"The country is gone, gone, gone," said Judge Adams, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I reckon not, Judge," said Colonel Dare, "the people will have something to say about this insult to the flag. They will wipe out the disgrace by sweeping those scoundrels into the sea." The Colonel usually looked on the bright side of things. He recalled the trainings of other days, when his regiment paraded on the green and had a sham-fight. He wished that he were once more in command; he would march to Charleston, burn the city, and sow it with salt. "The question is, whether a sovereign State has not a right to secede if she chooses," said Mr. Funk,--for he and Philip were the only persons in New Hope who were not sorrowful over the intelligence. Mr. Funk was a native of Virginia, and had much to say about the superiority of Southern gentlemen over all other men,--how noble and chivalric they were. "I am glad that the President has called for seventy-five thousand men to crush the vipers," said the Colonel. "He can't do it. It won't be constitutional. You can't coerce a sovereign State," said Mr. Funk. "We will do it. Let me tell you, Mr. Funk, that this is a government of the people,--the whole people,--and that the old flag which has been stricken from the walls of Sumter shall go up there, if it takes a million of men to put it there!" "You can't do it. One Southerner can whip five Yankees any day," said Philip. Colonel Dare took no notice of what Philip said. And he was too much depressed by the news to enter into an argument with Mr. Funk upon the right of a State to secede from the Union. One by one the people went to their homes, meditating upon what they had heard, and wondering what next would happen. They could not work; they could only think of the terrible event.