The Young Wild-Fowlers

by Harry Castlemon

It will be remembered that after breakfast the students were allowed an hour in which to look over their lessons for the day, or to walk about the grounds and watch guard-mount. It is hardly necessary to say that Enoch didn’t do either. He devoted the time to making out a list of those who he thought would be willing to assist him in his enterprise, and Lester, Jones, and Charley Porter acted as his advisers. The two last were quite willing to look upon Enoch as the leading spirit, but Lester was not a little provoked at the matter-of-fact way in which the management of affairs was taken out of his hands. He could not have acted as leader himself, and he knew it; but he wanted the others to show him a little respect. Instead of that, they did not notice him at all; but at his request they added the name of Wallace Ross to those on the list, because they knew that they would have occasion to use some of the money with which Ross was so well supplied. After that each member of this self-appointed committee took a copy of the list, and the conspirators separated to “talk the matter up among the boys.” Those to whom they spoke on the subject were, without exception, utterly confounded by the magnitude of the enterprise, and loud in their praises of the courage that Enoch and Jones had exhibited the night before. They said so much about it that Lester became disgusted, and wished most heartily that he had gone into the recitation room himself, instead of allowing Jones to go.

“You seem to forget that I was one of those who saved the lives of the crew of the Mystery,” observed Lester, who could not hear that the two spies should receive all the credit. “Where would they have been if it hadn’t been for me? There wasn’t a boy among you who had the pluck to volunteer to go in the dory with Enoch.”

“What in the world has the wreck of the Mystery to do with stealing the dinner of the graduating class?” demanded one of the dozen or more boys to whom Lester talked in this way. “We know that you and Enoch showed courage that day, and saved us all from being sent down. We are much obliged to you, too, for proposing this thing, for we think we shall be able to get some sport out of it; but Enoch is the fellow to manage it. I, for one, have full confidence in him, but I won’t have anything to do with it unless he is allowed to take command.”

This was what all the boys said, and it made Lester very angry. More than once he told himself that the next time the crowd got hard up for amusement they could go to somebody else to help them out, for he’d be shot if he would do it. He even thought seriously of telling Colonel Mack all about it; and there is every reason to believe he would have done so, had it not been for the fact that he knew he would have to appear as the principal witness when the court-martial came off. As it was, he had to take his place in the ranks, so to speak, and look on and listen while others planned the campaign and issued the necessary orders.

We need not linger to unfold those plans or to repeat the orders, because it would take up too much time; and, besides, everything will be made clear as our story progresses. It will be enough to say that Enoch proved himself to be a long-headed commander, and that when the time for action arrived, everything moved off as smoothly as he could have desired. There was not a single hitch anywhere—but he and his companions didn’t eat the dinner.

We have said that class-day was always observed as a sort of holiday. By that we mean that all the students in the first class were granted leaves of absence for twenty-four hours, with permission to visit the city; that those who lived in Hamilton were allowed to go home for the same length of time; that the others who were worthy of them were granted passes, good “between gun and gun”—that is, between sunrise and sunset—and which permitted them to go as far as the village, and no farther; and that the academy was “garrisoned” only by the guard, and by those who, owing to some violation of the rules, had failed to obtain liberty. Enoch’s crowd numbered nearly forty boys, and, for a wonder, every one of them got a pass. The superintendent was surprised when he came to examine the different reports that were handed in to him, for some of this crowd were the laziest and most turbulent boys in the school; but he complimented them on the marked improvement in their conduct and standing, and said he hoped it would be lasting.

“What would the old fellow think if he knew as much as we do?” said Enoch, to his friend Jones. “He won’t hold us in so high esteem by this time to-morrow as he does now.”

“Perhaps there won’t be much of us left to esteem,” replied Jones, dolefully. “We’re playing a desperate game, Enoch, and I wish Brigham hadn’t thought of it.”

And Lester himself wished that Ross hadn’t thought of it. He had studied and worked with the rest, hoping that before the time for action arrived, something would happen to upset Enoch’s calculations; but every one of his plans worked smoothly, Lester had his pass in his pocket, and there was no backing out.

On the afternoon of the day immediately preceding the one that had been set for the banquet, four boys who lived in Hamilton and who belonged to the crowd, received permission to go home on a twenty-four hours’ visit. Before they went they listened to some very explicit instructions from Enoch and his lieutenants, who reminded them that they had a most important part to perform, and that the success of the enterprise depended solely upon their discretion. Things were all right so far, Enoch said, and if they carried out their orders to the very letter, the members of the crowd would eat that dinner in spite of all that could be done to prevent it.