"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 n.o.body 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 sa.s.sy 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 a.s.sure 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 d.i.c.k.
"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 d.i.c.k earnestly. "That a.s.surance 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 d.i.c.k 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."
"d.i.c.k 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 gla.s.s-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 d.i.c.k Graham a.s.sured 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 a.s.sist 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."
[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 d.i.c.k 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."
d.i.c.k 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. d.i.c.k 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 a.s.sistance, 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 l.u.s.tily, 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.