CHAPTER II.
THE STRANGE BANNER.
The military academy was located a little over two miles fromBarrington, which was a wealthy and aristocratic place of about threethousand inhabitants. It was a square stone building, flanked withtowers at each corner, and looked something like a little fortress whenviewed from a distance. In the days when military discipline had beenenforced, the mail was brought to the academy regularly every morningand evening; but after the presidential election the students became sovery restless and impatient that they could not wait for old darkey Samand his slow-going mule to bring them their letters and papers. Theythrew the regulations to the winds, and openly defying courts-martialand every other form of punishment, climbed the fence in plain sight ofthe sentries and went to town in a body. At least that was what some ofthem did; but a few of the more obedient and easy-going ones, like MarcyGray and his particular friends, asked for a pass when they desired it,and if they didn't get it they had self-control enough to remain withinbounds.
Rodney Gray and the boys who went to Barrington with him on the day wehave mentioned saw that there was "something up" the minute they reachedtown. Blue "nullification" badges, and red, white, and blue rosetteswere seen on every side, and strange banners were waving in the air;those who had no flag-staffs in their yards or on their houses hangingthe colors out of their upper windows. Heretofore the students hadsometimes seen men and women walking the streets with small Union flagspinned to their breasts; but there was not one in sight now.
"What's in the wind?" exclaimed Rodney, after he had taken a glancearound and noted these little things. "And what sort of a flag is thatup there on Mr. Riley's office?"
"It must be the new Confederate banner, that made its appearance for thefirst time on the 4th," replied Dick Graham, who was one of the party.
"Hurry up, fellows," cried Ed Billings, catching the two by the arm andquickening his pace. "We're going to hear great news this evening, and Iam impatient to know what it will be. Hold on; now we shall hear allabout it."
Just then a couple of young ladies with whom they were well acquaintedcame up; the boys lifted their caps to them, and Ed continued, pointingfirst to the red, white, and blue rosettes with which they weredecorated, and then at the new colors that were fluttering over theirheads:
"Anything exciting been going on lately? And what has become of all thelittle Union flags we saw yesterday?"
"No doubt they have been concealed to await the time when the Yankeesshall come marching through here with fire and sword," replied one ofthe girls.
Such talk was common enough in the South in those days, and the peoplelearned it not only from their own leaders, but from secessionsympathizers who lived in the North. Fire and sword were just whatJefferson Davis intended to give the States that did not belong to theConfederacy. This is what he said in his speech at Montgomery on theevening of February 15:
"If war must come, it must be on Northern, not on Southern, soil. Aglorious future is before us. The grass will grow in Northern citieswhere the pavements have been worn off by the tread of commerce. We willcarry war where it is easy to advance, where food for the sword andtorch await our armies in the densely populated cities."
Ex-President Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire made use of nearly thesame language when he wrote to Davis, assuring him that, "If there isany fighting it will be within our own borders and in our own streets."Turn to your history if you want to see how these confident predictionswere fulfilled.
"Well, if those Yankee flags are not brought to light until the Yankeesthemselves come marching through this State, you will never see themagain," said Rodney, with emphasis. "If the Northern people fool with uswe will keep them so busy on their own ground that they will never thinkof coming down here. But what's the use of talking about war! They'llnot fight. I only wish they would, so that we might show them how easyit would be for us to whip them. But is that our flag up there? And whatis the meaning of those ribbons?"
"Oh, haven't you heard? Well, you'll know all about it when you get yourpaper. The president has been empowered to call for an immense army ofour gallant--"
"Bosh!" sneered Rodney; and then he apologized for the interruption andfor the expression he had used.
"But we need an army to hold possession of our coast defences, do wenot? All the government property in the Confederacy has been seized, andnow that we have got it, we must hold fast to it."
"Certainly; but we don't need an army to do that. Our school battalion,if the boys were only united, could do it and not half try."
"If they were united?" repeated one of the girls. "You do not mean tosay that there are traitors in that school?"
Rodney replied that was just what he did mean to say. He declared thatthe academy was a hotbed of treason, and Cole and Billings confirmed hiswords. The girls were surprised to hear it.
