every foot of the mile that lay between the road and Bud Goble's camp,
but they did it without making noise enough to alarm him. What they were
most afraid of was that he would hear them coming and drag his prisoners
away from the fire and deeper into the woods, where they could not be
found until Bud had had time to wreak vengeance upon them. But they need
not have borrowed any trouble on that score. If Bud Goble had had the
faintest idea of the commotion his senseless act had caused among the
academy boys, money would not have hired him to lay a finger upon Rodney
and Dick.

[Illustration: TOO MUCH FOR THE MINUTE-MEN.]

At the end of an hour Captain Wilson, who was in the center of the line,
came within sight of Bud's camp-fire, and the order was passed for the
flanks to close upon each other. In fifteen minutes more a shrill
whistle coming from the opposite side of the fire announced that the
command had been obeyed, and with a charging yell, that was never
surpassed by any they afterward uttered in battle, the boys sprang up
and rushed for the fire. Not a bayonet had been fixed or a piece loaded
that is, by orders; but some of the young soldiers had quietly driven
home a cartridge while working their way through the woods, and when the
signal to advance was given, they fired their muskets into the air with
such effect that Bud and Silas gave themselves up for lost, and the
prisoners jumped from their beds of leaves by the fire, and shouted and
waved their caps to show their comrades where they were.

"Death to all Minute-men!" somebody yelled; and the cry was taken up and
carried along the line with such volume that Bud's frantic appeals for
"quarter" could not be heard.

In less time than it takes to write it the students crowded into the
camp, and Rodney and Dick were being shaken by both hands. Their captors
were so completely surprised, and so very frightened that they had not
thought of their rifles, which were leaning against convenient trees.
And now came the very demonstration that Captain Wilson had been afraid
of. Jerking himself loose from the detaining hands of his comrades,
Rodney picked up a heavy switch lying on the ground near the log that
Bud had been using for a seat.

"Turn about is fair play, old fellow," said he. "You promised to use
this on our backs if you did not receive the hundred dollars you said we
owed you, and now we'll see--"

"Give it to him!" shouted the students, almost as o