big church bells four or five miles, and there hasn't one
of them said a word since those fires began. I noticed that from the
start."

Dixon, the tall Kentuckian, who was marching with his company toward
Barrington, also took note of the fact that the bells, which usually
made noise enough to arouse the planters for miles around when there was
a fire, were silent now, and he called attention to it. He also noticed
that the house that was burning in town belonged to a prominent and
outspoken Union man; that both the engines were disabled (at least the
foremen said they were); that the crowd around the house stood with
their hands in their pockets, making no effort to keep the flames from
spreading to the house of another Union man close by; and that Mr. Riley
and a few other members of the Committee of Safety, who appeared to be
full of business, but who, in reality, were doing just nothing at all,
looked surprised and perplexed when the students marched up and came to
a halt at the corner of the street. There was still another thing that
the observant Dixon noticed and commented upon, and that was, that the
colonel was not in command as he ought to have been. The colonel did not
think it would be policy to take too firm a stand until he had learned
whether his State was going to stay in the Union or go out of it; and so
he sent in command of the students a teacher who had not yet made up his
mind which side he favored. Dixon had always believed that he leaned
toward the Union; and when he marched back to the academy the next
morning about daylight, he was sure of it.

"I am surprised to see you here, Captain Wilson," said Mr. Riley, who
was the first man to meet him when he brought the students to a halt.

"And I am surprised to see a man of your calibre get as nervous and
excited over a little fire as you seem to be," replied the captain, in
significant tones. "If I may presume to ask the question, how does it
come that yon are on the ground so early when there are no alarm-bells
ringing? What is the reason those engines are not at work? There's water
enough."

"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 goi