“Not by a jug full!” was the emphatic response. “I ain’t none of that kind. I’ll be shot like a dog before I’ll run. The Baker name shall never be disgraced by my desertin’. It’s more like Hal to do that; but don’t howl so. I’m kinder puttin’ on the tender, you know, ‘cause I’m goin’ away. I should be ugly as ever if I’s to stay to hum. So stop your snivelin’,” and having driven the last nail into a broken chair, Bill gathered up his bundle, and with the single remark, “Nuff said,” darted through the open door, and was off ere his mother fairly comprehended it. There was a great crowd out that morning to see the company off. Fathers, mothers, wives, and sisters,—those who had friends in the company and those who had none. The Mather carriage was there, and from its window Rose’s childish face looked out, now irradiated with smiles as its owner bowed to some acquaintance, and again shadowed with sympathy as the cries of some bereaved one were heard amid the throng. Widow Simms, too, was there, drawn thither by a desire to see if Isaac _did_ march with Charlie Warner, as she hoped he would, notwithstanding that he had told her he was probably too short. She didn’t believe that,—he was taller than he looked, and inasmuch as Charlie was the most aristocratic of the company, she did hope Isaac would go with him. So there she stood waiting, not far from Mrs. Baker, who had dried her eyes, and come for a last look at her boys. Onward the soldiers came, slowly, steadily onward, the regular tread of their feet and the measured beat of the drum making solemn music as they came, and sending a chill to many a heart; for ’twas no gala day, no Fourth of July, no old-fashioned general training, they were there to celebrate. Every drum-beat was a note of war, and they who kept time to it were going forth to battle. Onward, onward still they came, George Graham’s splendid figure towering above the rest, and eliciting more than one flattering compliment from the lookers on. There were John and Eli, side by side,—John eagerly scanning the female forms which lined the walk for a sight of last night’s bride, and Eli looking for his mother, if perchance she should be there. She was there, and what to John was better yet, she stood with her hand on _Susan’s_ shoulder, showing that thus early she was trying to mother her.