True To His Colors

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER XIII.

  HAULING DOWN THE COLORS.

  Having accomplished the work he was sent out to do, Captain Wilson shookhands with the rescued boys, who did not seem any the worse for theirshort experience among the members of Bud Goble's company of minute-men,and commanded the students to "fall in." Some of the boys were in favorof smashing the rifles which the two vagabonds had left behind in theirhurried flight; but better counsels prevailed, and the weapons wereleaned against a tree where Bud could easily find them, in case heshould muster courage enough to come after them. The return marchthrough the woods was rendered less dismal by the numerous light-woodtorches that were carried along the line; but there was not muchopportunity for talking until the timber had been left behind, and theranks were closed up on the road leading to Barrington.

  "Now tell us all about it," said Marcy Gray to his cousin, who marchedby his side. "We know that you were enticed into a cabin to see a sickman who needed quinine, and that when you went in Bud and some othersjumped out and made you prisoners. The man Bud sent to the academy afterthe money you and Dick promised to give him for finding that undergroundrailroad told us about that; but what happened afterward? How did theyuse you?"

  "We haven't a thing to complain of," replied Rodney, "except thesuspense we were kept in while Judson was absent. I knew he would bringhelp, as well as I knew that Bud had threatened to whip us if he did nothave that hundred dollars in his hands before sunrise. But I didn'tthink the colonel would send it. While I was in Barrington I learnedfrom a dozen different sources that he had agreed to keep us inside, andnever again interfere with anything that might happen in town."

  This gave Marcy a chance to tell about the riot at the academy, but,contrary to his expectation Rodney did not seem to be very jubilant overit.

  "I didn't know I had so many friends," said he, sinking his voice almostto a whisper, "and, to tell you the honest truth, I don't deserve them.You fellows ought to have stayed away until Bud gave me the licking hepromised, and then come up in time to save Dick. He was in no way toblame for what I did."

  "And I reckon you didn't do anything very bad," replied Marcy, with alaugh. "It was no part of our plan to let either of you be whipped. But,look here, Rodney. Why were you so anxious to see Bud Goble the lasttime you were in town?"

  "I had put it into his head to do something to you and Dick Graham, andI wanted to stop it if I could," answered Rodney. "I tell you I wasfrightened when I saw those fires. I began to see what we were comingto, and I wanted to warn Goble that he was watched, and that he wouldsurely bring trouble upon himself if he paid any attention to thatletter."

  "What letter?"

  "Why, the one old nigger Toby told you about. I wrote it. Mean as youmay think me, and as I am, I wrote it. I said to myself that I woulddrive you and Dick from the school, and that was the way I took to doit." Having got fairly started on the confession he had longed to make,and paying no sort of attention to his cousin's efforts to stop him,Rodney made a clean breast of the matter, and told just how far hisloyalty to the Stars and Bars and his hatred for everybody who had alingering spark of affection for the Stars and Stripes had led him. Onthe evening his new flag came he slipped away from his companions, raninto a store, wrote the letter that Bud afterward read to his wife, andgot it into the office without any one being the wiser for what he haddone. That letter sent Bud on the war-path, and encouraged him to imposeupon Mr. Bailey and Elder Bowen, both of whom met his attempts in amanner so vigorous that Mr. Riley and his Committee of Safety becamealarmed. They held a secret meeting, and determined upon a plan ofoperations which they hoped would drive Union men and abolitionists fromthe country, and bring the State-rights men, like Mr. Bailey, over tothe Confederacy. The committee was responsible for those twofires--Rodney had heard enough from his rebel friends to make him sureof that; and they had but just begun operations, when Captain Wilson andhis boys put in an appearance. That was what made Mr. Riley so angrythat he would not speak to the students that night, or even look atthem, and it was possible that he and the others who rode up to theacademy had talked to the colonel in very plain language.

  "I supposed, of course, that I would find Goble somewhere in town, andkept Dick with me because I wanted him to help with a word now andthen," said Rodney, in conclusion. "He played a very slick trick on uswhen he sent word that that sick man was in need of medicine, and wefell into the trap as easy as you please. He was awful mad when he foundthat he had caught the wrong boy, that it was Marcy he wanted and notRodney, but he hadn't forgotten the underground railroad joke, and wasresolved that we shouldn't forget it, either. I didn't think Bud wouldbe fool enough to threaten anybody with a whipping. If I had, I neverwould have written that letter, I assure you. If lie had whipped me forit, it would have served me right."

