right where he and his friends made a mistake. They went to
the parade ground and looked on while the colonel read Rodney and a few
others a severe lecture, and Dick Graham was left free to carry out his
part of the programme. Then they went back to their dormitories fully
satisfied that if Rodney had hoped to gain anything by getting up that
fight, he had failed to accomplish his object. When Marcy opened his
door he was surprised to find Dick sitting at the table with a paper in
his hand.

"What are you doing here, you rebel?" he demanded.

"Rebel yourself," replied Dick. "You stand ready to go back on your
State and I don't. But what is the use of this nonsense? You and I
understand each other. Look at that."

"Dick, where did you get it?" exclaimed Marcy, when his visitor drew the
flag from under his coat.

"I found it on the colonel's bureau and took it and welcome," answered
Dick.

"When did you do it?"

"Just now."

"Where was the orderly?"

"He was at his post; but he didn't have anything to do with it, and will
be as surprised as anybody when he finds that the flag is gone. We got a
ladder and went in at the window."

"_We?_ Who?"

"I did. You don't expect me to tell you who held the ladder while I went
up, do you?"

"We knew that that fight was a put-up job, but of course we couldn't
imagine what it was got up for. If we had seen or heard anything to set
us on the right track, you never would have got your hands on that
flag."

"Don't you suppose we knew that?" demanded Dick. "Having no taste for a
knockdown and drag-out, we were rather sly about it. But what's the
difference? You know as well as I do that it was bound to come down
sooner or later, and perhaps it would have been lowered by some one who
would not have been as careful of it as I have been. Imagine, if you
can, what would have been done to it if the news had come that this
State had joined the Confederacy! There hasn't been an ugly finger laid
on it since I got it."

Marcy took a turn about the room and then faced his visitor and looked
at him in silence.

"I am sure I don't know what to make of you," he said, at length. "Which
side are you on? I don't believe you know yourself."

"Haven't I told you time and again that I'm neutral?" demanded Dick.
"You see Missouri--"

"You never saw two dogs fight in the street without wanting one or the
other of them to whip," interrupted Marcy. "There can't be such a thing
as a neutral