some here who want it, and who can do
that sort of work as well, if not better than I can. If you think you
must put me in for something, let me be a duty sergeant, so that I will
have a chance to go on a scout now and then."

So saying the Barrington boy made another flourish with his hand and
stepped back to his place in the ranks with military precision.

"Now, Rodney, take that back," said Lieutenant Percy, with most
unbecoming familiarity. "You are the only military man in the company,
and I don't see how we can get along without you."

"I'll tell you what I'll do, Rodney," chimed in Captain Hubbard. "You
take the position, and I will promise that you shall go out on a scout
as often as you please."

The Barrington boy's face relaxed into a broad grin.

"Captain," said he, "what sort of an organization is this any way--a mob
or a military company?"

"Now, what is the use of your asking such a question as that?" demanded
the captain, rather sharply.

"Well, then, if it is a military company, I suppose you intend to be
governed by military rules, do you not?"

"Of course we do, if we have brains enough to find out what those rules
are."

"I have no fears on that score; and when you find out what those rules
are, you will see that you have no business to let me go out on a scout
as often as I please."

"What's the reason I haven't?" exclaimed the captain. "I command the
company, don't I?"

"You certainly do."

"And haven't I a right to do as I please?"

"That depends upon circumstances. Do you intend to remain right here
about home?"

"Not by a jugful. We're going to belong to some part of the army, if we
have to go clear up to Missouri to find a commander who will take us."

"Then you will find that you can't do as you please. The minute that
commander accepts you, he will swear you and all of us into the
service."

"After we have been sworn into the service of the State?"

"Certainly."

"I don't believe it," said Captain Hubbard, bluntly. "He wouldn't have
any right to do it."

The boy's words raised a chorus of dissent all along the line, and
Lieutenant Odell said, as soon as he could make himself heard:

"You are way off the track, Rodney. What did we secede for if it wasn't
to prove the doctrine of State Rights? If we are going to give our
liberty up to a new government, we might as well have stayed under the
old." And all the Rangers uttered a hearty "That's so."

"You'll see," repl