e height of his
shoulders.

"Halt!" he shouted. "Colonel, this is too plain a case, as you see. If
you will not help our friends who are in difficulty, we will. If we will
break ranks, will you send the first company, under Judson's lead, to
bring Rodney and Dick to the academy?"

"I will," replied the colonel, who saw that if he didn't agree to the
proposition, the boys would go without being sent.

"Very good, sir," said Dixon; while the most of the rebels looked
disappointed. "That is all we ask. Forward, column right, march. Fours,
left, halt, right dress, front, order arms!"

This brought the boys back into the armory, in line, and in readiness to
hear what the colonel had to say to them; but the latter was in no humor
for making a speech. He could not praise the students for what they had
done, and he was afraid to find fault with them, because there was an
expression on their faces which said as plainly as words that the
rebellion was not yet subdued, and that they were ready to go on with it
if the colonel did not do as he promised without any unnecessary delay.
This was something new in the history of the Barrington Military
Institute. It was the first time the students had ever taken the law
into their own hands, and they had showed the colonel that he could not
carry water on both shoulders without running the risk of spilling some
of it.

"I shall close the school and send you to your homes the first thing in
the morning," sputtered the commandant, jamming his sword into its
scabbard, as if to say that he had no further use for it. "This is a
state of affairs to which I will not submit."

"And in the meantime, sir, permit me to remind you that my cousin is in
the hands of a ruffian who has threatened to beat him, if certain
demands he has made are not complied with," said Marcy, who was
impatient to be off.

The colonel bit his lip, glared savagely at Marcy for an instant, said a
few hurried words to Captain Wilson, and left the armory. The first
thing the officer of the guard did was to remove his red sash and hand
it to another teacher--an action which all the boys in line greeted with
hearty cheers; and his second move was to march the first company out of
line, and order the others to break ranks. This looked like business.
Captain Wilson was going in command, and that meant that Rodney and his
companion in trouble would be found and released before the company
returned. But would the captain pe