  Marcy listened in silence to this astounding revelation, and although hewas intensely grieved and shocked, he said everything he could to makeRodney understand that he was freely and fully forgiven, and that itwould never be remembered against him; but Rodney refused to becomforted.

  "Dick knows it, and you know it," said he. "And if the other fellows donot suspect it, they must be both blind and deaf. I don't care to staylonger about the academy where everything I see will remind me of eventsI should be glad to forget, and I shall start for home by the firsttrain that leaves Barrington to-morrow. If the colonel will not let mego--"

  "I don't think he will object to any of us going," replied Marcy. "Duringthe riot, when Dixon marched us back into the armory, he said heintended to disband the whole thing at once. Matters were coming to sucha pass that he couldn't and wouldn't stand it any longer."

  "I hope he will stick to it," said Rodney. "We might as well have beenhome three months ago for all the good we've done in school. If he won'tpermit me to go I'll skip, if you will send my trunk after me."

  Marcy said he would, provided he was there to attend to it, and thengradually led the conversation into other channels; for that letter wasa sore subject to Rodney, and Marcy never wanted to hear it again. Nomatter what happened, it would never get to his mother's ears or SailorJack's either.

  When the company reached the academy, after four hours' absence, theylearned that the teachers had made repeated efforts to get the boys togo to bed, but without doing much toward accomplishing the desired end.They went to their dormitories as often as they were told, but leading ahorse to water and making him drink are two different things. As soon asthe teachers' backs were turned, they would slip out into the hall, rundownstairs, and join some of the excited groups strolling about thegrounds. They were all up and awake when the rescuers returned, andaccompanied them into the armory; but they did not cheer them as theywould like to have done. The coolheaded ones among them thought thatwould be carrying their triumph a little too far. When ranks were brokenMarcy reported to Captain Wilson, and asked if he should go into theguard-house.

  "What for?" inquired the captain.

  "Have you forgotten, sir, that you put me under arrest?"

  "Why did you not stay in the guard-tent when I put you there?" said theofficer, with a smile.

  "Because the colonel ordered me out, sir. I am glad he did so, for itgave me a chance to go with my company and see Rodney and Dick helpedout of their scrape."

  "Well, behave yourself in future, and we'll not say any more about yourbeing under arrest."

  Marcy knew that would be the upshot of the matter. If the captain meantto put him in arrest, he had no business to permit him to go on thatexpedition.

  The next morning things went on in their usual haphazard way, and thecolonel did not say a word about disbanding the school. He thoughtbetter of it after he had taken time to cool off; but it was not so withRodney Gray. By allowing himself to be led away by the excitement of thehour he had done something he never could forget if he lived to be ahundred years old, and he longed to leave the academy and everybody init behind him, and mingle with peo
ple who believed as he did, and whodid not know of the meanness of which he had been guilty. And, what wasvery comforting as well as surprising, the colonel permitted him to gowithout asking any disagreeable questions.

  "I don't know that I blame you," said he, in a discouraged tone. "Ithink I should be glad to go somewhere myself. I have been hoping almostagainst hope that these troubles might be settled without a war, but Idon't believe they ever will be. The folks about here seem to think thatthe people of the North are cowardly, but they are not. They are simplypatient; but there will come a time when their patience will beexhausted, and then they will sweep over us like an army of locusts."

  "You don't really think they will fight, do you, sir?" said Rodney, whowas surprised to hear the colonel talk in this strain.

  "I am sure of it. When Beauregard opens his batteries upon Sumter, youwill see an uprising that will astonish the world. I am sorry to partwith you, but you may go. You would no doubt get a letter from yourfather in a few days any way, so I don't suppose it makes muchdifference."

  Rodney went, but he did not go alone. Instead of one carriage, therewere four that drove away from the academy an hour later, and they werefilled as full of students as they could hold. But the departing crowddid not whoop and yell as they were in the habit of doing when they setout for home at vacation time. They were sober and thoughtful, and sowere those they left behind. The events of the last few hours had madethem so. Rodney Gray voiced the sentiments of all of them when he saidto Marcy and Dick, as he extended a hand to each:

  "I realize now as I never did before that we're not going to have theeasy times we looked for. I don't back down one inch from my position. Isay the South is right, and that if the North will not give her thefreedom she demands, she ought to fight for it, and I'll do all I can tohelp her; but I don't believe, as I did once, in abusing everybody whodiffers from me in opinion. So let's part friends."

