Part 3 (2/2)
Charles, after hearing them through, exclaimed, ”I'd just like to catch one of those boys robbing our orchard or hen-roost. One or the of us would get a pummeling, sure as shooting.”
”Yes,” said one of the boys, ”but, you see, they do not go alone. If they did, it would be an easy matter to catch them. But they all go together, and half of them keep watch, and the rest bag the plunder; and they move around so still that even the dogs don't hear them.”
”I should think you fellows here in the village would take the matter into your own hands,” said Charles.
”What do you mean?” inquired his companions.
”Why don't you club together, and every time you see one of the Hillers, go to work and thrash him like blazes? I guess, after you had half-killed two or three of them, they would learn to let things alone.”
”I guess they would, too,” said one of the boys.
”Suppose we get up a company of fifteen or twenty fellows,” resumed Charles, ”and see how it works. I'll bet my eyes that, after we've whipped half a dozen of them, they won't dare to show their faces in the village again.”
”That's the way to do it,” said one of the boys. ”I'll join the company, for one.”
The others readily fell in with Charles's proposal, and they spent some time talking it over and telling what they intended to do when they could catch the Hillers, when one of the boys suddenly exclaimed,
”I think, after all, that we shall have some trouble in carrying out our plans. Although there are plenty of fellows in the village who would be glad to join the company, there are some who must not know any thing about it, or the fat will all be in the fire.”
”Who are they?” demanded Charles.
”Why, there are Frank Nelson, and George and Harry Butler, and Bill Johnson, and a dozen others, who could knock the whole thing into a c.o.c.ked hat, in less than no time.”
”Could they? I'd just like to see them try it on,” said Charles, with a confident air. ”They would have a nice time of it. How would they go to work?”
”I am afraid that, if they saw us going to whip the Hillers, they would interfere.”
”They would, eh? I'd like to see them undertake to hinder us. Can't twenty fellows whip a dozen?”
”I don't know. Every one calls Frank Nelson and his set the best boys in the village. They never fight if they can help it; but they are plaguy smart fellows, I tell you; and, if we once get them aroused, we shall have a warm time of it, I remember a little circ.u.mstance that happened last winter. We had a fort in the field behind the school-house, and one night we were out there, s...o...b..lling, and I saw Frank Nelson handle two of the largest boys in his cla.s.s. There were about a dozen boys in the fort--and they were the ones that always go with Frank--and all the rest of the school were against them. The fort stood on a little hill, and we were almost half an hour capturing it, and we wouldn't ever have taken it if the wall hadn't been broken down. We would get almost up to the fort, and they would rush out and drive us down again. At last we succeeded in getting to the top of the hill, and our boys began to tumble over the walls, and I hope I may be shot if they didn't throw us out as fast as we could get in, and--”
”Oh, I don't care any thing about that,” interrupted Charles, who could not bear to hear any one but himself praised. ”If I had been there, I would have run up and thrown _them_ out.”
”And you could have done it easy enough,” said one of the boys, who had for some time remained silent.
”Frank Nelson and his set are not such great fellows, after all.”
”Of course they ain't,” said the other. ”They feel big enough; but I guess, if we get this company we have spoken of started, and they undertake to interfere with us, we will take them down a peg or two.”
”That's the talk!” said Charles. ”I never let any one stop me when I have once made up my mind to do a thing. I would as soon knock Frank Nelson down as any body else.”
By this time the boat, which had been headed toward the sh.o.r.e, entered the creek, and Charles drew up to the wharf, and, after setting his companions ash.o.r.e, and directing them to speak to every one whom they thought would be willing to join the company, and to no one else, he drew down the sails, and pulled up the creek toward the place where he kept his boat.
A week pa.s.sed, and things went on swimmingly. Thirty boys had enrolled themselves as members of the Regulators, as the company was called, and Charles, who had been chosen captain, had carried out his plans so quietly, that he was confident that no one outside of the company knew of its existence. Their arrangements had all been completed, and the Regulators waited only for a favorable opportunity to carry their plans into execution.
Frank, during this time, had remained at home, working in his garden or shop, and knew nothing of what was going on.
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