True To His Colors

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER IV.

  RODNEY'S THREAT.

  "Now, fellows," said Rodney, as soon as the line had been formed, "whoknows a song appropriate to the occasion? We want to let the folks inadvance of us know that we are coming, so as to see what they will doand say when they behold the banner of our young Republic."

  "Hear, hear!" shouted the boys. "Strike up something, somebody." Everyone looked at Dick Graham, who was the finest singer in the squad, andthe latter, after a moment's reflection, cleared his throat and sang asfollows:

  "We are many in one while there glitters a star In the blue of the heavens above, And tyrants shall quail 'mid their dungeons afar, When they gaze on the motto of love. By the bayonet traced at the midnight of war, On the fields where our glory was won-- Oh, perish the hand or the heart that would mar Our motto of 'Many in One.'"

  A more disgusted lot of boys had never been seen in Barrington thanRodney and his friends were when Dick finished singing the above, whichwas a part of two verses of "_E Pluribus Unum._" Of course the membersof the squad all knew the song, but they did not suppose that Dick wouldhave the audacity to mix it up in this way. If they had suspected howthe song was going to end, they would have drowned him out in shortorder.

  "That's about the biggest sell that was ever perpetrated on a party ofconfiding students," said Ed Billings, as soon as the whoops and yellsof derision with which the patriotic words were greeted had died away."Can't some good Southerner sing something that will hit the spot?"

  Nobody could; for if any of the Confederate songs, which afterwardbecame so popular on both sides the line, were in existence, they hadnot yet reached Barrington; so the only thing left for the boys to dowas to keep step to "hay-foot, straw-foot, boom, boom, boom!" which theychanted with all the power of their lungs. Dick Graham congratulatedhimself on having said a word for the Union, and paid no sort ofattention to the good-natured prods in the ribs which he received fromthe boys who were marching beside him. He stoutly affirmed that he haduttered nothing but his honest sentiments, and hoped that every one whotook a hand in marring "our motto of many in one" would get whipped forhis pains.

  The students were well acquainted with the people living along theirline of march, and were more than satisfied with the enthusiasticgreetings given to them and their flag. When they filed through the gateinto the academy grounds the sentry presented arms, and the commandant,who was standing at his window, turned away. The boys saw it, and toldone another that the colonel was coming to his senses, and that he wouldnot interpose his authority when they were ready to run up the Stars andBars on the following morning.

  "You fellows are making a heap of fuss about nothing," said Marcy Gray,as his cousin halted beside the camp-chair in which he was sitting andwaved the flag over his head, while the rest of the squad trooped up thewide steps that led into the hall. "Take that thing away. The time maycome when you will be sorry you ever saw it."

  "It shall gleam o'er the sea 'mid the bolts of the storm, O'er the battle and tempest and wreck, And flame where our guns with their thunder grow warm--"

  sang Rodney. "Look here, old fellow: Couldn't you get up spirit enoughto give us a cheer?"

  "I don't think I could," replied Marcy. "Did you fellows all havepasses? I thought not. If things were as they used to be you would findyourselves in the guard-house in less than ten minutes."

  "We are aware of it," answered Rodney; "but if things were as they usedto be, we should not have climbed the fence and gone to town withoutpermission. But these are times when rules don't count. There is yourmail, and if you will take a friend's advice, you will read that papercarefully. I think there is something in it that concerns you."

  "What is it, and where is it? Tell me all about it, and then I shall bespared the trouble of looking it up."

  "Well," said Rodney, as if he hardly knew how to give his cousin thedesired information, "Congress has passed a law commanding all Northernsympathizers to leave the limits of the Confederacy within ten days."

  "Has this State gone out?"

  "Not that I know of."

  "Then I don't see how that law concerns me. I am not in the Confederacy,am I? As long as the State does not tell me to go, I shall stay where Iam until mother writes me to start for home. Has your father written foryou yet?"

  "No; but I am looking for a letter every day, and I don't see why Idon't get it. But it will come fast enough if the Yankees beginpreparations for war, as some lunatics seem to think they will."

  "Those same lunatics are about the only sensible people there are in theSouth to-day. The Northern States will not stand by with their hands intheir pockets and see this government broken up, and you may depend uponit," said Marcy earnestly. "If they don't hang a few on both sides theline, there will be a war here the like of which the world has neverseen."

  "Bosh!" exclaimed Rodney, snapping his fingers in the air.

  "And some of it will be in your State and mine," continued Marcy.

  "Haven't you read our president's speech?" demanded Rodney, almostfiercely. "He says that if war must come, it will be fought on Northernsoil."

  "It takes two to make a bargain. The Northern States are stronger thanwe are, and they would be fools to consent to any such arrangement."

