SERGEANT HACKER’S VISIT.
The foliage was so dense in the vicinity of High Bluff that we could,
for the most part, perform our operations without being seen. By the
time we reached the camp, on our return, it was dark; but it was a
bright, starlight evening, so that we could prosecute our enterprise
without difficulty. A blast of Fryes’s bugle gathered our fellows
together in the road, whither they eagerly rushed, anxious to ascertain
what was to be done.
It required a full hour to explain our plans and purposes to all the
fellows, who were more inquisitive than Briscoe. All of them were ready
to engage in the enterprise, and I was more afraid their enthusiasm
would overdo the matter than the want of zeal would defeat it. The
ten who were to help out Tommy in obtaining a quorum were carefully
selected. None of them had ever been noisy partisans against the major,
and would not excite suspicion when they appeared at High Bluff, but
would readily be regarded as willing converts to Toppletonianism.
The party who were to assist me were also detailed, and, in company
with them, I went back to the pile of hoop-poles we had seen, and
obtained a supply of these sticks--not so much for weapons as for
working tools. Briscoe, who was to make the feint with the rest of the
force, waited my return in the vicinity of the bridge, his fellows
amusing themselves in the mean time to suit their own fancy. As my
party approached the bridge, Corporal Dunbold met me, with a message
from my senior.
“Captain Briscoe says you are to lie low for a little while,” said he.
“What’s the matter now?”
“I don’t exactly know; but some of the fellows say there is a spy among
us from the other side.”
“How did he get across the gully?”
“I don’t know. Captain Briscoe says you will keep your fellows out of
sight, and join him at the bridge. I will show where he is.”
I halted my party, and, telling them to remain where they were until my
return, I followed the corporal, much wondering what this new phase of
the situation signified. I found Briscoe seated on a rock beyond the
bridge.
“What’s up?” I inquired.
“Sergeant Hacker has come over to pay us a visit.”
“How did he get over?”
“That’s a mystery to me. Probably Haven, who is more familiar with this
region than any of the rest of us, knew of a way to cross the gully
before he pulled down the bridge,” replied Briscoe.
“What is he after?”
“Converts, I suppose.”
“Well, we have some for him. Where is he now?”
“He is holding a confab with two or three of our fellows at the side of
the road. I thought of capturing him as a spy, but I think now that he
will help us out with the little plan we matured,” laughed Briscoe. “He
was skulking about here some time before I knew he was among us.”
“Perhaps he has discovered what we are about,” I suggested, with some
alarm.
“No; he isn’t any wiser than the law allows. As soon as I made him
out, I stopped everything, and cautioned the fellows not to open their
mouths about anything we are doing.”
“What does he say?”
“He hasn’t said anything to me. I understand he asked a few of the
fellows if they did not want some supper. A minute or two before you
joined me I contrived to have Bowles, who, you know, is one of the ten
who are to help Tommy make up a quorum to-morrow, fall in his way. They
walked down the road together, and I suppose Bowles will make some kind
of a trade with him.”
“Are you sure Bowles is all right?”
“Of course I am.”
“Suppose Hacker should offer him a commission, as an agent of the
major.”
“Let him offer it! I know Bowles well enough.”
I was not much afraid of him myself; but I was extremely anxious to
know what Hacker had to say. The conference was in progress only a few
rods from the spot where I was. I left the road, and creeping softly
on the pine furze which strewed the ground where our camp was located,
I obtained a position near the spy and his presumed victim. The roar
of the brook, as it tumbled over the rocks, favored my movement, and
enabled me to secure my position without discovery.
Sergeant Hacker, in the truest sense of the word, was a partisan of
Tommy Toppleton. He was looking out for himself, and being a tolerably
good soldier, he doubtless expected to be chosen a lieutenant if not
a captain, in the approaching election, so that while working for the
major he was really working for himself; and this is generally the
character of violent partisans. On the other hand, Bowles was not a
partisan, though he was a shrewd and trustworthy fellow. The conference
appeared to have just begun, for I suppose there was an introduction
through which the main topic had to be reached.
“But are you not hungry?” asked the messenger from the other side.
“No, not very,” replied Bowles, with his usual coolness. “We had a
good dinner at the farm-house after we had put out the fire.”
“But you will be hungry in the morning, if you are not to-night,”
suggested Hacker, who seemed determined to make the question of rations
the chief one.
“Very likely we shall be.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Well, we leave all that to Briscoe who is our commander now.”
