CHAPTER X.
THE CALL TO ARMS.
The suppressed excitement which was so apparent to Bud Goble when hemade his second trip to Barrington, was not confined to the citizens. Itextended even to the military academy, but everybody there knew whatcaused it, although they could not look far enough into the future tosee what the result of it was going to be. It was brought about by thestory Marcy Gray told his friend Graham when they met in the guard-tentafter dinner. Dick's cheery laugh ran out loudly when Marcy spoke aboutthat "underground railroad business," but he looked thoughtful and angrywhen 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 thisexcitement to get somebody into trouble?" exclaimed Dick. "The membersof that Committee of Safety are going to be sorry they ever thought ofgetting up such an organization when there wasn't the slightest excusefor it. I say bully for Elder Bowen; and I hope every one Bud interfereswith will serve him the same way."
"Well, Marcy," said Ed Billings slowly. "I can't go your Unionsentiments, and I do think you ought to be slapped for preaching them upthe way you do; but I'll not stand by and see Bud Goble do it. Mindthat. 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 restought to be ashamed of themselves for employing such a man. We'll standby Mr. Bailey, too."
"Of course we will," observed Dick. "Where would we get our goobers ifBud and Silas should burn him out?"
News of all kinds travels fast among a lot of boys, and in less than anhour after Marcy had been relieved every student in school knew what BudGoble had threatened to do to him and Dick Graham. To say that they wereangry wouldn't half express it. Dixon was strongly in favor of callingfor volunteers that very afternoon, paying a visit of ceremony to Budand Silas, and telling them in plain language that if they did not stoptheir nonsense at once and go to work to support their families, theywould 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. "Ididn't know about it until it was all over. If Bud wants revenge, lethim thrash Rodney and Dick; but he'll have to thrash me too, while he isabout 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 wasmentioned, he turned about and left the tent very abruptly.
"He is so mad he dare not trust himself to speak," said Billings. "Hisface is as white as a sheet."
"That underground railroad business isn't at the bottom of the matter atall," continued Dixon. "That proclamation in the post-office suggestedan idea to some loon, who told Goble that this school needs lookingafter. I don't pretend to deny it. I say that every disunionist in itought to be chucked out of the gate neck and heels; but it will takemore men than that Committee of Safety and their paid spies can musterto do it."
These sentiments were received with a howl of derision from some andenthusiastic cheers from the rest; but there was one point on which theywere united: The man, or body of men, who attempted violence toward anyof their number would surely suffer for it. There was one among them whohad not looked for this condition of affairs, who was utterly confoundedby it, and who would have given everything he possessed if he could haveundone a certain piece of mischief he had perpetrated in Barrington theday before.
During the afternoon many of the students acted and felt as if they wereto be called upon to perform some duty outside of the usual routine ofschool work. Dick Graham was not the only one among them who scouted theidea of an outbreak, while others honestly believed that such a thingwas more than possible. It was even probable. There were a good manyUnion men round about, who were quite as fearless as the secessionistswere, and who held to their opinions with as great tenacity, the negroesoutnumbered the whites more than five to one, and what was there tohinder them from striking a blow for the freedom that would be sure tocome to them if the people of the North made up their minds thatsecession ought to be resisted by force of arms? Might it not bepossible that the townspeople were justified, after all, in calling thatmeeting; that they had some information that the boys knew nothingabout, and that the lives and property of some of Barrington's"prominent and respected citizens" might really be in jeopardy? If thatwas the case, and the students were ordered out to preserve order, whichside would they support? Would they hang together, or would they splitup into factions? Somehow the students did not like to dwell upon thesequestions, but dismissed them as soon they came into their minds.
