himself for +it, and made the mental prediction that in a good deal less than six +months' time the people of Newbern would cease to remember that such a +schooner as the _Osprey_ ever existed, although her arrival was loudly +heralded in all the city papers. Her "saucy air" and the "duck-like +manner in which she rode the waters," were especially spoken of, and one +reporter, whose penetration was both surprising and remarkable, +discovered in Captain Beardsley a man who would "do and dare anything +for the success of the glorious cause he had been so prompt to +espouse." + +The rest of that day and all the succeeding one were consumed in getting +the provisions, ammunition, and arms aboard, mounting the howitzers, and +stationing the crew. When the work was ended late at night, Marcy +tumbled into his bunk between decks, heartily disgusted with the life he +was leading. The schooner was to run out with the last of the ebb tide +in the morning, so as to catch the flood tide, which would help her up +to Crooked Inlet. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + CONCLUSION. + +It took them the best part of the next day to run to their destination, +and the whole of the following one to find and buoy the channel, which +changed more or less with every storm that swept the coast. Marcy +thought it a foolhardy piece of business to depend upon that treacherous +inlet for a way of escape in case the schooner was discovered and +pursued by a ship of war, and told Captain Beardsley so; but the latter +simply smiled, referred Marcy to the work he had done that day, and +reminded him that there were eight feet of water in the deepest part of +the channel, and that the privateer, fully loaded, drew but little more +than six. + +"There aint a sea-going vessel in the Yankee navy that can run on six +foot of water, and I know it," chuckled Beardsley. "If one of 'em gets +after us we'll skim through easy as falling off a log, but she'll stick, +'specially if she runs 'cording to them buoys you set out." This was the +"work" to which the captain referred. At that time the rule was for all +ship-masters to leave black buoys to starboard and the red ones to port; +or, to put it in English, they were to pass to the left of the black +buoys, and to the right of red ones, or run the risk of getting aground +and losing their insurance, in case their ships went to pieces. But +Marcy, acting under the orders of Captain Beardsley (who, now that he +was fairly afloat, began to show that he was much more of a sailor than +the folks around home thought he was), had changed this order of things +by anchoring the red buoys on the right of the channel going out, and +the black ones on the left. Of course it was necessary for the pilot to +bear this in mind if he were called upon to take the privateer through +there in a hurry, or on a dark night when the wind was blowing strongly. +To a landsman this may seem like a very small thing, but it was enough +to insure the destruction of any vessel whose commander was so daring as +to try to follow in Captain Beardsley's lead. More than that, Crooked +Inlet was not marked upon any government chart. The Atlantic Ocean had +opened it since the last survey was made. + +All things being in readiness for the cruise, the _Osprey_ ran through +the inlet on the morning of the third day out from Newbern, and spread +her wings to swoop down upon the first unsuspecting merchantman which +happened to be holding along the coast inside of Diamond Shoals. Now the +crosstrees were manned for the first time, a small pull taken at the +sheets fore and aft, and with a fine breeze over her quarter the +schooner ran off to the southeast toward the fair-weather highway +leading from the West Indies to Northern ports. Then the young pilot, +who had given up his place at the wheel, had leisure to look about him +and make a mental estimate of the crew. If there was a native American +among them he could not find him. He guessed right when he told himself +that they must have belonged to foreign vessels in port when President +Lincoln's proclamation was issued, and that Beardsley's agent had +induced them to join the Confederacy by offering higher wages than they +were receiving, and making extravagant promises of a wild, free, easy +life aboard the privateer, and unlimited dollars to spend in the way of +prize money. But as far as Marcy could see they were good sailors, and +Captain Beardsley and his mates enforced discipline from the first. + +The young pilot was surprised at the ease with which the master of the +schooner threw off his 'longshore manners and assumed the habit and +language of a seafaring man. He had been a trader in a small way ever +since Marcy could remember, and he said himself that the longest voyage +he ever made was from some port in Cuba to New York. He had a way of +going and coming at very irregular intervals. Sometimes his schooner +would lie idle for months, and Beardsley would work among his negroes +with so much industry and perseverance, that the planters around him +would come to think he had given up the sea for good; but all on a +sudden he would disappear as if by magic, and it would be a long time +before any one could find out where he was or what he had been doing; +and they were obliged to take his word for that. Marcy Gray was not the +only one who thought that the term "smuggler" would come nearer to +describing his vocation than the word "trader." But in spite of his +erratic movements and long intervals of rest on shore, Captain Beardsley +was a fair navigator and knew how to handle his schooner. He knew also, +and quickly assumed, the dignity befitting his station, kept his +quarter-deck sacred to himself, and, except when they were on duty, +never permitted his crew to come aft the foremast This made a gulf +between him and Marcy, but the latter did not mind that. He was content +to be considered one of the crew. + +Seventy hours passed, and the only thing the lookouts saw during that +time to indicate that they were not alone on the ocean, was a thin cloud +of smoke in the horizon, which might come from the chimneys of a +peaceful passenger vessel, or from those of a cruiser on the watch for +just such crafts as the _Osprey_ was; and so Captain Beardsley prudently +came about and sailed leisurely back toward the point from whence he +started. This move was just what brought her first prize into the +clutches of the _Osprey_. + +Land had been out of sight for almost two days. In her eagerness to +catch something the schooner had gone far beyond the highway toward +which she had first shaped her course, but this retrograde movement +brought her back to it. On the morning of the third day the thrilling +cry "Sail ho!" came from aloft, and in an instant the deck was in +commotion, the man at the wheel so far forgetting himself as to allow +the privateer to swing into the wind with all her canvas flapping. + +"Keep her steady, there," shouted the captain angrily. "Where away?" he +continued, hailing the crosstrees. + +"Broad on the weather beam. Topsail schooner, and standing straight +across our course." + +The captain seized a glass and hastened aloft to take a look at the +stranger, while those on deck crowded to the rail and strained their +eyes for a glimpse of the sail, which had not yet showed her top-hamper +above the horizon. No change was made in the course of the privateer, +and neither was anything done toward casting loose the guns. There would +be time enough for that when the captain had made up his mind what he +was going to do. He sat on the crosstrees beside the lookout for an hour +without saying a word. By that time the sail was visible from the deck. +To quote from one of the crew she was coming up at a hand gallop. Then +Captain Beardsley was satisfied to come down and take charge of the +deck. + +"She's ours," Marcy heard him say to the two mates. "I would not sell my +chances of making a rich haul for any reasonable sum of money. If I know +anything about vessels, she is a Cuban trader bound to New York. Ease +the _Osprey_ up a bit. Don't crowd her so heavy, and the chase will pass +by within half a mile of us. But we mustn't let her get by, for she is a +trotter, and every inch of her muslin is drawing beautifully." + +While the second mate set about obeying the last order, the captain +addressed some others to the first officer, and in a remarkably brief +time, considering their short experience on board the privateer, her +crew had cast loose the bow gun and trained it over the port side, the +magazine and shell-rooms had been opened and lighted, and Tierney, who +acted in the double capacity of captain of the bow gun and drill-master +to the crews of both, had driven home a five-second shrapnel. + +"All ready forward, sir," said he. + +"Throw that piece of canvas back over the gun to hide it," commanded +Captain Beardsley. "Send all the men below that are not needed on deck. +Gray, go aft and stand by to run up the Yankee flag when I tell you." + +The topsail schooner could be plainly seen now, and Marcy was sailor +enough to note that if her captain did not suspect there was something +wrong, he acted like it. This could hardly be wondered at, for taking +into consideration the "natty" appearance of the privateer, the lubberly +way in which she was sailed, standing so far off wind when she ought to +have been close to it if she were sailing her course, was enough to +excite anybody's suspicions. Two of her officers were in the rigging, +and Captain Beardsley, who was mentally calculating her chances for +running by his own vessel in case she made the attempt, took his glass +from his eye long enough to remark: + +"They don't quite like our looks, do they? That proves that they are +from some near port, and heard something about privateers before they +sailed. I heard that parties in New Orleans had steamers afloat a week +ago. Marcy, show them the Yankee flag and see if that won't quiet their +feelings." + +"If that isn't stealing the livery of Heaven to serve the Evil One in I +don't want a cent," said Marcy, to himself, as