"And even the colonel hasn't the pluck of a cat or a mind of his own,"continued Billings. "He doesn't seem to know where he stands."
"Every one in town wonders why that flag has been permitted to float solong, and now I know," said one of the girls. "The colonel is friendlyto it; but still, if you young gentlemen had half the courage we havegiven you credit for, you would have pulled it down long ago."
Rodney winced. He did not like to confess that he and his friends hadtried their best to haul the flag down, but the Union boys had preventedthem from doing it; for he knew the girls would laugh at him. They mightdo even worse than that. They might tell him that he need not troublehimself to call upon them any more (for things had come to that passalready), so he brought forward the best excuse he could think of on thespur of the moment.
"But the colonel will not allow it," he protested. "He says it will betime enough to bother with the flag when we find out what the State isgoing to do."
"But I don't see how you can march under those colors when your owngallant Louisiana has followed South Carolina out of the Union."
"I confess we don't like it," said Cole, "but a good soldier alwaysobeys orders, you know. Wait until the State acts, and then you shallhear from us."
"I hope to hear from you before that time, although this State is boundto go with the others. I should be ashamed to acknowledge that I livewithin her borders if she shows such a want of spirit as to be willingto remain in the Union after all that has happened. The next time youcome to see me, Mr. Cole," said the young lady sweetly, "I shall expectyou to tell me that that flag has been hauled down in spite of allopposition, and that our own Confederate flag has been hoisted in itsplace."
"So that's our flag, is it?" said Rodney, casting a glance of pridetoward the Stars and Bars that waved from several buildings within therange of his vision. "I thought as much. When did it get here?"
"We received a score or more of them by this day's mail, and ourpatriotic citizens lost no time in giving them to the breeze," was thereply.
"But the trouble is, we haven't any flag of that sort at the academy,"said Cole. "So how are we to run it up in place of the Stars andStripes?"
"My sister and I will see that you have the flag, if you will promise tohoist it," answered one of the girls. "We are at work upon one now, andwill have it ready for you to-morrow at this hour, provided you can tellus that the old flag has been hauled down. Tomorrow, mind. Shall weexpect you?"
"I'll be around," replied Cole, but he did not talk as glibly as heusually did, for he was thinking about something else. To-morrow at thathour. By gracious! that was bringing the thing straight home to afellow, wasn't it? That meant a fight, sure; and the Union boys were notonly as brave as boys ever get to be, but their fists were as hard as somany bricks. Cole knew that by experience. And if he could not tell herthat the old flag had been hauled down, he need not take the trouble tocall at her house. The young lady did not say so, but Cole knew wellenough that that was what she meant.
"The commandant is one traitor, but who are the others?" she asked
,after a moment's pause. "You said in effect that the school is full ofthem. The colonel does not often honor us girls with his visits, but theyoung gentlemen do sometimes, and we should like to know who thetraitors are, so that we can be at home or not, as circumstances seem torequire. Give us their names, please."
Rodney's companions would have thought twice before complying with thisrequest, but Rodney himself did not see anything surprising in it. Thegirls were ardent secessionists, and of course they did not care toassociate with those who stood up for the Yankees and for the flag theyworshiped. The cousin whom he had always loved as a brother was beneathcontempt now, for he was a traitor to the South, and undeserving of theslightest show of respect from any one who had the least respect forhimself.
"Well, there's that lovely relative of mine for one," said Rodneypromptly.
The girls could hardly believe that they had heard aright. They lookedat each other in silence for a moment, and then they looked at Rodney.
"I didn't think that Marcy Gray was such a coward," said one, atlength.
"Oh, you are 'way off the track!" exclaimed Dick Graham, who, althoughhe afterward went into the Confederate Army and became a partisanranger, never forgot the warm friendship he cherished for Marcy Gray."That fellow is nobody's coward, and you wouldn't think so if you couldhave seen him when--"
"Look here, Dick," interrupted Rodney, who was afraid that Marcy'sfriend was about to say something compromising. "It is very easy for afellow to say that he is for the Union when he is so far away from theNorth that he can not, by any possible chance, be called upon to fightfor the opinions he pretends to hold, but has Marcy the courage to showby his acts that he is sincere in what he says?"
