he
ain't one of us."

"I've been deceived in him," said a third. "He always minded his own
business, and kept so quiet about our institutions, I never suspected he
was anti-slavery till I talked with him t'other day about joining
us--then he out with it."

"He thinks we're all wrong," said a bigoted pro-slavery man named
Deslow. "He says slavery's the cause of the war, and it's absurd in us
to go in for the Union and slavery too!" For these men, though loyal to
the government, and bitterly opposed to secession, were nearly all
slaveholders or believers in slavery.

"May be the fellow ain't far wrong there," said he who had been drilling
his comrades. "I think myself slavery's the cause of the war, and that's
what puts us in such a hard place. The time may come when we will have
to take a different stand--go the whole figure with the free north, or
drift with the cotton states. But that time hain't come yet."

"But the time _has_ come," said Stackridge, impatiently, "to do
something for Hapgood, if we intend to help him at all. While we are
talking, he may be hanging."

"And what can we do?" retorted the other. "We can't make a move for him
without showing our hand, and it ain't time for that yet."

"True enough, Captain Grudd," said Stackridge. "But three or four of us,
with our revolvers, can happen that way, and take him out of the hands
of Ropes and his cowardly crew without much difficulty. I, for one, am
going."

"Hapgood don't even believe in fighting!" observed Deslow, with immense
disgust; "and blast me if I am going to fight _for_ him!"

Carl was almost driven to despair by the indifference of these men and
the time wasted in discussion. He could have hugged the grim and bony
Stackridge when he saw him make a decided move at last. Three others
volunteered to accompany them. The cask was once more rolled away from
the entrance, and one by one they crept quickly through the passage into
the first cellar.

Stackridge preceded the rest, to see that the way was clear. There was
no one at the bar; the door leading into the shop was closed; and Carl,
following the four men, passed out by a long entry communicating with
the street, the door of which was thrown open to the public on occasions
when there was a great rush to Jim's bar, but which was fastened this
night by a latch that could be lifted only from the inside.

IV.

_A SEARCH FOR THE MISSING._

The academy was situated in a retired spot