“And we are, too,” said Bert, emphatically.
“Well, that man knew it, and that was the reason he talked to you in the way he did,” continued Egan. “He and his kind hate a soldier as cordially as they hate the police, because the soldier is always ready to step in and help the policeman when the mob gets too strong for him; and when the boys in blue take a hand in the muss, the rioters generally hear something drop. Now, Bert, you and Elmer had better go and report to the superintendent.”
All that day the excitement at the academy was intense, and it was no wonder that the lessons were bad, that such faithful fellows as Mack, Egan, Curtis and Bert Gordon came in for the sternest reprimands, or that the teachers looked worried and anxious—all except Professor Odenheimer. He was in his element, for he scented the battle from afar. His lectures were full of fight, and never had his classes listened to them with so much interest. When night came the excitement increased. It was plain that the superintendent had received information which led him to believe that it was best to be prepared for any emergency, for the guards were doubled, mattresses were issued to the members of the first company who bunked in the armory, and the boys who went on post were supplied with ball cartridges.
Another thing that increased the excitement and added to the general disquiet and alarm, was the rumor that all idea of a parade had been abandoned, and that the brigade commander had asked the superintendent what he could do for him, if help were needed at Hamilton. There was a mob there, and it was having things all its own way. It was growing stronger and bolder all the while, the police were afraid of it, the majority of the soldiers sympathized with it, and the only company that had done anything was the Hamilton Tigers, which had cleared the depot at the point of the bayonet.
“Didn’t I say there would be trouble in the city before this thing was settled?” asked Don Gordon of some of his friends whom he met in the armory when dress parade was over.
“And didn’t I say that the Tigers would do their duty every time?” answered Hopkins. “But do you suppose the superintendent will order any of us down there?”
“Why shouldn’t he?” inquired Curtis in his quiet way.
“Because we don’t belong to the National Guard, and there is no precedent for any such proceeding,” answered Hopkins.
“There’s where you are mistaken,” said Egan. “The students at the Champaign Agricultural College in Illinois didn’t belong to the National Guard, but when Chicago was burned some of them were ordered up there to protect property, and I never heard it said that they didn’t do their duty as well as men could have done it. It will be no boy’s play, but I shall hold myself in readiness to volunteer with the company that is ordered down there.”
“Well, I won’t,” said a voice.