"I happened to be awake when the fire broke out, and that's the way I come to be here," answered Mr. Riley sharply. "And the reason those engines are not playing on the flames is because they can't do it with their valves out of order. Really, captain, this looks to me like an uprising."
"It's the way it looks to me, too. Attention."
"What are you going to do?"
"I am going to get my men in position to carry out my orders, which are to protect property," answered the captain. "I shall put a guard around the house of every Union man in town."
"Why, Captain," exclaimed Mr. Riley. "You don't pretend to say that—"
"I don't pretend to say anything but this," interrupted the captain. "When the houses of two Union men, situated more than a mile apart, get on fire at the same time, and no bells are rung, and the engines can't work because they are out of order, and a big crowd like this stands about without lifting a finger to save anything when all these things happen, it makes me suspect that there are firebugs around, and that they are after Union men and nobody else. At any rate I shall act on that suspicion. These muskets are loaded with ball, and if any one attempts to apply a match to a building in the presence of my guards, he'll get hurt."
"Three cheers for Captain Wilson," shouted some Union boys in the ranks.
"Silence!" commanded the captain. He was angry enough to put that boy under arrest, but not foolish enough to try to find out who he was. He knew by past experience that the students would not tell tales on one another.
The captain was as good as his word. Paying no attention to the protests of the different members of the committee who gathered about him, the details were quickly made, and so it came about that Dixon and five others, including a non-commissioned officer, found themselves guarding Mr. Bailey's store. Another and much larger squad was sent down the road at double time to see what they could do to assist Elder Bowen.
"Go up that by-path a piece, Dixon," said the corporal, as he stepped upon the porch that ran in front of old man Bailey's door. "Keep your eye peeled for fire-bugs, and if you see—"