Gray, who began breathing very hard and trying to
work his way closer to the fence. "What does Bud intend to do with
them?"

"Well, it's jest this a-way," replied Caleb. "A day or two ago Bud got a
letter from somebody tellin' him that them two boys oughter be drove
outen the kentry, kase they was Union all over an' preachin' up their
docterings as often as they got a chance. Bud, he thought so too, an'
this afternoon he grabbed 'em."

"Who wrote that letter?" inquired Dixon.

"There don't none of us know; Bud himself don't know, kase there wasn't
no name to it."

"It was written by some coward who was afraid to let himself be known,
was it? And Bud acted upon the advice that letter contained and grabbed
the boys, did he? How did he go about it?" inquired Dixon; and his three
companions, who knew how quick he was to get angry, wondered that he
could speak so quietly and without the slightest show of excitement.

"When they was in town to-day Bud sont 'em word that there was a sick
man up the road a piece, an' asked them would they get some quinine an'
take it to him," replied Caleb.

"And of course they went," said Dixon, through his clenched teeth. "Bud
worked upon their feelings and caught them as easy as falling off a log.
When they got to that cabin there wasn't any sick man there, but a party
of ruffians who jumped on Rodney and Dick and made prisoners of them,"
added Dixon, who was so impatient that he could not wait for Caleb to
tell the story. "Was that the way of it?"

"It were; but you see he got the wrong one. Both of 'em are the wrong
ones."

"How so?"

"Well, you see they're the wrong ones; not the ones he thought he was
goin' to get. Rodney is secession the very wust kind."

"Of course he is; and Graham is State rights, which is the next thing to
a rebel. Well, what of it?"

"Rodney is the wrong one, I tell ye. We-uns wanted the other Gray
boy--the Union feller."

"What would you have done to him if you had got hold of him?"

"We-uns kalkerlated to lick him good an' send him outen the kentry with
a striped jacket."

Caleb did not hesitate to acknowledge this. He had heard it said that
there were some wild secessionists in the school, and taking his cue
from the Barrington people, who thought it right to destroy the property
of Union men, he believed that the students who were in favor of the
Confederacy would be willing to take summary vengeance upon those of
their number who were foolis