with an "Aye, aye, sir," +he obeyed the order that was intended to lure the stranger to her +destruction. At the same moment her own colors, the Stars and Stripes, +were run up to the peak. + +But the sight of the friendly flag did not seem to allay the suspicions +of those on board the topsail schooner. To the great surprise of those +who were watching her, her bow began to swing slowly around, her sails +trembled in the air for a minute or two and then moved over to the other +side, her yard was braced forward, the sheets hauled taut, and she was +off on the other tack with a big bone in her teeth. By this move she +hoped to pass so far astern of the suspicious-looking craft in front of +her, as to be beyond range of the light guns her captain had reason to +believe were concealed under those piles of canvas which looked so +innocent at a distance. It was beautifully and quickly done; but who +ever saw a Yankee skipper who did not know how to handle his ship, or +who would give her up to an enemy if he saw the slightest chance to +escape with her? The Confederate Admiral Semmes had more than one chase +after a plucky Yankee captain, who was resolved that he would not come +to if he could help it, and he often goes out of his way to pay deserved +tribute to the skill and courage of Northern sailors. + +"That's his best sailing-point, and he's got a breeze that don't reach +us," Captain Beardsley almost howled, stamping about the deck and +shaking his fist at the flying schooner. "Where are you, Tierney? Fire +that gun at him. Pitch the ball into him the first time without stopping +to send it across his bows. Do something, or he'll get away from us." + +Tierney and his crew, who had scattered themselves over the deck in +obedience to an order from the mate, were on hand almost before the +angry skipper had ceased talking. The captain of the gun knew that the +schooner was far beyond the reach of the short-time projectile he had in +his piece, but that did not prevent him from obeying orders. The canvas +covering was torn off and cast aside, the gun trained, and the +lock-string pulled. The privateer trembled all over with the force of +the concussion; the howitzer bounded from its place and recoiled as far +as its breeching would permit it to go, and the shrapnel went shrieking +on its way. But it did not go more than a quarter of the distance that +intervened between the two vessels before it exploded. However, it +showed the crew of the fleeing schooner that her enemy was fully armed, +and it enabled Tierney to load his gun with a shell provided with a +longer fuse. + +"Send home another one that will go farther before it busts," shouted +Captain Beardsley. "And while you're doing it, we'll see if we can't +come around on the other tack about as quick as she did." + +Remember that the two vessels, pursuer and pursued, had not yet passed. +They were sailing diagonally toward each other at the first, and that +was the relative position they held when the privateer came about and +stood off on the other tack. If Captain Beardsley had understood his +business he might have had the after-gun cast loose and loaded with a +fifteen-second shell, and fired it at the chase as the stern of the +_Osprey_ swung around. Marcy thought this could have been done, but of +course he said nothing. His sympathies were entirely with the captain +who had determined to make a race of it. + +"I do hope he'll get away," thought the boy, looking first at the canvas +of his own vessel to see how it was drawing, and then at the topsail +schooner which was making such gallant efforts to escape. "Suppose the +captain owns that craft, and that it is everything he has in the world +to depend on for a living for his family? It will be just awful to take +it away from him. Why don't Uncle Sam send some cruisers down here?" + +While Marcy stood on the quarter-deck meditating, Tierney was working on +the forecastle, and now he called out: + +"All ready for'ard, sir." + +"Let her have it!" cried the captain; and then, seeing that Marcy Gray +was still holding fast to the halliards that kept the starry flag at the +peak, he shouted: "Why don't you haul that thing down and run aloft the +Stars and Bars? Are you asleep?" + +"No, sir," replied the boy. "Waiting for orders, sir." + +"Down with it then, and put our own flag up there," commanded the +captain. "Fire, Tierney!" + +The howitzer once more belched forth a cloud of flame and smoke, and +Marcy stood on tiptoe and held his breath in suspense while he waited +for the result. He felt the cold chills creep along his spine when, +after an interval that seemed very short for the distance the shot had +to travel, he saw it strike the water in line with the schooner and +explode a second later almost at her side. There was no mistake about it +this time. A fifteen-second fuse was long enough, and the next shot, +with a single half-degree more of elevation, would surely strike her. +Her skipper saw it, and rather than allow his vessel to be shot to +pieces and his men killed before his eyes, he