True To His Colors Part 15

"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 n.o.body 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 a.s.sist 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 pa.s.sed 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 appet.i.te 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 a.s.signed 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 pa.s.sed 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 d.i.c.k, 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 d.i.c.k. "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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.s 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 d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k and me, for we were not there."