Henderson scowled, and whispered something to a little fellow just then passing his seat with a basket of candies and chewing gum for sale. A silver dollar slipped into the basket, and a few minutes later the candy boy delivered a second message to Baum, who had returned to his seat.
Now all eyes were watching Company B, which seemed in a fair way to win fresh laurels, as one manœuvre after another was swiftly and dexterously executed. There was no blundering Baum to spoil the shooting, and the captain of Company B, easy and self-possessed, was in no danger of dropping his sword or committing any other blunder.
Henderson’s watchful face darkened yet more as the minutes passed, and he cast uneasy glances toward the quarter where Baum now sat among a noisy group.
In one of the manœuvers the company approached quite close to the place where this group was sitting, and suddenly a score of voices shouted an order, quite drowning the voice of the captain as he gave an entirely different one. Only the men nearest to the captain understood his order. The others, confused by the unexpected call from the seats, hesitated, wavered, and obeyed the wrong order, and Company B’s chance for the prize was gone.
“Good, good!” hissed Henderson in Crawford’s ear. “Baum managed that beautifully. I can almost forgive him for his blunder now.”
“Did you tell him to do it?” asked Crawford.
“’Course I did. Didn’t I tell you I’m bound to have that banner by fair means or foul?” replied Henderson. “We’re ahead now, spite of Baum’s blunder,” he added, with his low, cruel laugh.
“Oh, look, look! Somebody’s pulled down their banner,” cried Freeman.
Sure enough, as Company B marched out with flushed and frowning faces, their beautiful new silk banner was suddenly discovered to be missing from the place where it had been raised. Who did it, or where it was, only Henderson, Baum and the candy boy knew; but late that night, the banner, soiled and rumpled, and looking as if it had been trailed in the dirt, was left on the doorsteps of the captain of Company B. The person who left it there rang the bell and disappeared before the door was opened.
A year before, Freeman would have been quick to condemn such mean and contemptible doings as these; but now he said nothing, as Henderson openly rejoiced over the discomfiture of Company B; and Crawford, though he said little, evidently saw nothing amiss in the methods employed.