Thus admonished, while much merriment prevailed among the officers at the notion of the rebel song being sung, Dicky cleared his throat and in the midst of a dead silence began to sing in his clear, sweet, boyish voice:—
’Twas on a dark and stormy night,
The wind and waves did roar;
Bold Barton then, with twenty men,
Went down upon the shore.
And in a whaleboat they set off
To Rhode Island fair,
To catch a redcoat general,
Who then resided there.[5]
As soon as Dicky began the song he had noticed that it seemed to create great amusement, and many sly looks were directed toward the general. When Barton’s name was mentioned the fun became contagious, and at the last line of the second stanza it became uncontrollable. Shouts and roars of laughter resounded, in which the general joined heartily, and it was some minutes before Dicky could proceed.