eir 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