spilled his sails and gave +up the contest. + +"Come on deck, you lubbers below, and cheer our first prize," shouted +the mate, who was almost beside himself with joy and excitement. "There +she is, laying to and waiting for you to go and take possession," he +went on, as the crew tumbled up the ladder. "Count your prize-money up +on your fingers and then give a cheer." + +This was an insulting way to treat men who had done all that brave men +could do to elude their enemy, and surrendered at last because they had +no means of defending themselves, and Marcy was glad to notice that +Tierney saw it, and did not join in the cheers that followed. Perhaps +the man had a better heart than Marcy had given him credit for. + +"Where's that boat's crew?" inquired the captain, meaning the men who +had been drilled in lowering the yawl and pulling off to imaginary +prizes. "Here's the keys to the cabin, Marcy. Unlock the door and give +every man who comes to you a saber, revolver, and a box of cartridges. +And you," he added, turning to the first mate as Marcy took the keys and +hastened below, "tumble ten men besides the boat's crew into the yawl, +go off to the prize, and send the master and his papers on board of us. +Put all the schooner's company, except the mates, in double irons, and +stow them away somewhere under guard. Then keep your weather eye on me +and follow in my wake when I fill away for Newbern. That's the way we'll +manage things as often as we take a prize." + +While these orders were being obeyed the _Osprey_ was sailing steadily +toward her prize; and by the time the men had been selected and the +small arms distributed, she had come as close to her as Captain +Beardsley thought it safe to venture. Having performed his duty, Marcy +returned to the deck just in time to see the prize crew climbing upon +her deck. A quarter of an hour later the boat came back, bringing a +strange man who certainly took matters very coolly, seeing that he had +lost his vessel and a valuable cargo. + +"Captain," said he, as he clambered over the _Osprey's_ rail, "I don't +understand the situation at all, for all your mate would say to me was +that my ship was a prize to the Confederate privateer _Osprey._" + +"What else did you want him to say?" asked Captain Beardsley, with a +smile that must have made the merchant skipper angry. "That's the whole +thing in a nutshell. Where are your papers? See that flag up there? +That's the one I sail under. You must have heard that there were such +fellows as me afloat, or you wouldn't have shied off as you did." + +"Your appearance was all right, but I didn't like the way you acted," +replied the skipper. "Yes, I have heard that there are some gentlemen of +your sort roaming around the Gulf." + +"Your schooner is the _Mary Hollins_, bound from Havana to Boston with +an assorted cargo," said Captain Beardsley. "There is no attempt made to +'cover' either?" + +"No, sir; it is an American vessel and her cargo is consigned to an +American house," answered the skipper, who knew it would be useless to +deny it with the plain facts staring Captain Beardsley in the face. +"But, captain, I protest against your putting my men in irons. They are +not felons, to be treated that way." + +"Can't help it," said Beardsley shortly. "Can't you see for yourself +that I have a small crew, and that I must take measures to prevent your +men from recapturing the prize? I'll let 'em out as soon as we get +through Hatteras." + +The master of the privateer exchanged a few words with his second mate, +and in a minute or two more the _Osprey_ came about and pointed her nose +toward Newbern, the _Mary Hollins_ following in her wake. The crew +stepped around with unwonted alacrity, and tugged at the sheets as +energetically as though the prize dollars the agent had promised them +were fastened to the other end. Everybody was happy except Marcy Gray +and the unfortunate skipper of the _Mary Hollins_. He took his capture +very philosophically, but Marcy was sure he did some deep and earnest +thinking while he stood on the privateer's quarterdeck, pulling his +whiskers, and looking back at the vessel he had lost. Marcy almost +wished that he could change places with him so that he could enter the +navy as soon as he was released, and assist in sweeping the sea of such +crafts as the _Osprey._ He dared not speak to him, for that would excite +suspicion, and the prisoner, who looked at Marcy now and then, probably +thought the boy as good a rebel as there was on board. + +The low sand dunes about Hatteras Inlet, as well as the unfinished walls +of the forts that were to defend it, came up out of the sea shortly +after daylight the next morning, and at one o'clock the _Osprey_ and her +prize sailed through, loudly cheered by the working parties ashore. The +prisoner now reminded Captain Beardsley of the promise he had made +regarding the crew of the _Mary Hollins_, but Beardsley got out of it +by saying that he had no way of signaling to the prize, and could not +think of waiting for her to come alongside