These emissaries, who departed on the one o’clock train, were accompanied as far as the depot by another student, whose object in loitering about on the platform for five long hours was not made apparent, until the evening train from Hamilton thundered up to the station; then he walked up to the baggage-car, and some one on the inside handed him a letter addressed in a familiar hand to Enoch Williams. It must have been just what the student was waiting for, for as soon as he received it he jumped off the platform and set out post-haste for the academy. Enoch and a few of his trusted followers must have been expecting him, for they were the first boys he encountered after he passed the sentry at the gate.
“It’s from Endicott,” exclaimed Enoch, glancing at the writing on the envelope. “Fellows, this is what comes of having friends at court. If Endicott’s father were not an officer of the road, the baggage-master would not have troubled himself to bring this letter up to us. Now, let us see what those fellows have been doing since they went down to Hamilton. Some of you keep watch while I read.”
As the letter threw considerable light upon the plans of the conspirators, and contained some things the reader ought to know in order to fully comprehend what happened in the city the next day, we transcribe it entire. It ran as follows:
“Dear Enoch:
“Everything is working as smoothly as we could wish. Mr. Colson was very much surprised when I told him that we had decided to eat our dinner in Bordentown, and consequently should not want the hall, and so was Mr. Taylor, when we asked him if we could have the eatables at the transfer-depot in time for the afternoon train. But he didn’t hesitate to promise that everything should be there, and neither did he ask any disagreeable questions. We have seen the leader of the band, and told him that we want him to be at the depot to meet the lightning express instead of the regular mail, and he has promised to be on hand and to go to Bordentown with us. My father has placed his carriage at my disposal for to-morrow afternoon, and I have arranged with Sam (that’s the coachman’s name) to meet Blake and his committee at the depot, and to take them as far out into the country as he can before he lets them out. The horses are very fast, and if Sam puts them to their speed, he ought to be able to take them as far as Grove farm. If he does, it will take them forever to find their way back to town, for the roads twist and turn about so bewilderingly that even those who are well acquainted with the woods sometimes get lost there. By the time they get back we shall be on our way to Bordentown, and they will have no means of following us, for we shall take the last train. The best joke of the whole was, that nobody suspected us. We didn’t say that we were first-class boys—they took that for granted. We simply said that we were the committee that had been instructed to make new arrangements regarding the banquet. All the other things you spoke to me about have been attended to, and if you do your part as well as I have done mine, the dinner is ours as sure as you are a foot high. I send this by the baggage-master, as I promised.
“In great haste, yours,
“Endicott.”
“He’s a brick!” exclaimed Enoch, as he folded the letter and returned it to the envelope. “And, Brigham, you are another. No one but you would ever have thought of such a thing as this, and if I have any influence with the fellows, the toast of the evening shall be: ‘Lester Brigham—the student to whose fertile brain we are indebted for this evening’s enjoyment.’ Endicott shall give it, if no one objects. He’s the best speaker among us, and he will do it up brown.”
From this time forward the conspirators lived in a fever of excitement. There was but one thing to be feared now, and that was that Mr. Taylor or Mr. Colson might telegraph to the president of the first class, asking if the “committee” who had called that day had authority to make so radical a change in the programme; but they need not have troubled themselves about that. The gentlemen referred to had been informed by the secretary that if the class thought best to make any changes, they would be duly notified of the fact by a committee and not by letter, and so they supposed that everything was just as it should be.
The morning of the eventful day came at last, and shortly after breakfast the boys exchanged their fatigue suits for their dress uniforms, and began to leave the grounds—all except the members of the first class, who, as we have recorded, marched out in a body in the afternoon, in time to take the five o’clock train. Now more strategy on the part of the conspirators became necessary in order to rid themselves of the presence of those who were not in the secret. There were tickets to be purchased—Ross’s pocket-book came handy now—and then they were to hold themselves in readiness to board the one o’clock train; and, more than that, both of these maneuvers were to be accomplished secretly, or else, to quote from Jones, the fat would all be in the fire.