  "We've always been friends to you," said Dick, in rather a husky voice."But your abominable ideas--dog-gone State rights anyhow! Good-by."

  "Why, Dick, you are on our side," said Rodney.

  "If Missouri is, I am; if she isn't, I aint. That's me."

  The parting was a good deal harder than the boys thought it was going tobe; but it was over at last; the carriages rolled out of the gate, thesentry presenting arms as they passed, and the boys who remained turnedsorrowfully away to take up the drudgery of school routine. After thatthere were no more loud, angry discussions, no shaking of fists in oneanother's faces, and the orderlies who raised the flag at morning andhauled it down at night, handled it tenderly out of respect to thefeelings of their Union schoolmates. They could not bear to think thatthere might come a time when they would be called upon to face some oftheir comrades with deadly weapons in their hands. Every one, from thecolonel commanding down to the youngest boy in the academy, seemedresolved to do what he could to make their few remaining school days aspleasant as possible.

  That afternoon the guard-runners were out in greater numbers than usual.Nearly all the students were anxious to go to Barrington, for there wereseveral things they wanted to have cleared up. What had become of theUnion men who had been burned out of house and home, and what did thatCommittee of Safety intend to do next? Marcy Gray did not go. He was toodispirited to do anything but lounge about and read, and long for aletter from his mother telling him to come home. He missed his cousinRodney, and wondered if fate would ever bring them together again andunder different flags. He sat under the trees and tried to read whileawaiting the return of Graham and Dixon, who, for a wonder, had askedfor passes. The first item of information they gave him, when they cameback with his mail, was one that did not much surprise him, although hedid not expect to hear it so soon.

  "That old darkey parson has lost his money," said Dick.

  "There now," exclaimed Marcy, "I told him he would if he did not put itwhere it would be safe. Who's got it?"

  "I didn't hear, and don't know that any one is suspected. He hid itunder a log back of the garden, and when he went there to see if it wasall right, the place looked as though it had been rooted over by a droveof hogs. But of course the hogs had nothing to do with it."

  "Some one like Bud Goble must have been on the watch when Toby put itunder the log," said Marcy, who thought he knew just how the old negrofelt when he discovered his loss. "He'll not see that money again. Itold him to give it to Mr. Riley."

  "And that reminds me that we saw and talked with Mr. Riley, who was assmiling and agreeable as you please," said Dixon. "If I had been guiltyof burning out two innocent men because they differed from me inopinion, I don't think I could have had the cheek to show myself on thestreet. But Mr. Riley did not seem to mind it."

  "Do you really think he had a hand in that affair?" inquired Marcy. "Idon't like to think that he is that sort."

  "When a fellow allows himself to be carried away, as he and the rest ofthat committee have, by prejudice and rage, he will do some things hewould not think of doing if he were in his right mind. Look at Rodney,"said Dixon; and Marcy wondered if he knew or suspected that Rodney hadwritten that mischievous letter. "It's in the mouth of every rebel intown whom we talk with that the committee burned those houses, and whateverybody says must have some truth in it."

  "Listen to me a minute, and I will condemn Mr. Riley out of his ownmouth," said Dick, in an earnest whisper. "When Captain Wilson asked himhow it came that he could reach the fire so quickly, seeing that it wasmore than a mile from his own house and there were no alarm bellsringing, Mr. Riley replied that it was because he happened to be awakewhen the fire commenced. Now, if that was the case, why did he run rightby Elder Bowen's burning house to come up town? I was on post that verynight, and know that the two fires were started almost at the samemoment. Mr. Riley wasn't at home, I tell you. He was in Barrington; andthat was the way he got to the fire before we did. Put that in yourpipes."

  "You have made out a pretty strong case against him so far ascircumstantial evidence will go," Dixon remarked.

  "Plenty strong enough to make him prove an alibi if he were prosecuted,"said Marcy. "Where are those Union men now?"

  "Living quietly and comfortably in two of the Elder's negro cabins,"replied Dick. "Some of the rebels we talked to think they need anotherand larger dose, for they are as independent and saucy as ever."