  "You'll see that it will be done, whether they consent or not," answeredRodney. "Of course they don't want us to separate from them, for theyhave made a lot of money out of us with their high protective tariff andall that; but how are they to help themselves when there are no laws orties of blood to hold us together? Although we speak the same language,we do not belong to the same race that they do; we are better every waythan they are, and we're not going to be bound to them any longer. Theslave-holders of the South ruled the old Union for sixty out of seventyyears of her existence, and now that the reins of power have beensnatched from their hands, they're not going to stand it. We'll have anation of our own that will lead the world in everything that goes tomake a nation. If North Carolina goes out, what will you do?"

  "I shall go home, of course, for mother will need me. Our blacks willall leave us the first chance they get--"

  "Bosh!" said Rodney, again. "The niggers know who their friends are, andI'll bet you there are not a hundred in the South today who would goover to the Yankees if they had the opportunity."

  "Whether they run away or not, mother will need somebody on theplantation, and I am the only one she can call on, for Jack is at sea,"replied Marcy.

  "And, what's more, he may never get back," added Rodney. "We shall havea navy of our own pretty soon, and then, if the Yankees declare waragainst us, every ship that floats the old flag will have to watch out.We'll light bonfires on every part of the ocean. If your State secedes,you will go with her, of course?"

  "Of course I'll not do any such thing."

  "Marcy Gray, are you really a traitor? Be honest, now."

  "Not much. I am true to my colors--the same colors that your grandfatherand mine died under."

  "But grandfather never dreamed, when he fought under that flag, that itwas going to be turned into an emblem of tyranny," answered Rodneyimpatiently. "I'll bet you he would not fight under it now; and neitherwould Washington. But how will you fare when you get home? There areplenty of secessionists in your county, and they will have not the firstthing to do with you."

  "I don't care whether they do or not," replied Marcy, hardly realizinghow much meaning there was in his cousin's last words. "Mother will havesomething to do with me, I reckon; and so will Jack when he returns; andif the neighbors choose to cut me because I am true to my colors, why Idon't see that I can help it."

  "Will you fight for the Union?"

  "I hope I shall not be called upon to choose sides; but you may be sureI shall not fight against it."

  "Well, go your road, and I will go mine; but you will yet see the daywhen you will wish you had done differently. By the way," added Rodneycarelessly; "those Taylo
r girls hinted that they would be pleased to seeyou at their house; but you don't want to air any of your disloyalsentiments in their presence, for if you do, they will be likely to tellyou that you needn't come again. My paper says that is what the Richmondgirls are doing, and our Barrington girls are following suit. And,Marcy, you had better haul in a little, for if you do not, you will getinto trouble. The citizens are waking up, and there has been a Committeeof Safety appointed to look out for all disturbers of the peace."

  "I think such a committee is needed," was Marcy's quiet rejoinder. "Thedisturbers of the peace are secessionists without exception, and if thecommittee will shut up every one of that sort they can get their handson, they will do the public a service. But as I don't care to besnubbed, I don't think I shall go out of my way to call upon thoseTaylor girls."

  "Of course you will do as you please about that. I have simply deliveredtheir message," said Rodney, as he passed up the steps and through thewide archway, waving his flag and making the hall ring with his shoutsas he went. "Rally on the center, boys, and yell defiance to theRegicides and Roundheads. Keep your eye on the stairs, Billings, and ifthe kurn does not come down when he hears the racket, we are all rightfor to-morrow morning."

  For a few minutes the greatest confusion reigned in the corridor. Thesecessionists yelled themselves hoarse over the Stars and Bars, and,carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, pledged themselves toenlist with the defenders of their respective States within twenty-fourhours after they reached home. Then followed a counter-demonstration forthe Stars and Stripes, led by the tall student, Dixon, of Kentucky, whowas backed up by nearly all the boys from the States that had not yetjoined the Confederacy. The noise was deafening, but the colonel did notcome out of his room to put a stop to it, and that confirmed Rodney inthe belief that he was "all right for tomorrow morning." His friendswere greatly encouraged, and one of them, when the evening gun wasfired, jerked, rather than pulled, the old flag down from the masthead;and he would have been glad to show his contempt for it by trampling itunder his feet, had it not been for the presence of the guard, who pacedthe top of the tower in plain view of the open door of the belfry.

  It was necessary to keep a sentry there now, for when the students foundthat they could not do as they pleased with the flag, they watched foran opportunity to pull the halliards out of the block at the head of theflagstaff. Of course the rope could and would have been restored to itsplace, but not without considerable trouble. The staff was so veryslender that the lightest boy in school would have thought twice beforeattempting to climb it, and therefore the staff would have had to comedown. Marcy Gray and his friends, who seemed to have a way of findingout all about the plans that were laid against the flag, thought itwould be best to ask the colonel commanding to have a guard placed overthe halliards, and this was accordingly done.