When four o'clock was struck by the bell on the tower, the usual numberof boys climbed the fence and set out for Barrington, and although theycame back fully satisfied that there was something afoot, there was notone 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 sawon the streets looked as if they might be on their way to a funeral. Icouldn't get a thing out of any man I saw, so I called on the Taylorgirls, who told me the committee has positive evidence that there is tobe an uprising among the negroes, led by such men as Elder Bowen. Ofcourse that is all humbug. I don't believe in running, but I reallythink it would be pleasanter for the elder if he would sell out and goup 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 himthe way to the gate. That's all there was of it. Of course there are afew who are mad about it, but the majority of the folks I talked withthink Bud was served just right. I wish the colonel would call forvolunteers 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 wasthere another sham fight in the hall, the trouble over the flag havingbeen settled for a few days at least. The students were very quiet thatevening, and when Dick and Marcy went on post at eight o'clock, therewere no indications of the hubbub and confusion that one of them wasdestined to create before he was relieved at midnight. Dick thought it apart of his duty to keep watch of the town as well as over a portion ofthe school grounds, and when he stopped to rest, he always turned hisface toward Barrington. Once he thought he heard faint shouts, and a fewminutes later he was sure he saw the first rays of the rising moon; butthat could hardly be, for, if he remembered rightly, the almanac saidthere 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 notwatching him, and then did a thing he had never done before in his lifeand was never guilty of afterward. He deserted his post. He opened thegate without causing the iron latch to click, and ran across the roaduntil he came to the fence on the opposite side. This brought him out ofrange of a clump of trees that obstructed his vision at the gate, andalso enabled him to look around the edge of the piece of woods behindwhich Marcy Gray was pacing his lonely beat. There was not only onefire, 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 onend, and then hastened back to his post, closed the gate, and summonedthe 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 thatdirection and tell me--"
"Great Scott!" exclaimed the corporal.
"See it, don't you?" said Dick. "Well, now, look over that way, and tellme if there isn't another just breaking out."
Dick pointed toward the woods, which were so thick that not the firstglimmer of light could come through them, and although the corporal b
entalmost to the ground and twisted himself into all sorts of uncomfortableshapes, he was obliged to confess that he could not see anything thatlooked like a fire.
"I'm sure I saw it not more than a minute ago," said Dick, who, ofcourse, did not tell the corporal that he had been several yards fromhis post when he saw it. "Perhaps if you go across the road you can geta view of it."
The corporal went, and one look was enough to satisfy him. When hereturned he was highly excited.
"The niggers are at it, sure as you live," said he. "That's right inrange of Mr. Riley's house."
"Too far to the right for that," replied the sentry. "Looks to be morelike Elder Bowen's."
"It can't be," exclaimed the corporal incredulously. "The negroeswouldn'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'sUnion property that's being destroyed this moment, and you'll find itout 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 theofficer of the guard, who took a long look at the two fires before hewent in to call the colonel. Then the latter hurried out and took alook, and the two talked in low, earnest tones; and although Dick andthe corporal listened with all their ears, they could not catch a wordthat gave them a hint of the course they had decided to pursue. But theyfound out when the long roll echoed through the building, being followedalmost immediately by a shuffling of feet which announced that thestudents were hastening to the armory. After five minutes or so ofsilence so deep that Dick could hear the beating of his own heart, twocompanies of boys, fully armed and equipped, marching four abreast andmoving with a free, swinging stride that took them rapidly over theground, emerged from the archway, passed through the gate and turneddown the road leading to Barrington. At the same time aquartermaster-sergeant put ten rounds of ammunition into Dick'scartridge-box and ordered him to load his piece.
"Ball cartridges?" inquired Dick.
"Correct," replied the sergeant. "If you halt a fellow and he don'thalt, these are the things that will make him halt."
"Say," whispered Dick. "Hang around a minute; I want to ask you aquestion or two."
The sergeant "hung around" until the officer of the guard started withthe corporal to make his round of the posts, and then began withoutwaiting for the sentry to question him.
"There isn't any thing to tell," said he. "The colonel made a littlespeech to the boys in which he said that some fanatics, who ought to behanged without judge or jury, were destroying property in town, and itwas 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 areto 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. "Iask for information; I do indeed. Does he think the negroes have brokenout?"
"_And_ abolitionists? Of course he does. That's what we all think. It'swhat we know."
"Say," continued Dick. "The night is quiet, and the little breeze thereis stirring blows toward us from town, doesn't it? Now listen. Do youhear any fire-bells ringing?"
