"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 d.i.c.k; 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. d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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. d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k. "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 d.i.c.k.
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 d.i.c.k, 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 d.i.c.k. "Well, now, look over that way, and tell me if there isn"t another just breaking out."
d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k, 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 n.i.g.g.e.rs 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 d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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, pa.s.sed through the gate and turned down the road leading to Barrington. At the same time a quartermaster-sergeant put ten rounds of ammunition into d.i.c.k"s cartridge-box and ordered him to load his piece.
"Ball cartridges?" inquired d.i.c.k.
"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 d.i.c.k. "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 d.i.c.k.
"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 d.i.c.k, 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 d.i.c.k. "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 d.i.c.k thought he was reluctant to say it. "I don"t hear a tinkle."
"That"s all I"ve got to say," added d.i.c.k, 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."