CAPTAIN SAM BEGINS HIS MARCH.
At noon the next day Sam marched away from the camp at the head of his
little company, reduced now to precisely six boys in all, counting the
colored boy Joe, but not counting Captain Sam himself. Jake Elliott
was one of the company, rather against Sam's wish, but he had begged
for permission to go, and Sam thought his size and strength might be
of use in some emergency. Tommy was of the party of course, and the
other boys were Billy Bunker--called Billy Bowlegs by the boys,
because he was not bow-legged at all but on the contrary badly
knock-kneed,--Bob Sharp, a boy of about Tommy's size and age, and
Sidney Russell, a boy of thirteen, who had "run to legs," his
companions said, and was already nearly six feet high, and so slender
that, notwithstanding his extreme height, he was the lightest boy in
the company. The rest of the party had already enlisted and could not
go.
The outfit was complete, after Sam's notions of completeness; that is
to say, it included every thing which was absolutely necessary and not
an ounce of anything that could be safely spared. For tools they had
two axes, with rather short handles, a small hatchet, a pocket rule
and an adze; to this list might be added their large pocket knives,
which every man and boy on the frontier carries habitually. For camp
utensils each boy had a tin cup and that was all, except a single
light skillet, which they were to carry alternately, as they were to
do with the tools. Each boy carried a blanket tightly rolled up, and
each had, at the start, eight pounds of corn meal and four pounds of
bacon, with a small sack of salt each, which could be carried in any
pocket. This was all. They had no arms and no ammunition.
Their destination and the purpose of their journey were wholly unknown
to anybody in the camp, except General Jackson and Tandy Walker. The
boys themselves were as ignorant as anybody on this subject. Sam had
enlisted them in the service, merely telling them that he was going on
an expedition which might prove difficult, dangerous and full of
hardship. He told them that he could not make them legal soldiers
before leaving, but that implicit obedience was absolutely necessary,
and that he wanted no boy to go with him who was not willing to trust
his judgment absolutely and obey orders as a soldier does, without
knowing why they are given or what they are meant to accomplish. To
put this matter on a proper basis, he drew up an enlistment paper as
follows:--
"We, whose names are signed below, volunteer to go with Samuel
Hardwicke and under his command, on the expedition which he is about
beginning. We have been duly warned of the dangers and hardships to be
encountered; we freely undertake to endure the hardships without
shrinking, and to face the dangers as soldiers should; and,
understanding the necessity of discipline and obedience, we promise,
each of us upon his honor, fully to recognize the authority of Samuel
Hardwicke as our Captain, appointed by General Jackson; we promise
upon honor, to obey his command, as implicity as if we were regularly
enlisted soldiers, and he a properly commissioned officer."
(Signed.)
[Illustration: signatures]
When this paper was signed by all the boys, including black Joe, who
insisted upon attaching his name to it in the printing letters which
"little Miss Judie" had taught him, it was placed in General Jackson's
hands for keeping, and Sam marched his party away, amid the wondering
curiosity of the few troops who were in camp. They knew that this
party went out under orders of some sort from head quarters, but they
could not imagine whither it was going or why. Many of them had tried
to get information from the boys themselves, but as the boys knew
absolutely nothing about it, they could answer no questions, except
with the rather unsatisfactory formula "I dunno."