so that he could hail her. +The truth was Captain Beardsley believed that the Yankees would fight if +they were given half a chance. The sound upon which the vessels were now +sailing was a pretty large body of water, Newborn was still many miles +away, and if the _Hollins's_ men were freed from their irons, they might +recapture their vessel and elude the _Osprey_ during the night that was +coming. Beardsley kept them in durance until he reached port, and then +released them to be jeered and hooted by the crowd that followed them +from the wharf to the jail in which they were confined. + +The reception that was extended to himself and his men was of different +character. They were cheered to the echo, and as many as could get upon +the decks of the _Osprey_ and her prize, insisted on shaking them by the +hand and telling them what brave fellows they were, and how much they +had done for the glorious cause of Southern independence. Beardsley's +agent was on hand, of course, and when he had seen the _Mary Hollins_ +turned over to the collector of the port, he insisted that the _Osprey_ +should run out again at once and make another haul, before the seizure +of the _Hollins_ became known at the North; but, to Marcy Gray's intense +delight, Beardsley refused to budge. + +"Not much I won't go outside again and leave you land-sharks to handle +my prize and the money she'll sell for," he declared, with so much +emphasis that the agent did not think it best to urge him further. "Me +and my men have got the biggest interest in the _Mary Hollins_, and +right here we stay till the legality of the capture has been settled, +the vessel and cargo sold, and the dollars that belong to us are planked +down in our two hands." + +"Then I may go home?" said Marcy, as soon as he saw a good chance to ask +the question. + +"Course. Go by first train if you want to." + +That was enough for the boy, who was disgusted with life on board a +privateer. He hastened below, and in less than twenty minutes presented +himself in Beardsley's cabin with his "grip" in one hand and a paper in +the other. + +"That's a leave of absence," said Marcy, placing the paper before the +captain. "I don't suppose it is drawn up in proper form, but it will +serve to show the people at home that I am there with your permission. +I'd be glad if you would sign it." + +The captain did so without a word of objection, gave Marcy a few +messages to be delivered to his friends in and around Nashville, and +promised to look out for his share of the prize money. + +"You can keep it, if you can bring yourself to touch it," thought the +boy, as he walked ashore, after shouting good-by to the crew, and bent +his steps toward the nearest telegraph office. "It would burn my +hands." + +He sent a dispatch to his mother requesting that Morris might be sent to +meet him at the depot at a certain time, and to allay any fears that +might be awakened in her mind by his sudden return to Newbern, he +announced that the privateer had just brought a valuable prize into +port. Those few words sent the dispatch through without a cent's worth +of expense to himself. + +"So you are one of those gallant fellows, are you?" said the operator. +"Well, I'll send it off and call it square. You deserve a world of +credit." + +"I can't for the life of me see where an armed vessel wins credit in +capturing one that is entirely without means of defense," replied Marcy, +who had heard so much of this sort of talk since he reached Newbern that +he was tired of it. + +"But that isn't the point," said the operator. "See what a blow you have +struck at the enemy's commerce. Keep it up long enough and you will +drive his hated old rag from the sea." + +Marcy had another ride with Morris, who was at the depot waiting for him +when his train came in, and reached home at last to receive a tearful +welcome from his mother. + +"You don't gush over me at all," said he, as she threw her arms about +his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. "Don't you know that I have +roamed the high sea, smelled powder, and helped capture a Yankee vessel? +It's the most despicable business in the world," he added, as he led his +mother into the house out of earshot of all the servants. And then he +told her how the capture had been effected, and explained why Beardsley +would not immediately put to sea to try his luck again. He said, with a +long-drawn sigh, that he was glad to get home, and hoped from the bottom +of his heart that the _Osprey_ might sink at her wharf before he was +ordered to report aboard of her again. As for the prize-money, he +supposed he would have to take it or set Beardsley's tongue in motion; +but he would put it carefully away, and send it to the master of the +_Hollins_ if he ever had the chance. + +"You don't feel at all as your Cousin Rodney does," said his mother, +when he ceased speaking. "A long letter from him addressed to you came +during your absence, and I took the liberty to read it. Yes, he enlisted +almost as soon as he reached home, and is going with his