you get?"

"Not a dog-gone cent. I don't want none of it. I come kase I want to see
them two boys let go. Hold on, there. What you doin'?" exclaimed Caleb,
when he felt himself suddenly seized by the elbow and his whole arm
pulled through the fence. "Turn me loose."

"Take hold of the other arm, Billings," said Dixon quietly. "Now, old
man, keep perfectly still and do just as you are told, and no harm shall
come to you. You are friendly to Rodney and Dick, and that makes us
friendly toward you. Come over the fence. Up you go."

"What for?"

"We want you to tell the officer of the guard, and perhaps the colonel,
just what you have told us, word for word."

"By gracious, boys, you're going to get me into a pretty mess," said the
sentry nervously. "You can't get him over without alarming the whole
school, and how shall I explain matters to the corporal? He's a chap who
will not stand any nonsense. Come over that fence," he added, an idea
striking him; and as he spoke he drew up his loaded musket and pointed
it at Caleb's head. "Quick and still, or I'll cut loose."

The sight of the black muzzle that looked him squarely in the eye was
too much for Caleb's nerves. Beseeching the sentry, in whining tones, to
turn that weapon t'other way, he shinned up the pickets, Dixon and
Billings shifting their hold from his arms to his legs and feet as he
ascended, and in two minutes more he stood within the academy grounds.

CHAPTER XII.

THE FIRST COMPANY IN ACTION.

"There," said Dixon soothingly. "I told you you shouldn't be hurt if you
obey orders without making any fuss. Now come with us, and don't speak
above a whisper."

"What do you reckon the kurn'll do to me?" inquired Caleb, who could
scarcely have been more frightened if the students had threatened him as
Bud Goble had threatened Rodney and Dick.

"He'll not do the first thing to you," Billings assured him. "Why should
he when you come here as a friend to those two prisoners? We'll see you
safe outside the gate as soon as the officers are through questioning
you."

"An' will you-uns give me the money?" asked Caleb. "If you don't, them
boys is bound to get whopped."

"Did Bud say so?"

"He made that same remark. An' he said, furder, that if I wasn't back by
sun-up with the hunderd dollars, he would know you-uns had held fast to
me, an' then he would lick 'em, sure hope to die."

"I promise you that you