on,
and every one noticed that he seemed ill at ease. When his name was
mentioned, he turned about and left the tent very abruptly.

"He is so mad he dare not trust himself to speak," said Billings. "His
face is as white as a sheet."

"That underground railroad business isn't at the bottom of the matter at
all," continued Dixon. "That proclamation in the post-office suggested
an idea to some loon, who told Goble that this school needs looking
after. I don't pretend to deny it. I say that every disunionist in it
ought to be chucked out of the gate neck and heels; but it will take
more men than that Committee of Safety and their paid spies can muster
to do it."

These sentiments were received with a howl of derision from some and
enthusiastic cheers from the rest; but there was one point on which they
were united: The man, or body of men, who attempted violence toward any
of their number would surely suffer for it. There was one among them who
had not looked for this condition of affairs, who was utterly confounded
by it, and who would have given everything he possessed if he could have
undone a certain piece of mischief he had perpetrated in Barrington the
day before.

During the afternoon many of the students acted and felt as if they were
to be called upon to perform some duty outside of the usual routine of
school work. Dick Graham was not the only one among them who scouted the
idea of an outbreak, while others honestly believed that such a thing
was more than possible. It was even probable. There were a good many
Union men round about, who were quite as fearless as the secessionists
were, and who held to their opinions with as great tenacity, the negroes
outnumbered the whites more than five to one, and what was there to
hinder them from striking a blow for the freedom that would be sure to
come to them if the people of the North made up their minds that
secession ought to be resisted by force of arms? Might it not be
possible that the townspeople were justified, after all, in calling that
meeting; that they had some information that the boys knew nothing
about, and that the lives and property of some of Barrington's
"prominent and respected citizens" might really be in jeopardy? If that
was the case, and the students were ordered out to preserve order, which
side would they support? Would they hang together, or would they split
up into factions? Somehow the students did not like to dwell upon these
questions,