company to +Missouri, where he hopes to join Dick Graham, who belongs to the state +troops under General Price." + +"They have both lived up to their principles, but how have I lived up to +mine?" said Marcy, taking the letter from his mother's hand. "I told +them I should be true to my colors, no matter what happened, and how +have I held to my resolution? I can't tell them just how I am situated, +for suppose the letter should miscarry and fall into the hands of some +fellow like Captain Beardsley? This is a nice way to live." + +Rodney wrote as if he were full of enthusiasm, and gave a complete +history of his movements since the day on which he bade his cousin +good-by in Barrington. There was one short paragraph in his letter which +will serve as a very good introduction to the second volume of this +series of books, and we produce it entire. It ran as follows: + +"It wouldn't be safe for you to come to this country, old fellow, and +talk as you did while we were at school. You would be mobbed in spite of +all I could do to prevent it. I hope you haven't got into any trouble by +trying to be true to your colors since you have been in North Carolina. +I can talk as I please here, and you know I please to denounce +everything except secession and independence. I belong to an independent +company of cavalry. The colonel commanding the regiment we wanted to +join didn't think he had any authority to accept us unless we would give +up our independent organization, and as we were resolved we wouldn't do +that, we began to think we would be obliged to fight on our own hook; +but just in the nick of time we learned that the troops serving in +Missouri, under Price and McCulloch, were mostly partisans, and that +either of those commanders would be glad to accept us. So there is where +we are going as soon as we can get transportation, and who knows but I +may see our old friend Dick Graham? Shall I tell him 'Hello!' for you? +We furnish our own horses, the government allowing us sixty cents a day +for the use of them. If they die or are killed in action, we are to get +another mount from the enemy. Come and join us, Marcy. Throw your Union +sentiments to the winds--you'll have to sooner or later--take sides with +the friends of your state, swear allegiance to the flag of the +Confederacy and battle for the right. Come and join my company and we'll +have some high old times running the Yankees out of Missouri." + +But the sequel proved that the despised Yankees could not be so easily +driven; on the contrary they drove the rebels. Marcy's cousin manfully +bore a soldier's part in some of the hardest battles that were fought in +Missouri; and just what he did, and whether or not he enjoyed the "high +old times" that came rather sooner than he expected, shall be told in +the succeeding volume of this series which will be entitled, "RODNEY, +THE PARTISAN." + + THE END. + + + +THE + +FAMOUS + +CASTLEMON + +BOOKS. + +BY + +HARRY CASTLEMON. + + + +[Illustration: Specimen Cover of the Gunboat Series.] + +No author of the present day has become a greater favorite with boys +than "Harry Castlemon;" every book by him is sure to meet with hearty +reception by young readers generally. His naturalness and vivacity lead +his readers from page to page with breathless interest, and when one +volume is finished the fascinated reader, like Oliver Twist, asks "for +more." + +**Any volume sold separately. + + + +GUNBOAT SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 6 vols., 12mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $7 50 +Frank, the Young Naturalist 1 25 +Frank in the Woods 1 25 +Frank on the Prairie 1 25 +Frank on a Gunboat 1 25 +Frank before Vicksburg 1 25 +Frank on the Lower Mississippi 1 25 + +GO AHEAD SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 3 vols., l2mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Go Ahead; or, The Fisher Boy's Motto 1 25 +No Moss; or, The Career of a Rolling Stone 1 25 +Tom Newcombe; or, The Boy of Bad Habits 1 25 + +ROCKY MOUNTAIN" SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Frank at Don Carlos' Rancho 1 25 +Frank among the Rancheros 1 25 +Frank in the Mountains 1 25 + +SPORTSMAN'S CLUB SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +The Sportsman's Club in the Saddle 1 25 +The Sportsman's Club Afloat 1 25 +The Sportsman's Club among the Trappers 1 25 + +FRANK NELSON SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 3 vols. 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Snowed Up; or, The Sportsman's Club in the Mts. 1 25 +Frank Nelson in the Forecastle; or, The Sportsman's Club among the +Whalers 1 25 +The Boy Traders; or, The Sportsman's Club among the Boers 1 25 + +BOY TRAPPER SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +The Buried Treasure; or, Old Jordan's "Haunt" 1 25 +The Boy Trapper; or, How Dave Filled the Order 1 25 +The Mail Garnet 1 25 + +ROUGHING IT SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +George in Camp; or, Life on the Plains 1 25 +George at the Wheel; or, Life in a Pilot House 1 25 +George at the Fort; or, Life Among the Soldiers 1 25 + +ROD AND GUN SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Don Gordon's Shooting Box 1 25 +Rod and Gun 1 25 +The Young Wild Fowlers 1 25 + +FOREST AND STREAM SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Joe Wayring at Home; or, Story of a Fly Rod 1 25 +Snagged and Sunk; or, The Adventures of a Canvas Canoe 1 25 +Steel Horse; or, The Rambles of a Bicycle 1 25 + +WAR SERIES. By Harry Castlemon. 