  Although the sentry who was on duty at this particular time had thereputation of being a good soldier, he was not as friendly to the flagas he might have been; consequently he offered no remonstrance when theorderly gathered the colors up in a bunch and started downstairs todeliver them to the head of the school. But there were parties on thewatch, as the orderly found when he reached the upper hall, for there heencountered the tall Kentuckian, Dixon, who at once took him to task.

  "What made you wuzzle the flag up in that shape?" he demanded, in nofriendly tones. "Put it down here on the floor and fold it as it shouldbe, or off comes your head."

  The orderly looked at Dixon, and then at the boys who stood behind him,but he could not see a single one of Rodney Gray's followers among them.Having no one to back him up he dared not refuse to obey the order, forhe was well aware that he would get into trouble if he did. He foldedthe flag, and the tall student went with him to make sure that hedelivered it to the commandant in good order. He saw it placed on thebureau in the colonel's room, and then posted off to tell Dick Grahamall about it.

  Supper was over at last; darkness came on apace, and as usual thestudents gathered in the corridors to discuss the situation. They didnot seem to remember that there was a law forbidding this very thing,and the guards did not remind them of it, or try to send them to theirrooms, for, besides being interested parties themselves, they knew bypast experience that the boys would not pay the least attention to theircommands.

  These discussions were always conducted with more or less noise andhubbub, according to the humor the debaters happened to be in, but nowone and all seemed bent on raising a row. They all talked at once, fistswere flourished in the air and pretty close to the noses of some of thedisputants, and finally the lie was passed, and Rodney Gray and severalother students in the lower hall proceeded to "mix up" promiscuously.Dick Graham was not among them. He stood at the head of the stairs,where he could see all that was going on without being seen himself.When the leaders of the opposing sides ceased their arguments and cameto blows, and on being separated by their respective friends surgedthrough the door toward the parade, where the matter in dispute could besettled by a fair fight, Dick sprang into life and action and hurried tothe commandant's room.

  "Sounds something like a row below," said the orderly in a careless,indifferent tone. "Who's in for a black eye this time?"

  "Run in and tell the colonel to come out, or there'll be a riot herebefore he knows it," replied Dick hastily. "Don't your ears tell youthat the fellows are all fighting mad, and that the thing is going to beserious?"

  Well--yes; there was something of a racket below, but the orderly saidhe didn't care for that, provided the Southerners would use up all thetraitors in the gang. However, he thought it best to go in with thereport, in order to save himself from being hauled over the coals forneglect of duty. When the colonel came out of his quarters, buttoninghis uniform coat with one hand and settling his cap on his head with theother, he found Dick standing at the top of the stairs with his hands inhis pockets, and a face as innocent as a child's.

  "Graham, I am glad to see that you have nothing to do with thisdisgraceful performance," said he.

  "Who? Me, sir?" exclaimed Dick. "I don't fight, sir. I'm neutral, sir.You see Missouri--"

  But the colonel could not wait to hear Dick say that his State had notyet gone out of the Union. He went down the stairs, along the hall, andthrough the archway with all haste, and then Dick went, too; but he wentdown the back-stairs, around the corner of the building, and brought twoboys to his side by giving a peculiar whistle.

  "Everything is all right so far," whispered Dick. "But there's notelling how long the fellows will be able to keep up the farce, now thatthe colonel has gone down there, so we must be in a hurry."

  "Did they do it well and without exciting suspicion?"

  "First rate. Couldn't have done it better. If I hadn't been in the plotI should have thought they were in dead earnest."

  While Dick talked he led the way at top speed to the tool-house, and heand his companions vanished through the door. When they came out againthey brought with them a light ladder that had been stored there forsafe keeping. Moving at a run, they carried it around the building andplaced it against the wall under the commandant's window. The sash wasraised, and the evening breeze was gently rustling the curtains.

  "Do you know whether or not the colonel was alone in his room when yousent the orderly in to fetch him out?" whispered one of the boys."Suppose he left somebody in there?"

  "Or suppose he left his door open and the orderly should chance to lookin?" said the other.

  "It's too late to think of those things now," replied Dick, placing hisfoot on the lowest round of the ladder and turning his head to listen amoment to the tumult of voices that came from the direction of theparade-ground. "The fellows are at it yet, and if they can only keep thecolonel with them two minutes longer we'll have the flag easy enough.But, mind you, I'll not see it abused."

  "It's an enemy's flag," observed one of his companions, who was rathersurprised to hear Dick say this. If he was still friendly to the colors,why had he offered to st
eal them for Rodney Gray?

