get myself into the worst kind of a scrape by trying
to befriend you."

"The door is all right, and besides there are no eavesdroppers in this
house," answered Rodney. "What in the world is the matter, and why are
you likely to get yourself into trouble by coming here?"

"Have you heard anything since you have been in town?" asked Griffin, in
reply. "I don't suppose any one will bother you, seeing that you are
alone, but if your whole company had tried to go, you might have been
stopped. If you hadn't, it wouldn't have been Randolph's fault."

"There now," thought Rodney. "I said there was some one in Mooreville
who wanted to get us into trouble, and Tom Randolph was the very fellow
who came into my mind."

But he said nothing aloud. How did he know that young Randolph was the
only enemy he had in Mooreville? He looked hard at Griffin and dropped
into the nearest chair.

"Randolph is down on everybody who voted against him for second
lieutenant," continued Griffin, "and he declared when he came home after
the election that he would break up that company of Rangers if he could
find any way to do it."

"He laid out a pretty big job for himself," said Rodney, when his
visitor paused. "How did he think he would go to work to accomplish
it?"

"Any way and every way. He didn't care so long as he broke it up. You
can't imagine how tickled he was when he heard that you had mutinied and
refused to be sworn in."

"Did Randolph start that ridiculous story about the mutiny?" inquired
Rodney.

"I don't know whether he set it going or not, but he helped it along all
he could and had a good deal to say about it," answered Griffin.
"Yesterday afternoon I was in the office when he came in and wrote a
dispatch to the Governor; and as I have got so that I can read by sound,
I had no trouble in spelling it out when Drummond the operator sent it
off. I always do that for practice. Between you and me that Drummond is a
fellow who ought to be booted out of that position. He's just too mean
to be of any use."

"What was in the dispatch?" asked Rodney.

"It contained the information that the Rangers had mutinied and were
about to leave the State in a body."

"That was a lie and Randolph knew it," said Rodney, hotly. "But even if
we had decided to leave the State in a body, is there any law to prevent
it? Such a thing was proposed, but it was voted down by a big majority,
and that is why I am obliged to go alone."

"And that b