CHAPTER VI.
CAPTAIN SAM BEGINS HIS MARCH.
At noon the next day Sam marched away from the camp at the head of hislittle company, reduced now to precisely six boys in all, counting thecolored boy Joe, but not counting Captain Sam himself. Jake Elliottwas one of the company, rather against Sam's wish, but he had beggedfor permission to go, and Sam thought his size and strength might beof use in some emergency. Tommy was of the party of course, and theother boys were Billy Bunker--called Billy Bowlegs by the boys,because he was not bow-legged at all but on the contrary badlyknock-kneed,--Bob Sharp, a boy of about Tommy's size and age, andSidney Russell, a boy of thirteen, who had "run to legs," hiscompanions said, and was already nearly six feet high, and so slenderthat, notwithstanding his extreme height, he was the lightest boy inthe company. The rest of the party had already enlisted and could notgo.
The outfit was complete, after Sam's notions of completeness; that isto say, it included every thing which was absolutely necessary and notan ounce of anything that could be safely spared. For tools they hadtwo axes, with rather short handles, a small hatchet, a pocket ruleand an adze; to this list might be added their large pocket knives,which every man and boy on the frontier carries habitually. For camputensils each boy had a tin cup and that was all, except a singlelight skillet, which they were to carry alternately, as they were todo with the tools. Each boy carried a blanket tightly rolled up, andeach had, at the start, eight pounds of corn meal and four pounds ofbacon, with a small sack of salt each, which could be carried in anypocket. This was all. They had no arms and no ammunition.
Their destination and the purpose of their journey were wholly unknownto anybody in the camp, except General Jackson and Tandy Walker. Theboys themselves were as ignorant as anybody on this subject. Sam hadenlisted them in the service, merely telling them that he was going onan expedition which might prove difficult, dangerous and full ofhardship. He told them that he could not make them legal soldiersbefore leaving, but that implicit obedience was absolutely necessary,and that he wanted no boy to go with him who was not willing to trusthis judgment absolutely and obey orders as a soldier does, withoutknowing why they are given or what they are meant to accomplish. Toput this matter on a proper basis, he drew up an enlistment paper asfollows:--
"We, whose names are signed below, volunteer to go with SamuelHardwicke and under his command, on the expedition which he is aboutbeginning. We have been duly warned of the dangers and hardships to beencountered; we freely undertake to endure the hardships withoutshrinking, and to face the dangers as soldiers should; and,understanding the necessity of discipline and obedience, we promise,each of us upon his honor, fully to recognize the authority of SamuelHardwicke as our Captain, appointed by General Jackson; we promiseupon honor, to obey his command, as implicity as if we were regularlyenlisted soldiers, and he a properly commissioned officer."
(Signed.)
signatures]
When this paper was signed by all the boys, including black Joe, whoinsisted upon attaching his name to it in the printing letters which"little Miss Judie" had taught him, it was placed in General Jackson'shands for keeping, and Sam marched his party away, amid the wonderingcuriosity of the few troops who were in camp. They knew that thisparty went out under orders of some sort from head quarters, but theycould not imagine whither it was going or why. Many of them had triedto get information from the boys themselves, but as the boys knewabsolutely nothing about it, they could answer no questions, exceptwith the rather unsatisfactory formula "I dunno."