4 vols., 12mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box 5 00 +True to his Colors 1 25 +Rodney, the Partisan 1 25 +Marcy, the Blockade Runner 1 25 +Marcy, the Refugee 1 25 + +OUR FELLOWS; or, Skirmishes with the Swamp Dragoons. By Harry Castlemon. +16mo. Fully illustrated. Cloth, extra 1 25 + + + +ALGER'S + +RENOWNED + +BOOKS. + +BY + +HORATIO ALGER, JR. + + + +[Illustration: Specimen Cover of the Ragged Dick Series.] + +Horatio Alger, Jr., has attained distinction as one of the most popular +writers of books for boys, and the following list comprises all of his +best books. + +**Any volume sold separately. + + + +RAGGED DICK SERIES. By Horatio Alger, Jr. 6 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $7 50 +Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York 1 25 +Fame and Fortune; or, The Progress of Richard Hunter 1 25 +Mark, the Match Boy; or, Richard Hunter's Ward 1 25 +Rough and Ready; or, Life among the New York Newsboys 1 25 +Ben, the Luggage Boy; or, Among the Wharves 1 25 +Rufus and Rose; or, the Fortunes of Rough and Ready 1 25 + +TATTERED TOM SERIES. (FIRST SERIES.) By Horatio Alger, Jr. 4 vols., +12mo. Fully illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box, 5 00 +Tattered Tom; or, The Story of a Street Arab 1 25 +Paul, the Peddler; or, The Adventures of a Young Street Merchant 1 25 +Phil, the Fiddler; or, The Young Street Musician 1 25 +Slow and Sure; or, From the Sidewalk to the Shop 1 25 + +TATTERED TOM SERIES. (SECOND SERIES.) 4 vols., 12mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $5 00 +Julius; or the Street Boy Out West 1 25 +The Young Outlaw; or, Adrift in the World 1 25 +Sam's Chance and How He Improved it 1 25 +The Telegraph Boy 1 25 + +LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES. (FIRST SERIES.) By Horatio Alger, Jr. 4 vols., +12mo. Fully illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $5 00 +Luck and Pluck; or John Oakley's Inheritance 1 25 +Sink or Swim; or, Harry Raymond's Resolve 1 25 +Strong and Steady; or, Paddle Your Own Canoe 1 25 +Strive and Succeed; or, The Progress of Walter Conrad 1 25 + +LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES. (SECOND SERIES.) By Horatio Alger, Jr. 3 vols., +12mo. Fully illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $5 00 +Try and Trust; or, The Story of a Bound Boy 1 25 +Bound to Rise; or Harry Walton's Motto 1 25 +Risen from the Ranks; or, Harry Walton's Success 1 25 +Herbert Carter's Legacy; or, The Inventor's Son 1 25 + +CAMPAIGN SERIES. By Horatio Alger, Jr. 7, vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Frank's Campaign; or, The Farm and the Camp 1 25 +Paul Prescott's Charge 1 25 +Charlie Codman's Cruise 1 25 + +BRAVE AND BOLD SERIES. By Horatio Alger, Jr. 4 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box 5 00 +Brave and Bold; or, The Story of a Factory Boy 1 25 +Jack's Ward; or, The Boy Guardian 1 25 +Shifting for Himself; or, Gilbert Greyson's Fortunes 1 25 +Wait and Hope; or, Ben Bradford's Motto 1 25 + +PACIFIC SERIES. By Horatio Alger, Jr. 4 vols. 12mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $5 00 +The Young Adventurer; or, Tom's Trip Across the Plains 1 25 +The Young Miner; or, Tom Nelson in California 1 25 +The Young Explorer; or, Among the Sierras 1 25 +Ben's Nugget; or, A Boy's Search for Fortune. A Story of the Pacific +Coast 1 25 + +ATLANTIC SERIES. By Horatio Alger, Jr. 4 vols., 12mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box 5 00 +The Young Circus Rider; or, The Mystery of Robert Rudd 1 25 +Do and Dare; or, A Brave Boy's Fight for Fortune 1 25 +Hector's Inheritance; or, Boys of Smith Institute 1 25 +Helping Himself; or, Grant Thornton's Ambition l 25 + +WAY TO SUCCESS SERIES. By Horatio Alger, Jr 4 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $5 00 +Bob Burton 1 25 +The Store Boy 1 25 +Luke Walton 1 25 +Struggling Upward 1 25 + +NEW BOOK BY ALGER. +DIGGING FOR GOLD. By Horatio Alger, Jr. Illustrated 12mo. Cloth, black, +red and gold 1 25 + + + +A + +New Series of Books. + +Indian Life + +and + +Character + +Founded on + +Historical + +Facts. + + + +[Illustration: Specimen Cover of the Wyoming Series.] + + + + By Edward S. Ellis. + +** Any volume sold separately. + +BOY PIONEER SERIES. By Edward S. Ellis. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully +illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Ned in the Block House; or, Life on the Frontier 1 25 +Ned in the Woods. A Tale of the Early Days in the West 1 25 +Ned on the River 1 25 + +DEERFOOT SERIES. By Edward S. Ellis. In box containing the following. 