e, threw himself upon his muscle, and attempted to
beat off his assailants.

The rest of the party immediately came to the assistance of the fellow,
and, after a short but sharp struggle, the sentinel was overpowered,
and his gun taken from him. At the conclusion of the struggle Richard
found himself upon his back, on the ground, held down by the whole
squad of boys, or as many as could get hold of him. One of them held a
handkerchief over his mouth, so that he could not give the alarm, now
that he found it necessary to do so.

Richard supposed this rough treatment could be nothing more than a
practical joke--one of those tricks played off upon raw recruits, to
teach them the necessity of vigilance, and a nice observance of the
rules of the service. When he was overpowered, therefore, he submitted
to his fate, whatever it might prove to be, hoping his captors would
relax their hold upon him just long enough to enable him to turn the
tables upon them; for he was vain enough to believe that he could whip
the whole dozen of them, if he could only have fair play.

"Let him up, now, and we will tie his hands behind him," said one of
the party, in a feigned voice, to prevent the victim from recognizing
the speaker.

"But he will halloo, if we let him up," replied the one who had
answered his challenge, and whose voice Richard could not identify.

"I'll stop his mouth, if he hallooes," added the first speaker. "I'll
hit him over the head with the butt of his musket."

"No, no," said the other; "you'll kill him. We don't want to injure
him."

"I do; I wouldn't mind cracking his skull for him."

"No, no; we shall get into trouble ourselves if we do any thing of that
kind."

Richard thought they would any way, as soon as he could obtain the use
of his arms. He felt so well qualified to take care of himself that he
would have been willing to give his bond not to halloo, or call any one
to his assistance, though he could not help wondering that the
sentinels whose beats were next to his own, did not arrive at the scene
of operations. It was evident to him that they were asleep on their
posts, or that they were accomplices of the conspirators.

"Now, get up," said the speaker, who used the disguised voice.

Richard promptly obeyed this order, and though several of the boys held
on to him as he rose, a terrible struggle ensued, in which the captured
sentinel almost made good his mental boast; but they were too many for