Tom of the Raiders | Page 4

knowing any more about it than that?"
"More than anything else in the world. Do you think he will let me go, Bert? Tell him that I'm not afraid--that I can be trusted to carry out orders. You know I can do it, don't you, Bert?"
"Yes, I know you can do it. And I thought that you'd probably want to do it. That's why I disobeyed orders and told you. I wanted to give you the chance to volunteer."
"I wonder if the Captain'll just laugh and say that I'm a raw recruit."
"The Captain isn't that kind of man," answered Bert. "He doesn't laugh at a fellow just because he wants to do something. And about being a raw recruit.... It's my opinion that he'd rather send a recruit, if he's a good man, than a trained soldier. Trained soldiers are too scarce. He was willing to let me go because I volunteered months ago for any expedition that was to be sent out. When the call came for a man from each company, he called me into his tent, and just told me that I was going. Of course, a man doesn't have to go. It's for volunteers only. You know what it might mean if you got caught?"
"That we'd be held as spies. And perhaps...?"
"Yes."
They were silent for a moment.
"Will you ask the Captain now?" demanded Tom.
"You go on up to his tent and ask him if he'll come down here for a minute," said Bert. "You're absolutely positive that you want to go? You wouldn't rather have me wait until tomorrow while you think it over?"
"No! Ask him now, before he decides on someone else!"
Tom clapped his cousin on the shoulder, hurried out of the tent and up the company street.
CHAPTER TWO
THE RAIDERS START
"Come with me," said Captain Moffat, as he emerged from Bert Brewster's tent. Tom had been waiting outside, while Bert and the Captain were talking. He had recognized several men from Cleveland in the company and had tried to carry on a conversation with them. But conversation was impossible. His mind was too full of hopes and plans to recall the news from home. Now, as he walked up the company street, he wondered what the Captain was thinking. Would he be allowed to take Bert's place? He hazarded a glance at the Captain's face, but he could find no answering expression there--always the same stern mask, from which black eyes flashed. Tom could feel his heart pounding as they entered the Captain's tent.
"Sit down," said Captain Moffet, pointing to a box. He called his messenger. "I don't want to be disturbed for a few minutes."
"Very good, sir," answered the messenger. He stationed himself a few yards in front.
"It strikes me," the Captain said, as he sat in a folding chair directly before Tom, "that you are entirely too young to be sent out on such an expedition as this. But I like to know that you volunteer for it. It gives me a comfortable feeling to have men in my company who are always ready for anything that comes up, who are perpetual volunteers for the dangerous jobs."
Tom felt his heart sink. Then he wasn't to be allowed to go! This was simply a nice way of telling him that he couldn't!
"But, Captain," he said explosively, "I'd rather do this than anything else on earth. I am young--I'll admit that--but that'll make me all the more valuable. If it comes to carrying messages, I can run for miles without stopping. Why, I can move faster and fight harder just because I am young! Please give me the chance!"
The Captain looked at him narrowly. "You really want to go, don't you?"
"Yes!" Tom almost shouted.
"All right," said the Captain, rising from his chair. "You are going." Tom wanted to thank him, but he was speechless. "You will hold yourself in readiness for orders." The Captain had become the quiet, stern military man again. "You will let it be known that you are here to visit your cousin, and when you leave camp you will say that you are returning home."
"Yes, sir."
"In the meantime, provide yourself with some rough clothes at Shelbyville, and some heavy shoes. I will provide you with a revolver. That will be all now."
"Yes, sir."
Tom hurried back to his cousin's tent in a daze.
The next afternoon at the general store in Shelbyville he bought a rough suit, and a heavy pair of shoes. "Just wrap the suit up," he told the clerk, "I'll be in for it tomorrow, or the next day. I'll wear the shoes." He tramped back to Murfreesboro, displayed his pass to the Sentry, and went to Bert's tent.
"The doctor has been in again," Bert told him. "He says that my ankle will be well in a week or so."
"Good!" exclaimed