"What's the meaning of this, I'd be pleased to know?" Dixon demanded of Marcy Gray and Dick, who were the first to greet him. "Where's our speech of welcome? Why doesn't the colonel pat us on the back and say: 'Well done, little boys?'" "This is the reason," answered Dick. "Shortly after I was relieved, a delegation from that Committee of Safety rode up and interviewed the colonel for half an hour." "Aha!" exclaimed Dixon. "We stepped on their toes, didn't we? Well, we suspected it from the first. Some of the fellows declare they'll not go another time, but I will. As long as I stay here I'm going to obey orders, I don't care what they are." "I don't think you will ever be called upon for like service again," said Marcy. "The colonel has had a lesson of some kind. He looks as though he had lost his best friend. Heigh-o!" he added, stretching his arms and yawning. "What's the next thing on the programme? Will Fort Sumter be reinforced?" Dixon couldn't say as to that, but there was one thing of which he was sure: This backing and filling on both sides couldn't last much longer, and the first thing they knew there would be an explosion of some sort, and it would come from Charleston harbor. The students were not disturbed again that night, and on the following day things passed off much as they usually did, only the colonel, to quote from Dixon, was cross and snappish, not having had time to get over pouting about the lesson he had received the night before. During the day it leaked out that Mr. Riley and his friends had talked to him very plainly, told him that it was absolutely necessary for the peace and safety of the town that the Union men should be driven out of it, and that the colonel's interference with the committee's plans was, to say the least, unfriendly to the cause of the South. It was also reported that the colonel had promised he would never do the like again. "That means destruction to the Union men," said Marcy, in a tone of contempt. "I believe I'll go home. I don't care to serve under a man who has no more pluck than the colonel seems to have." If he had started at once he might have saved himself some anxiety, and would certainly have carried away with him a better opinion of his cousin Rodney than he had two days later. CHAPTER XI. BUD'S MESSENGER IN TROUBLE. Although the hours from four until six in the afternoon were devoted to recreation, it was expected that those of the students who wished to visit friends in town would ask for a pass before attempting to leave the grounds; but we have seen that they didn't. There were some professional guard-runners among them, and on this particular afternoon they appeared in full force. "Come on, old fellow," Billings shouted to Marcy Gray, who was carrying a camp-chair toward a spreading maple that stood near the guard tent.