  "No odds if it is an enemy's flag," replied Dick. "We all thought a heapof it once, and I don't know but I think as much of it as I ever did. Isay, dog-gone State Rights anyhow."

  This showed how much of a rebel Dick Graham was; and there were plentyof others just like him in the South--boys and men, too, who had beentaught to believe that the founders of the Republic never meant that thesovereignty of the States should be surrendered to the generalgovernment, because they said so in the Declaration of Independence."These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free andindependent _States_," wrote Thomas Jefferson, and all the Northern andSouthern delegates agreed with him. If they had intended to form oneState or one government, they would have said so in language too plainto be misunderstood. That was Dick's way of looking at it, and he washonest in his belief that the authorities at Washington had no right toorder him from his own State to keep another State in the Union when shewanted to leave it. Dick went into the Southern army after a while, aswe have said, and so did many others who thought as he did; but theirhearts were not in the work, and they were glad when the war ended andthe old flag once more waved over our entire country.

  DICK GRAHAM STEALS THE FLAG.]

  "Now," continued Dick, "look out for yourselves. If you see anybodycoming, make tracks for cover and leave me to take care of myself. Thereis no need that more than one of us should get into trouble over thisnonsensical business."

  So saying, Dick ran up the ladder, pushed aside the curtains, and,finding the room deserted, clambered in and seized the flag, which hefound on the bureau just where the tall student told him he would findit. He made his escape with it, the ladder was taken back to thetool-house, and no one was the wiser for what had been done. If thestudents who presently followed the colonel back from the parade-groundhad looked closely at Dick, they might have seen that his coat stuck outa little more about the breast than it usually did, but perhaps they didnot notice it. At all events they said nothing about it.

  "What was the row about this time?" inquired Dick, as Rodney came to thehead of the stairs where he was standing.

  "Politics; nothing but politics," replied Rodney. "But we didn't havetime to find out which side was in the right, for the kurn came down andput a stop to the fun. Did you get it?" he asked in a lower tone, firstmaking sure that no one except those who were "in the plot" were nearenough to overhear his words. "Bully for you. Now we will see what Marcyand the rest of the traitors will say when they find another andhandsomer flag floating at the masthead in the morning. Where is it?"

  Dick tapped the breast of his coat.

  "All right, hand it over. There's nobody around except those we cantrust."

  "What are you going to do with it?"

  "I mean to put it where no one will ever see it again, and that is inthe kitchen stove," answered Rodney.

  "That's what I was afraid of. Well, I don't want it to go in the kitchenstove, and therefore I must decline to give it to you."

  "Why, what in the name of sense do you want to keep it for?"

  "To show as a proof of my loyalty and devotion to the Confederate Statesof America," replied Dick gravely. "I need some sort of an heirloom tohand down to my grandchildren, don't I?"

  Of course Rodney was angry, and he had half a mind to "mix up" with Dickthen and there and take the flag away from him. But the latter was astrong, active fellow, and plucky as well, and Rodney wasn't quite surethat it would be safe to attempt it. While he was thinking about it BobCole spoke up.

  "Let me have the flag," said he, "and I will promise you, on the honorof a soldier, that you shall have it again as soon as it has served mypurpose."

  "What do you want to do with it?"

  "Well, if you must know, I want it to set me right with my best girl.She as good as told me this afternoon that I need not call at her houseagain until I could tell her that the flag had been hauled down. I wantto show it to her to prove that it has been done."

  "But it hasn't," objected Dick. "It has been hooked out of thecommandant's room, and that's not hauling it down by force. You can tellher that she will never see it hoisted again, and that assurance willhave to satisfy her. If she should get her hands on it you would neversee it again, and neither would I. When it can float over an undividedcountry, as it has in the past, and you rebels have been whipped intosubjection, then--"

  "I say--whipped!" exclaimed Billings.

  "Subjection!" Rodney almost howled. "That will never be. Southernersdie, but they don't submit. Dick Graham, you are a traitor, sure enough.You think more of that rag to-day than you do of the rights of the Stateyou claim as your home."

  "There's where you are wrong," replied Dick. "I don't quite believe inState Rights, but my father does, and that's enough for me; and wheneverMissouri gets ready to--"

  "When she gets ready to join the Confederacy you won't have the pluck togo with her," exclaimed Rodney hotly. "But there's one thing about it.Our own flag goes up on that tower after roll-call in the morning, andI'll pitch the first fellow over the parapet who tries to pull itdown."

  "Well, good-by, if you call that going," said Dick, good-naturedly.

  The boys all followed Rodney down the stairs and Dick was left alone. Hefelt of the flag to make sure it was safe, and after looking up and downthe hall to see that no one was observing his movements, he went intoMarcy Gray's room, where Marcy himself found him a few minutes later.