"Who comes there?" cried the voice; and the question was followed by a sound that was suspiciously like the clicking of a gun-lock.
"It's us," replied Bud, who began to think he ought to say something.
"Halt, us!" commanded the voice. "Corporal of the guard number one!"
All of this was quite unintelligible to the two men, who could scarcely have been more bewildered and alarmed if they had found themselves confronted by one of those "white things" that Bud had described to his wife; and when they heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps on the road, without being able to see who or what it was that made the noise, they could stand it no longer, but faced about and ran for their lives.
"Halt!" shouted the voice, three times in quick succession; but the frightened men did not stop. A second later there was a flash and a roar behind them, and a musket ball whistled through the air and threw up a little cloud of dust a few yards further along the road. One of those would-be incendiaries came very near getting his exemption papers that night.
CHAPTER X.
THE CALL TO ARMS.
The suppressed excitement which was so apparent to Bud Goble when he made his second trip to Barrington, was not confined to the citizens. It extended even to the military academy, but everybody there knew what caused it, although they could not look far enough into the future to see what the result of it was going to be. It was brought about by the story Marcy Gray told his friend Graham when they met in the guard-tent after dinner. Dick's cheery laugh ran out loudly when Marcy spoke about that "underground railroad business," but he looked thoughtful and angry when he learned that Bud had made up his mind to whip him for it.
"Didn't I say that he and his kind would take advantage of this excitement to get somebody into trouble?" exclaimed Dick. "The members of that Committee of Safety are going to be sorry they ever thought of getting up such an organization when there wasn't the slightest excuse for it. I say bully for Elder Bowen; and I hope every one Bud interferes with will serve him the same way."
"Well, Marcy," said Ed Billings slowly. "I can't go your Union sentiments, and I do think you ought to be slapped for preaching them up the way you do; but I'll not stand by and see Bud Goble do it. Mind that. If he opens his head to you, knock him down and I'll help."