"Well, yes; I think he has," answered Dick. "When you fellows had thatfight over the flag--"
"That isn't what I mean," exclaimed Rodney, impatiently.
"What was it, Mr. Graham?" asked one of the girls, who rather wanted tosee Marcy Gray's courage vindicated, if there were any way in which itcould be done. "What did he do? Did you really have a fight at theacademy over the flag? Go on, please, and tell us all about it."
Rodney tried to speak, but Dick was not to be put down. He knew thatRodney was determined to say something to his cousin's injury if hecould, and Dick Graham was not the boy to stand by and see it donewithout raising his voice in protest.
"Yes; some of the boys tried their level best to get the flag," saidDick, "but its defenders were much too numerous and strong for them.During the struggle there were some middling heavy blows passed, and, ifI mistake not, Rodney came in for a few that he'll not soon forget."
Rodney tried to laugh it off as a joke, but it was easy to see that hewas about as mad as he could hold.
"Now go on and describe the part you took in that fracas," said he, assoon as he could speak.
"Who? Me? I didn't take any part in it. I don't fight. I'm neutral. Yousee Missouri hasn't gone out of the Union yet, and I don't intend tomake a move until she does. See? I was not saying a word for myself, butfor Marcy, who isn't here to take his own part."
"What I want to get at is this," continued Rodney. "If Marcy is sodevoted to the Union, why does he stay here, flinging his obnoxiousdoctrines in our faces every chance he gets? Why doesn't he go North andjoin the Yankees?"
"He doesn't fling his doctrines in our faces," Dick interposed. "Hestands up for them when he thinks it necessary, and so would I if Ibelieved as he does."
"I admire him for that," said one of the girls.
"Oh, do you?" exclaimed Rodney, who was sure of his ground now. "Willyou continue to admire him when I tell you that he hoped the Yankeeswould send a fleet into Charleston harbor that would blow South Carolinaout of water?"
No, the girls could not admire Marcy Gray or anybody else who talkedthat way. If that was his doctrine, he had better quit the South and goamong those who believed as he did.
"I was sure you would say so; and that was the point I was trying toreach," continued Rodney. "That was what I meant when I asked if he hadthe courage to back up his opinions."
"I am sorry to hear that of Marcy," said one of the girls, and her faceshowed that she meant every word of it. "He is such a splendid horsemanand looks so handsome riding with his battery! And to think that hesympathizes with our oppressors! I can't realize it. I must have aserious talk with him, for unless he comes over to our side, he will beliable to arrest if he stays here much longer."
"It's a wonder to me that he hasn't seen trouble of some sort beforethis time," observed Billings. "He doesn't haul in his shingle one inch,but blurts out his views wherever he happens to be, and the first thinghe knows somebody will pop him over."
"I shouldn't like to be the one to try it," Dick Graham remarked. "Marcywill not take a whipping quietly."
"I didn't mean that he would get into trouble here in Barrington,although I am afraid he will, but with the government," said the girl."One other thing our Congress did was to pass a law requiring all thosewho sympathize with the North to leave the limits of the Confederacywithin ten days."
"But don't you know that this State hasn't joined the Confederacy yet?"asked the practical Dick.
"If I should forget it, you would be very likely to remind me of thefact," was the reply; "but she will join it before many days havepassed, and then where will Marcy be?"
"That's the best news I have heard in a month," declared Rodney,speaking before he thought. Then, seeing that his companions lookedsurprised, he hastened to add: "I say it is good news, for when Marcyhears of it he will understand that he must quit his nonsense and comeout boldly for one side or the other. If he is with us, all he has to dois to say so; and if he isn't, he'll have to pack up and clear out."
"Oh, we hope he'll not do that," said both the girls in a breath. "Tellhim to come and see us, and we will turn him from the error of his ways.Here we are at our gate. Thanks for your escort."
"Why don't you ask us to come in?" inquired Cole.
"Because we have given you something to do first. Pull down that flagand run the banner of the Confederacy up in its place, and then you maycome as often as you please."