“Do you expect to find anything to eat in this place in the woods?”
“We may go over to High Bluff, and help ourselves out of the common
stock. I take it we own a share of it.”
“You can’t get over.”
“Perhaps we can. How did you get over, Hacker?”
“I have a way.”
“We may find a way.”
“I think not. The bridge is taken up, and you might as well try to jump
across the lake as over that gully.”
“What did you come over for, Hacker? What are you driving at? You
needn’t beat about the bush any longer,” interposed Bowles.
“O, I only came over to see how you were getting along.”
“You didn’t come for that. You want something. Why don’t you say what
it is?”
“I didn’t know but some of the fellows might want to go over to the
bluff, where they could get something to eat, and have a chance in the
tents. But, if they do not, I will go back again.”
“I would like to go over, for one,” replied Bowles, promptly.
“All right; come along.”
“I’m ready.”
“But are there not some other fellows who would like to go?”
“Very likely there are. How many do you want?”
“O, ten or a dozen,” added the messenger, with seeming indifference.
“By the way, Bowles, you know the election of officers was postponed
till to-morrow noon.”
“So it was, now I think of it.”
“Bowles, I always liked you, and so did Tommy Toppleton. If you want to
be a sergeant, you can have the place.”
“Thank you. I shouldn’t mind being a sergeant. In fact, I should rather
like it.”
“Our fellows would like to appoint you.”
“Well, I will give them a chance to do so.”
“But you know some of the fellows are trying to run Tommy out,” added
Hacker, in a low tone.
“I have heard something of that sort,” continued Bowles; and certainly
no one could accuse him of ever seeming to care anything about the
matter.
“There are some good fellows over here, and we don’t like to have them
lying on the ground without any tents, and with nothing to eat. If you
have a mind to pick out ten or a dozen of them, I will get them over to
High Bluff.”
“I will do so.”
“I don’t know but we can make you a second lieutenant, if you will.”
“Well, that is worth trying for.”
“If those fellows mean to stick to Briscoe, Tommy is willing they
should. He intends to leave them out in the cold. When they are
willing to come back to their duty, and obey all orders, he will let
them up; but the officers who mutinied are to be punished.”
“How punished?”
“Reduced to the ranks, at least,” said the sergeant, with energy. “All
who are willing to come back now will be received. Tommy can have it
all his own way.”
“I am ready to go over, for one.”
“Well, who are the others?”
“There’s the trouble. I have no chance to talk with them to-night.”
This seemed to be the difficulty, and it was discussed for some
time. Hacker proposed several plans, all of which were rejected by
Bowles, who at last promised to meet the sergeant near the gully in
half an hour, after he had sounded some of our party. Certainly our
representative managed his case very well, and I was entirely satisfied
with him. He left the spot, and walked back towards Briscoe. I rushed
forward in the opposite direction, and reached the road so as to be
between Hacker and his objective point, for I was desirous of speaking
with him.
“Who goes there?” I called, as the messenger approached.
“Sergeant Hacker,” replied the spy. “Captain Skotchley, I believe. I
have been looking for an officer.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Flag of truce,” he replied, exhibiting his white handkerchief. “I have
a message from Major Toppleton.”
“Deliver it.”
“He desires to say that any of the mutineers will be admitted to the
camp, and may return to their duty, excepting only the commissioned
officers, upon their promise to obey all orders.”
“That’s very kind of him. Pray, what is to become of the officers?”
“The captains will be court-martialed.”
“Tell him we will all be over there to-morrow, and ask him to have his
court-martial ready,” I replied, rather disgusted with the proffered
terms.
“You will not go over without the major’s permission,” retorted Hacker.
“Perhaps not.”
“You forget that we have all the arms; and I think we can protect our
camp from intrusion.”
“If that’s all you have to say, you can return.”
“Major Toppleton does not wish to be responsible for your uncomfortable
position here, without food or tents.”
“He needn’t trouble himself.”
“You can deliver his message to your men. If you choose to submit, and
promise to obey orders, he is ready to receive you back.”
“We are not quite ready,” I answered.
“Very well; the consequences are with you then,” replied Hacker, moving
towards the bluff.
I permitted him to depart in peace, so as not to disturb Bowles’s plan,
whatever it might be, though I was disposed to arrest him as a spy upon
our ground. Joining Briscoe at the bridge, I found him conferring with
Bowles in regard to the filling up of Tommy’s quorum.