“I’m all right on that.”
“Are you willing to take the oath of allegiance, and swear to sustain the flag of your country?”
“Of course I am. I only followed the old man’s lead; but I have got enough of it. Do you think Captain Benson will take me into the company?”
“Perhaps he will.”
“Ask him—will you? You needn’t say I’m here, you know.”
“But what will your father say?”
“I don’t care what he says.”
Tom thought, if Fred didn’t care, he needn’t, and going aft, he found the captain, and proposed to him the question.
“Take him—yes. We’ll teach him loyalty and patriotism, and before his time is out, we will make him an abolitionist,” replied Captain Benson. “What will his father say?”
“His father doesn’t know anything about it. Fred ran away, and followed the company into the city.”