"Well, shall I tell Marcy to keep his distance until he has made up hismind to hoist the right sort of colors?" said Rodney.
"By no means. We must have a talk with him, and if we fail to win himover, we shall know how to punish him."
"That was rather a snub for you, old fellow," said Billings, as the boysraised their caps to the girls and once more turned toward thepost-office. "They are sweet on Marcy, and don't mean to throw him overjust because you have taken a sudden dislike to him."
"It was a snub for Cole as well," replied Rodney, hotly. "He will neversee the inside of Mr. Taylor's house again, for those girls have imposedupon him a task that is quite beyond his powers. Couldn't you get alongwithout wagging your jaw so freely?" he demanded, turning fiercely uponDick Graham. "For two cents you and I would mix up right here in thestreet."
"Why, what in the world did I say?" asked Dick, in reply.
"You disgraced the school by telling those girls, almost as plainly asyou could speak it, that we Southerners are in the minority there."
"If she got that impression, she got a wrong one," said Dick quietly. "Isaid that the defenders of the flag were too many and too strong for youfellows who tried to haul it down, and that's the truth. I stood up forMarcy because I am his friend, and you ought to be."
"I am a friend to no boy, cousin or no cousin, who talks as he does,"said Rodney spitefully. "I despise a traitor, and the fellow who sticksup for him--"
Dick stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, rested his clenched handsupon his hips, and waited for Rodney to finish the sentence. For asecond or so it looked as though the two boys were going to "mix up"directly; but Cole and Billings interposed.
"This will never do," said the latter. "If you are determined to have afight, hurry and get your mail, and then we'll go back to the academyand fight the Yankees and their sympathizers. T
hat's what we've got todo tomorrow, if we run that new flag up on the tower, and we might aswell get our hands in first as last. Cole, you go on with Dick, andRodney and I will follow."
Dick laughingly declared that as he was not spoiling for a fight hecould get on very well without an escort, but still he did not raise anyobjection when Cole took him by the arm and led him away. Rodney slowlyfollowed, with Billings for a companion, the latter using his bestarguments to make the stubborn Rodney see that he could not hope to gainanything by showing so much hostility toward his cousin, who was popularboth at the academy and in the town, and that the Taylor girls, fromwhom they had just parted, didn't think any the more of him for what hehad said. Rodney saw that plainly, and it was another thing that madehim angry; but he was careful not to let Billings know it. He took nolittle pride in his horsemanship, and was confident that he made a veryfine looking sergeant of artillery; but none of the girls had ever toldhim so, and he couldn't bear to hear Marcy praised either. He wasenvious, as well as jealous, and when Rodney got that way, he was in theright humor to do something desperate.
"That new law will fix him and Graham, too," he said to himself. "I'lltake pains to call their attention to it the minute I get back to theacademy, and if they don't take the hint and make themselves scarceabout here, I will set somebody on their track. There are a good manytraitors in and around Barrington, and I wonder that they haven't beendriven out before this time. I'll rid the school of those two, I betyou; but before they go I'll pick a quarrel with them and whip them outof their boots."
This confident assertion recalls to mind something that was said by theConfederate General Rosser on the morning of the 9th of October, 1864,just previous to the beginning of the fight known in history as"Woodstock Races." Having formed his line of battle, Rosser sat on hishorse watching the movements of his old schoolmate, General Custer, whowas busy getting his own forces in shape to attack him. Finally Rosserturned to his staff and said:
"You see that officer down there? That is General Custer, of whom theYanks are so proud, and I intend to give him the best whipping to-day heever got; see if I don't."
When Custer was ready to fight he made his charge; the valiant Rosserfled before it, and never but once stopped running until he reachedMount Jackson, twenty-six miles away. It was a trial of speed, ratherthan a battle, and that is the reason the engagement is called"Woodstock Races." The Confederates lost everything they had that wascarried on wheels, and the Union loss was but sixty killed and wounded.Rodney Gray was not as much of a braggart as Rosser was, but if he hadtried to carry his threat into execution he might have been as badlywhipped.