  "I glory in their spunk," said Marcy. "See anything of Bud or CalebJudson? I don't care what becomes of Bud, but if you happen to runacross Caleb, I wish you would send him to me. I promised to raise somemoney for him that night, when I thought I should have to go afterRodney and Dick alone, and I want to give it to him. We couldn't havefound them without his help."

  As we are almost, if not quite, through with these two gentlemen, Budand Caleb, we may remark that, a few days after this conversation tookplace, Marcy went to Barrington and found opportunity to square accountswith Caleb by handing him double the amount of money the man thought heought to have for acting as Captain Wilson's guide. But Caleb couldn'tor wouldn't give him any news of Bud Goble. In after-years some of theacademy boys heard of him once or twice in a roundabout way--not as abrave soldier of the Confederacy, doing and daring for the sake of theprinciples he had so loudly promulgated when he thought old Mr. Baileywas afraid of him, but as a sneaking conscript, hiding in the woods andliving, no one knew how, but probably keeping body and soul together bythe aid of the bacon and meal that his wife bought with old Toby'smoney.

  Not another thing happened at the academy that is worth recording untilit became known that President Lincoln, instead of surrendering FortSumter on demand of the Confederate commissioners who had been sent toWashington, decided that provisions should at once be forwarded to thegarrison. It was high time, for Major Anderson and his men had nothingbut a small supply of bacon and flour left, and the commissary was notpermitted to purchase provisions in Charleston. The Southern peoplewere, or pretended to be, very angry at this decision, and gave noticethat they would resist it as an act
of war. "My batteries are ready. Iawait instructions," was what Beauregard telegraphed to President Davis;and on the 11th of April the answer came back: "Demand the immediatesurrender of Fort Sumter." How the brave major's reply, helpless as heknew himself to be, thrilled every heart in the loyal North! "I cannotsurrender the fort," said he. "I shall await the first shot, and if youdo not batter me to pieces, I shall be starved out in three days."

  Now was the time for the Confederates to show to the world that theywere sincere when they declared that all they desired was to bepermitted to leave the Union in peace. But they did not do it. Theycould not wait three days. They wanted the honor of reducing FortSumter, and of humbling the flag which had never been lowered to anynation on earth. They wanted to "fire the Southern heart," and make sureof the secession of Virginia by "sprinkling blood in the people'sfaces," and so they opened their batteries upon the fort. After a longwaiting, which was "symbolic of the patience, endurance, and longsuffering of the Northern people," the fort replied, and the war betweenUnion and Disunion, freedom and slavery, was fairly begun. MajorAnderson knew from the first that this battle could end but in one way,and when his provisions were all gone, and his ammunition so nearlyexhausted that he could not respond to the enemy's fire oftener thanonce in ten minutes, he hauled down his flag and marched his handful ofmen out with the honors of war. It wasn't a victory to be proud of, butthe Governor of South Carolina must have thought it was, for that nighthe said to the excited people of Charleston:

  "I pronounce here before the civilized world that your independence isbaptized in blood; your independence is won upon a gloriousbattle-field, and you are free now and forever, in defiance of the worldin arms."

  So thought the aged Edmund Ruffin of Virginia, who claimed the privilegeof firing the first gun upon Sumter; but he did not think so a littlewhile afterward, when he was preparing to hang himself because he sawthat his dreams of Southern independence could not be realized.

  Of course this thrilling news, and the fiery editorials commenting uponit, had an effect upon the students at Barrington academy. The Unionboys were sadly depressed; Dixon and Graham shook their heads every timetheir eyes met; while Billings, Cole, and the rest of the rebels werefierce for another fight, and immediately became as noisy and aggressiveas they had ever been in Rodney Gray's time.

  "'The proud flag of the Stars and Stripes has been lowered in humilitybefore the Palmetto and Confederate flags,'" shouted Billings, readingan extract from the speech of Governor Pickens. "Cole, where is the flagthose Taylor girls gave you? Now is the time to unfurl it to the breeze,and let the good people of Barrington see that they are not the onlyones who can rejoice over this glorious news. When it is once hoisted onthe tower, we will keep it there in defiance of the world in arms."

  This was another quotation from the Governor's speech, and when Billingsroared it out so that it could be heard by all the boys in the corridor,he looked at Marcy as much as to say: "Help yourself if you can."