"That's so," replied the sergeant; and Dick thought he was reluctant tosay it. "I don't hear a tinkle."
"That's all I've got to say," added Dick, as he settled his musket onhis shoulder and began pacing his beat. "On a still night like this youcan hear those big church bells four or five miles, and there hasn't oneof them said a word since those fires began. I noticed that from thestart."
Dixon, the tall Kentuckian, who was marching with his company towardBarrington, also took note of the fact that the bells, which usuallymade noise enough to arouse the planters for miles around when there wasa fire, were silent now, and he called attention to it. He also noticedthat the house that was burning in town belonged to a prominent andoutspoken Union man; that both the engines were disabled (at least theforemen said they were); that the crowd around the house stood withtheir hands in their pockets, making no effort to keep the flames fromspreading to the house of another Union man close by; and that Mr. Rileyand a few other members of the Committee of Safety, who appeared to befull of business, but who, in reality, were doing just nothing at all,looked surprised and perplexed when the students marched up and came toa halt at the corner of the street. There was still another thing thatthe observant Dixon noticed and commented upon, and that was, that thecolonel was not in command as he ought to have been. The colonel did notthink it would be policy to take too firm a stand until he had learnedwhether his State was going to stay in the Union or go out of it; and sohe sent in command of the students a teacher who had not yet made up hismind which side he favored. Dixon had always believed that he leanedtoward the Union; and when he marched back to the academy the nextmorning about daylight, he was sure of it.
"I am surprised to see you here, Captain Wilson," said Mr. Riley, whowas 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 andexcited over a little fire as you seem to be," replied the captain, insignificant tones. "If I may presume to ask the question, how does itcome that yon are on the ground so early when there are no alarm-bellsringing? What is the reason those engines are not at work? There's waterenough."
"I happened to be awake when the fire broke out, and that's the way Icome to be here," answered Mr. Riley sharply. "And the reason thoseengines are not playing on the flames is because they can't do it withtheir valves out of order. Really, captain, this looks to me like anuprising."
"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 areto protect property," answered the captain. "I shall put a guard aroundthe 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, geton fire at the same time, and no bells are rung, and the engines can'twork because they are out of order, and a big crowd like this standsabout without lifting a finger to save anything when all these thingshappen, it makes me suspect that there are firebugs around, and thatthey are after Union men and nobody else. At any rate I shall act onthat suspicion. These muskets are loaded with ball, and if any oneattempts 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 theranks.
"Silence!" commanded the captain. He was angry enough to put that boyunder arrest, but not foolish enough to try to find out who he was. Heknew by past experience that the students would not tell tales on oneanother.
The captain was as good as his word. Paying no attention to the protestsof the different members of the committee who gathered about him, thedetails were quickly made, and so it came about that Dixon and fiveothers, including a non-commissioned officer, found themselves guardingMr. Bailey's store. Another and much larger squad was sent down the roadat 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 steppedupon the porch that ran in front of old man Bailey's door. "Keep youreye peeled for fire-bugs, and if you see--"
"Hey, there!" shouted a voice from the inside of the store. "Get offthat 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 outand see the Union men burn up. It will be your turn next."
M
r. Bailey was astonished--at least the corporal thought he was, for heheard him talking to himself as he stumbled around in the dark searchingfor 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, andbelieving that Bud Goble was at work, he began patroling his store withhis revolver in his hand, ready to give the incendiaries a warmreception if they came near him. This was what the old man told thecorporal when he opened the door and passed out the candy and a bag ofpeanuts.
"The nuts are for Graham, if he is with you," said he. "I never saw suchan appetite as that boy's got for goobers."
"But he isn't here," replied the corporal. "He is on guard at theacademy. Now tell me all you know about this business. I'm here to guardyour property, although I can't see the sense of it. Mr. Riley wouldn'tlet 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 tooperate on his own hook, and that is what I am afraid of."
"Halt!" shouted Dixon, who had scarcely taken the position assigned himbefore he discovered Bud and Silas coming.
