Captain Sam | Page 3

that chosen by Jake Elliott for
his resting-place.
CHAPTER II.
GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK.
Sam Hardwicke had thrown himself down under a clump of bushes, as I have said, a little
apart from the rest of the boys. Before he went to sleep, however, his brother Tom, a lad
about twelve years of age, but rather large for his years, came and lay down by his side,
the two falling at once into conversation.
"What made you fire up so quick with Jake Elliott, Sam?" asked the younger boy.
"Because he is a bully who would give trouble if he dared. I didn't want to have a fight
with him and so I thought it best to take the first opportunity of teaching him the first
duty of a soldier,--obedience."
"But you might have reasoned with him, as you generally do with people."
"No I couldn't," replied Sam.
"Why not?" Tom asked.
"Because he isn't reasonable. He's the sort of person who needs a master to say 'do' and
'don't.' Reasoning is thrown away on some people."
"But you had good reasons, didn't you, for stopping here instead of going on further?"
asked Tom.
"Certainly. There's the Mackey house five miles ahead, and if we'd gone on we must have
stopped near it to night?"
"Well, what of that?"
"Jake Elliott would have pilfered something there."
"How do you know?" asked Tom in some surprise at his brother's positiveness.

"Because," Sam replied, "he tried to steal some eggs last night at Bungay's. I stopped him,
and that's why I choose to camp every night out of harm's way, and keep all of you within
strict limits. I don't mean to have people say we're a set of thieves. Besides, Jake Elliott
has meant to give trouble from the first, and I have only waited for a chance to put him
down. He isn't satisfied yet, but he's afraid to do anything but sneak. He'll try some trick
to get even with me pretty soon."
"Oh, Sam, you must look out then," cried Tom in alarm for his brother. "Why don't you
send him back home?"
"For two or three reasons. In the first place General Jackson needs all the volunteers he
can get."
"Well, what else?"
"That's enough, but there's another good reason. If I let him go away it would be saying
that I can't manage him, and that would be a sorry confession for a soldier to make. I can
manage him, and I will, too."
"But Sam, he'll do you some harm or other."
"Of course he will if he can, but that is a risk I have to take."
"Well, I'm going to sleep here by you, any how," said Tom.
"No you mustn't," replied the elder boy. "You must go over by the fire where the other
boys are, and sleep there."
"Why, Sam?"
"Well, in the first place, if I'm not a match in wits for Jake Elliott, I've no business to
continue captain, and I've no right to shirk any trial of skill that he may choose to make.
Besides you're my brother, and it will make the other boys think I'm partial if you stay
here with me. Go back there and sleep by the fire. I'll take care of myself."
"But Sam--" began Tom.
"You've seen me take care of myself in tighter places than any that he can put me in,
haven't you?" asked Sam. "There's the root fortress within ten feet of us. You haven't
forgotten it have you?"
"No," said Tom, rising to go, "and I don't think I shall forget it soon; but I don't like to let
my 'Big Brother' sleep here alone with Jake Elliott around."
"Never mind me, I tell you, but go to the boys and go to sleep. I'll take care of myself."
With that the two boys separated, Tom walking away to the fire, and Sam rolling himself
up in his blanket for a quiet sleep. He had already removed his boots, coat and hat, and

thrown them together in a pile, as he had done every night since the march began, partly
because he knew that it is always better to sleep with the limbs as free as possible from
pressure of any kind, and partly because he suffered a little from an old wound in the foot,
received about a year before in the Indian assault upon Fort Sinquefield, and found it
more comfortable, after walking all day, to remove his boots.
The camp grew quiet only by degrees. Boys have so many things to talk about that when
they are together they are pretty certain to talk a good while before going to sleep, and
especially so when they are lying in the open air, under the starlight, near