  It did not take Cole many minutes to produce the flag, which he had kepthidden in his trunk for just such an emergency as this; but when he andhis backers got to the top of the tower with it, they were rathersurprised to find Marcy, Graham, Dixon, and a good many other sturdyfellows there before them. They were walking around with their hands intheir pockets, and Marcy's flag was still floating from the masthead.

  "Do you mean--are you going to fight about it?" faltered Cole, who beganto fear that his chances for receiving a standing invitation to visitthose Taylor girls were as slim as they ever had been. "You have heardthe news from Charleston, and ought to see for yourself that this flagcan't stay up any longer."

  "We may be of a different opinion, so far as this academy is concerned,but still we have given up the contest," replied Marcy. "Hold on, there;don't touch those halliards, please. This flag belongs to me, and whenit comes down for good, I must be the one to pull it down. MajorAnderson was allowed to salute his flag when he lowered it, and I claimthe same privilege."

  "I don't know that we have anything to say against that," repliedBillings, looking around upon his friends to see what they thought aboutit. "Holler as much as you please. That's the only way you can saluteit, for the colonel would go crazy if you asked him to lend you thebattery."

  "That's the only way," said Marcy as he unfastened the color-halliardsfrom the cleat. "I shall not ask for the guns, for I shall have mytrouble for my pains. Attention! Three cheers for the Star SpangledBanner; and may the traitors who caused it to be lowered in Charlestonharbor for the time being be glad to turn to it for protection."

  "That flag will wave over Sumter again, and don't you forget what I tellyou," shouted Dixon.

  It was not a very noisy salute that greeted the flag as it fluttereddown from aloft, but it was a heart-felt one, and there was not a rebelon the tower who dared utter a derisive word, however much he might havefelt inclined to do so. But when the Stars and Bars were bent on to thehalliards and run up to the masthead, the yells of its supporters werealmost deafening and their antics quite indescribable. There was anabundance of enthusiasm about that time. There wasn't quite so much oneshort year later, when some of those same boys learned, to their greatdisgust and rage, that the Confederate Congress had passed a sweepingconscription law, and that their one year's enlistment had beenarbitrarily lengthened to three. Then they began to see what despotismmeant.

  All hope of conciliation or peace at any price was gone now. There wasnothing to hold them together any longer, and the following morning sawanother and larger exodus of students from the academy who were homewardbound. Among them were Cole, Graham, Billings, Dixon, and Marcy Gray. Itwas not quite so solemn a parting as the first one was, for the droopingspirits of the rebels had been raised to blood-heat by that gloriousnews from Charleston.

  "Shoot high, Marcy, when you meet the Stars and Bars on thebattlefield," said Billings. "There may be a Barrington boy thereabouts.But you can't deny that we've whipped you once in a fair fight, canyou?"

  "I don't know what you call a fair fight," replied Marcy. "Of coursefive thousand men, well supplied with grub and ammunition, ought to whipfifty-one soldiers and a few hired mechanics. But they held out againstyou as long as they had anything to eat or powder to shoot with. Iwouldn't crow over it, if I were in your place."

  "Well, we have given you a taste of what is in store for you, at allevents."

  "And you have learned something that I have tried to get through yourthick heads ever since these troubles began," chimed in Dixon. "I toldyou the North would fight. But let's jump in if we are going home. Youknow the trains meet here, and we haven't much more than time to get tothe depot."

  The boys once more shook hands with their teachers, cheered lustily forthe Barrington Military Academy and everybody connected with it, shoutedthemselves hoarse for their respective flags, and then sprang into thecarriages and were driven away.

  "We're done playing soldier," said Dick Graham. "The next time weshoulder muskets or draw sabers, there will be more reality in it thansome of us will care to face. Let's keep track of one another as long aswe can, and bear always in mind that we are not enemies, if we do marchunder different flags."

  Marcy Gray was glad when his train came along and bore him away fromBarrington. He wanted to settle back in his seat and think; but that wassomething he was not permitted to do. The passengers, with now and thena notable exception, acted as though they were fit candidates for alunatic asylum. They were walking about the car, flourishing their hatsor fists in the air, talking loudly and shaking hands as often as theymet in the aisle. "Glorious news," "Southern rights," "Yankee mudsills,""Fort Sumter," were the words that fell upon Marcy's ear when he openedthe door and walked into the car. In an instant his uniform attractedgeneral attention.