Captain Sam | Page 4

a pile of
blazing logs. They all stretched themselves out on the ground, weary with their day's
march, and determined to go at once to sleep, but somehow each one found something
that he wanted to say and so it was more than an hour before the camp was quite still.
Then every one slept except Jake Elliott. He lay quietly by a tree, and seemed to be
sleeping soundly enough, but in fact he was not even dozing. He was laying plans. He
had a grudge against Sam Hardwicke, as we know, and was very busily thinking what he
could do by way of revenge. He meant to do it at night, whatever it might be, because he
was afraid to attempt any thing openly, which would bring on a conflict with Sam, of
whom he was very heartily afraid. He was ready to do any thing that would annoy Sam,
however mean it might be, for he was a coward seeking revenge, and cowardice is so
mean a thing itself, that it always keeps the meanest kind of company in the breasts of
boys or men who harbor it. Boys are apt to make mistakes about cowardice, however, and
men too for that matter, confounding it with timidity and nervousness, and imagining that
the ability to face unknown danger boldly is courage. There could be no greater mistake
than this, and it is worth while to correct it. The bravest man I ever knew was so timid
that he shrunk from a shower bath and jumped like a girl if any one clapped hands
suddenly behind him. Cowardice is a matter of character. Brave men are they who face
danger coolly when it is their duty to do so, not because they do not fear danger but
because they will not run away from a duty. Cowards often go into danger boastfully and
without seeming to care a fig for it, merely because they are conscious of their own fault
and afraid that somebody will find it out. Cowards are men or women or boys, who lack
character, and a genuine coward is very sure to show his lack of moral character in other
ways than by shunning danger. They lie, because they fear to tell the truth, which is a
thing that requires a good deal of moral courage sometimes. They are apt to be revengeful,
too, because they resent other people's superiority to themselves, and are not strong
enough in manliness to be generous. They seek revenge for petty wrongs, real or
imaginary, in sly, sneaking, cowardly ways because--well because they are cowards. Jake
Elliott was a boy of this sort. He was always a bully, and people who imagined that
courage is best shown by fighting and blustering, thought Jake a very brave fellow. If
they could have known him somewhat better, they would have discovered that all his
fighting was done merely to conceal the fact that he was afraid to fight. He measured his
adversaries pretty accurately, and in ordinary circumstances he would have fought Sam,
when that young man talked to him as he did in the beginning of this story. There was
that in Sam's bearing, however, which made Jake afraid to resist the imperious will that
asserted itself more in the quiet tone than in the threatening words. He was Sam's full
equal physically, but he had quailed before him, and he could scarcely determine why. It
annoyed him sorely as he remembered the loud cheering of the boys. He chafed under the
consciousness of defeat, and dreaded, the hints he was sure to receive whenever he

should bully any of his companions, that he had a score still unsettled with Sam
Hardwicke. He knew that he was a coward, and that the other boys had found it out, and
he almost groaned as he lay there in the silence and darkness, meditating revenge.
A little after midnight he got up silently and crept along the river bank to the clump of
bushes where Sam lay soundly sleeping. His first impulse was to jump upon the sleeper
and fight him with an unfair advantage, but he was not yet free from the restraining
influence of Sam's eye and voice so recently brought to bear upon him.
No, he dared not attack Sam even with so great an advantage. He must injure him secretly
as he had determined to do.
Creeping along upon all-fours, he felt about for Sam's boots, and finding them at last, was
just about to move away with them when Sam turned over.
Jake sank down into the sand and listened, his heart beating and the sweat standing in
great drops on his forehead. Sam did not move again, however, but seemed still to sleep.
After waiting a