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.