"There!" exclaimed Mr. Bailey. "I'll bet that's Bud. If it isn't, whatis he sneaking around toward the back of the store for?"
"All right," replied the corporal. "I'll give him such a scare thathe'll never trouble you again. If he doesn't tell a pretty straightstory 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 hiscompanion into a run. He was really alarmed when he heard the report ofDixon's piece.
"You've played smash on your watch, old fellow," said he, as he hastenedto 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 hiscompanion was."
"Did you hit either of them?"
"Guess not. I shot to hit if they were firebugs, and to miss if theywere not. They both ran away, so I reckon they were innocent of anywrong intent; but they ought to have stopped when I told them."
The corporal walked up the road a few hundred yards, but could not seeanything 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 thestore shouted out a challenge.
"I told you you had played smash," said the corporal. "The captain hascome up to inquire into the matter."
That was just who the new-comer was, as the corporal found when heresponded to the sentry's call; but he did not have a word of fault tofind with the way Dixon had obeyed orders. His men had been commanded tohalt everybody who came near their beat, and to fire upon all who didnot come in and give an account of themselves. He was excited, andpossibly expressed his sentiments with more freedom in the presence ofhis 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 cansend somebody else in command the next time he finds it necessary toorder out a company of students. These are terrible times, corporal, andthey are getting worse every day. Terrible times when neighbors areturned 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 captainsadly. "I don't think you will be troubled again to-night, but carry outyour orders to the letter. That's all you have to do."
Whether or not the colonel's prompt action in sending two hundred armedstudents into town operated as a check upon the firebugs (if there wereany), the boys did not know; but when daylight came and the sentrieswere called in, and the column formed preparatory to marching back tothe academy, they were all satisfied of one thing: They had made anynumber 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 hiselbow. "I saw _that_ the minute Mr. Riley came up and spoke to thecaptain. But what got it through your head at this late hour?"
"I wouldn't have had it happen for anything," continued Billings. "We'vegot every member of that Committee of Safety down on us, and they arethe best men in town. They wouldn't even look at me when they passed mybeat, 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 usbecause we carried out our orders, let 'em get. If their arrangementshave been interfered with, let them go up to the academy and look crossat the colonel. He's the man."
"Well, I know one thing," observed Cole. "If the colonel wants to sendany more boys into town on an errand like this, he'll send somebodybesides me. I'll refuse duty."
"Hear, hear!" exclaimed every one of the students who were close enoughto Cole to catch his words.
The boys who had been left at the academy were not turned out to receivetheir returning comrades, who marched to the armory looking more likeculprits than like boys who had tried to do their duty, ordered armsspitefully, and broke ranks sullenly.
"What's the meaning of this, I'd be pleased to know?" Dixon demanded ofMarcy Gray and Dick, who were the first to greet him. "Where's ourspeech 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, adelegation from that Committee of Safety rode up and interviewed thecolonel for half an hour."
"Aha!" exclaimed Dixon. "We stepped on their toes, didn't we? Well, wesuspected it from the first. Some of the fellows declare they'll not goanother time, but I will. As long as I stay here I'm going to obeyorders, 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 asthough he had lost his best friend. Heigh-o!" he added, stretching hisarms and yawning. "What's the next thing on the programme? Will FortSumter be reinforced?"
Dixon couldn't say as to that, but there was one thing of which he wassure: 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 followingday things passed off much as they usually did, only the colonel, toquote from Dixon, was cross and snappish, not having had time to getover pouting about the lesson he had received the night before. Duringthe day it leaked out that Mr. Riley and his friends had talked to himvery plainly, told him that it was absolutely necessary for the peaceand 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, tosay the least, unfriendly to the cause of the South. It was alsoreported that the colonel had promised he would never do the likeagain.
"That means destruction to the Union men," said Marcy, in a tone ofcontempt. "I believe I'll go home. I don't care to serve under a man whohas no more pluck than the colonel seems to have."
If he had started at once he might have saved himself some anxiety, andwould certainly have carried away with him a better opinion of hiscousin Rodney than he had two days later.
True To His Colors Page 11
