"Now, Rodney, take that back," said Lieutenant Percy, with most unbecoming familiarity. "You are the only military man in the company, and I don't see how we can get along without you." "I'll tell you what I'll do, Rodney," chimed in Captain Hubbard. "You take the position, and I will promise that you shall go out on a scout as often as you please." The Barrington boy's face relaxed into a broad grin. "Captain," said he, "what sort of an organization is this any way--a mob or a military company?" "Now, what is the use of your asking such a question as that?" demanded the captain, rather sharply. "Well, then, if it is a military company, I suppose you intend to be governed by military rules, do you not?" "Of course we do, if we have brains enough to find out what those rules are." "I have no fears on that score; and when you find out what those rules are, you will see that you have no business to let me go out on a scout as often as I please." "What's the reason I haven't?" exclaimed the captain. "I command the company, don't I?" "You certainly do." "And haven't I a right to do as I please?" "That depends upon circumstances. Do you intend to remain right here about home?" "Not by a jugful. We're going to belong to some part of the army, if we have to go clear up to Missouri to find a commander who will take us." "Then you will find that you can't do as you please. The minute that commander accepts you, he will swear you and all of us into the service." "After we have been sworn into the service of the State?" "Certainly." "I don't believe it," said Captain Hubbard, bluntly. "He wouldn't have any right to do it." The boy's words raised a chorus of dissent all along the line, and Lieutenant Odell said, as soon as he could make himself heard: "You are way off the track, Rodney. What did we secede for if it wasn't to prove the doctrine of State Rights? If we are going to give our liberty up to a new government, we might as well have stayed under the old." And all the Rangers uttered a hearty "That's so." "You'll see," replied Rodney, who was greatly amused by the look of astonishment his words had brought to the faces around him. "A general would look pretty accepting the services of a company he couldn't command, wouldn't he, now?" "But he could command us," said everybody in the line; and Captain Hubbard added: "I'd promise that we would obey him as promptly and readily as any of his regular troops." "But that wouldn't satisfy him. He'd want the power to make us obey him, or we might take it into our heads to leave him when things didn't go to suit, just as Randolph and his friends have left us. If we should try any little game like that in the face of the enemy, he might have the last one of us shot." "What do you think of the prospect, boys?" said the captain, pulling out his handkerchief and mopping his face with it. He was all in the dark and wanted somebody to suggest something.