3 +vols., 12mo. Illustrated $3 75 +Hunters of the Ozark 1 25 +Camp in the Mountains 1 25 +The Last War Trail 1 25 + +LOG CABIN SERIES. By Edward S. Ellis. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Lost Trail 1 25 +Camp-Fire and Wigwam 1 25 +Footprints in the Forest 1 25 + +WYOMING SERIES. By Edward S. Ellis. 3 vols., 12mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $3 75 +Wyoming 1 25 +Storm Mountain 1 25 +Cabin in the Clearing 1 25 + +NEW BOOKS BY EDWARD S. ELLIS. + +Through Forest and Fire. 12mo. Cloth 1 25 +On the Trail of the Moose. 12mo. Cloth 1 25 + + By C. A. Stephens. + +Rare books for boys bright, breezy, wholesome and instructive; full of +adventure and incident, and information upon natural history. They blend +instruction with amusement contain much useful and valuable information +upon the habits of animals, and plenty of adventure, fun and jollity. + +CAMPING OUT SERIES. By C. A. Stephens. 6 vols., 12mo. Fully illustrated. +Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $7 50 +Camping Out. As recorded by "Kit" 1 25 +Left on Labrador; or The Cruise of the Schooner Yacht "Curfew." As +recorded by "Wash" 1 25 +Off to the Geysers; or, The Young Yachters in Iceland. As recorded by +"Wade" 1 25 +Lynx Hunting. From Notes by the author of "Camping Out" 1 25 +Fox Hunting. As recorded by "Raed" 1 25 +On the Amazon; or, The Cruise of the "Rambler." As recorded by +"Wash" 1 25 + + + By J. T. Trowbridge. + +These stories will rank among the best of Mr. Trowbridge's books for the +young--and he has written some of the best of our juvenile literature. + +JACK HAZARD SERIES. By J. T. Trowbridge. 6 vols., 12mo. Fully +Illustrated. Cloth, extra, printed in colors. In box $7 50 +Jack Hazard and His Fortunes 1 25 +A Chance for Himself; or, Jack Hazard and his Treasure 1 25 +Doing His Best 1 25 +Fast Friends 1 25 +The Young Surveyor; or, Jack on the Prairies 1 25 +Lawrence's Adventures Among the Ice Cutters, Glass Makers, Coal Miners, +Iron Men and Ship Builders 1 25 + +--GOOD BOOKS-- +Suitable for Girls between the Ages of 12 and 15. + +Ways and Means. A Story for girls. By Margaret Vandegrift. With four +illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, extra 1 25 + +The Queen's Body-Guard. A Story for Girls. By Margaret Vandegrift. With +four illustrations. 12mo. 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A Story for Girls. By Lizzie B. Comins (Laura Caxton). +12mo. Illustrated. Cloth, extra, brown and gold 1 25 + + + +THE HANDSOMEST AND CHEAPEST GIFT BOOKS + +The "Bells" Series. + +The "BELLS" Series has been undertaken by the publishers with a view to +issue original illustrated poems of a high character, at a price within +the reach of all classes. + +Small 4to . . . . . . . . . . $1 50 + +Ivory surface . . . . . . . . 1 50 + +Embossed calf, gilt edges . . 1 50 + +GEMS FROM TENNYSON. +By ALFRED TENNYSON. Elegantly illustrated by Hammatt Billings. + +BEAUTIES OF TENNYSON. +By ALFRED TENNYSON. Elegantly illustrated with twenty engravings, from +original drawings by Frederic B. Schell. Beautifully printed on the +finest plate paper. + +FROM GREENLAND'S ICY MOUNTAINS. +By BISHOP HEBER. Elegantly illustrated with twenty-two engravings, from +original drawings by Frederic B. Schell. Beautifully printed on the +finest plate paper. + +LADY CLARE. +By ALFRED TENNYSON. Elegantly illustrated with twenty-two engravings, +from original drawings by Alfred Fredericks, F. S. Church, Harry Fenn, +F. B. Schell, E. P. Garret and Granville Perkins. Beautifully printed on +the finest plate paper. + +THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. +By CLEMENT C. MOORE. Never before has this popular poem--a favorite with +both the old and the young--been presented in such a beautiful dress. It +is elegantly illustrated with twenty-two engravings, from original +drawings by F. B. Schell, W. T. Smedley, A. Fredericks and H. R. Poore. + +BINGEN ON THE RHINE. +By CAROLINE E. NORTON. Elegantly illustrated with twenty-two engravings, +from original drawings by W. T. Smedley, F. B. Schell, A. Fredericks, +Granville Perkins and E. P. Garrett. + +THE BELLS. +By EDGAR ALLAN POE. Elegantly illustrated with twenty-two engravings, +from original drawings by F. O. C. Darley, A. Fredericks, Granville +Perkins and others. + +THE DESERTED VILLAGE. +By OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Elegantly illustrated with thirty-five engravings, +from drawings by Hammatt Billings. + +THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT. +By ROBERT BURNS. Elegantly illustrated with fifty engravings, from drawings +by Chapman. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of True To His Colors, by Harry Castlemon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUE TO HIS COLORS *** + +***** This file should be named 28391.txt or 28391.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/3/9/28391/ + +Produced by Gary Sandino, from scans generously provided +by the Internet Archive. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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