A SURVEY OF THE SITUATION.

We enjoyed our supper very much, for hunger is the best sauce. If the same meal had been set before us in the refectory of the Institute, we should have deemed ourselves a much injured body of students, because there were neither cakes nor pastry, preserves nor relishes. But the coffee made us decidedly shaky in the nerves, as I have before hinted. We had it only in the morning at the academy, and then not half so strong as our cooks made it on the present occasion.

As the darkness began to gather, some of the ingenious ones set themselves at work to provide beds for the night, and various expedients were resorted to, with no mean results. One of our blankets was big enough to cover two students, and with the other the couple made a kind of shelter tent. The dry foliage of the pine trees, which carpeted the ground in the grove, formed a soft and comfortable bed, and there was no danger that any one would suffer, unless he was too lazy to provide himself with suitable accommodations. We were used to camping out, though we were generally supplied with straw to sleep upon; but the pine foliage was a good substitute.

By the time we had finished our suppers we were satisfied that Tommy’s forces must be aware of our presence in the vicinity. Briscoe had stationed a couple of our fellows near the ravine, where they could see all that transpired on High Bluff, with orders to report any unusual movement on the part of the enemy--for as such we now regarded the major’s forces, at least in a technical sense, though I am sure there was no real hatred between the parties. We were contending very much as we would have played a game of base ball, or football.

After supper Briscoe and I walked over to the sentinels’ post. A group on the other side were attentively surveying the ground in the vicinity of our camp. They did not speak so that we could hear them, but we were satisfied that they had discovered us. They seemed to be much annoyed and disturbed at the fact that we had halted so near them without making any demonstration to apprise them of our presence. Probably they suspected that we were up to some trick, and intended secretly, in the sombre shades of midnight, to assault their fortress, and carry it by storm.

“As they seem to be expecting something, I think we had better stir them up a little,” said the senior captain, in a low voice.

“How stir them up?”

“Why, make a feint at some point where we don’t intend to do anything--just for the fun of the thing,” laughed my companion.

“If we could only get over there, we could capture their camp in about two minutes and three quarters.”

“I don’t know about that. Sixty-five fellows, with guns and bayonets, would be more than a match for eighty-five without anything,” replied Briscoe.

“The bayonets don’t amount to much, nor the guns either, without powder and ball. A long pole, in our kind of warfare, is just as good as a fixed bayonet. I saw a pile of hoop-poles on the road, half a mile back. We could arm ourselves with them, and be just as formidable as though we had bayonets.”

“But Tommy got a little ahead of us when he took away our muskets.”

“That’s so; and I feel just a little cheap about it, though it was no great achievement on his part.”

“Still I should like to get even with him on this point.”

“So should I.”

“We ought to have gumption enough to get over a chasm thirty feet wide,” added Briscoe rubbing his head to stimulate his ideas.

“We could get over easily enough if we only had the material to work with. I don’t think the gully is so wide over by the road.”

“Perhaps not; but what could we do if it were not more than twenty, or even ten, feet wide?” asked the senior captain, anxiously; for he was ripe for any undertaking that would give us even a temporary advantage, or enable us to obtain our guns.

“Let us find a narrow place in the gully first; then we will see what can be done.”

We left the spot, and examined the gully nearly to the lake on the upper side of High Bluff. The narrowest place was at the side of the road where Tommy’s party had removed the bridge; but even here it was over twenty feet wide. However, it was not more than fifteen feet deep, the waters of the stream falling into the lake over a series of cascades. It was a noisy torrent in the gully, though there were plenty of rocks above the water to afford us a standing place if we could descend into the abyss. This was the most hopeful point for operations, and a suggestion of a plan by which the difficulty might be overcome dawned upon my mind; but, as we had nothing to work with, I did not mention the idea to my companion.

We continued our walk to the lake above the bluffs. Just above the inlet we found an inclined plane in the rocks leading down to the lake. Though nature had prepared the way for this descent, the hotel-keeper at Priam had done most of the work; for off the point of which High Bluff formed the extremity were the best fishing grounds on the lake. At the foot of the inclined plane, moored off in the lake, was a kind of raft, such as that upon which my friend Wolf had picked up Colonel Wimpleton, for the convenience of the fisherman. It was reached by a plank, about twenty-five feet long, covered with ledges to prevent the person who went down upon it from slipping.

“Here is just what we want,” I suggested, as Briscoe and I walked down the plank to the raft.

“What?”

“This plank.”

“To cross the ravine?”

“Yes.”

“Good!”

“We can cross that ravine just as easily as though it were not more than two feet wide,” I added, with enthusiasm; for I was quite anxious to make a reputation as an engineer, for that was the foundation of my great regard for my friend Wolf.

“I don’t see it!” laughed Briscoe. “You can get this plank up to the gully; but it will be another thing to put it across the chasm. Let me tell you, this is a pretty heavy piece of lumber.”

“I know that.”

“If you mean to stand it up one end, and then let it fall across the gully, I want to tell you in the beginning, that not enough of our fellows can take hold of it to raise it to a perpendicular,” said Briscoe, anticipating a difficulty.

“I don’t intend to do it in that way,” I answered, rather smartly, for I was not pleased to have my new fledged engineering skill disputed. “If you will leave the matter to me, I will give you my bond, in the penal sum of two cents, to put this plank across the bridge as soon as it is dark enough to cover the operation.”

“I appoint you engineer-in-chief of the army of the rebels,” replied Briscoe, with his usual good-nature. “But how are you going to do the job?”

“I have no doubt you will trump up plenty of objections to the method if I state it; therefore I would rather not do so.”

“Just as you please, Skotchley.”

“Don’t be offended. Of course I will tell you if you desire it.”

“No; I don’t care.”

“I will take the responsibility of the job.”

“All right.”

“But I want about a dozen of the stoutest of our fellows.”

“You shall have the whole crowd.”

“I don’t want them. They would be in my way.”

“But you will permit me to ask whether you think Tommy’s fellows will let you cross your bridge after you have laid it down,” continued Briscoe. “You must remember that the regular army, with guns and bayonets, is on one side, while you are on the other.”

“If I understand your purpose, all you wish to do to-night is to obtain our guns.”

“That’s all. When we go over to the election we will use the tree which Jed will fell for us. But while we are about it, and you have your bridge across the chasm, why not capture the bluff?”

“That would spoil all the fun. We want to step in about the time Tommy is holding the election, and cast our votes for a good and true man for major.”

“Precisely so; but if Jed should not come, or his plan should not work--”

“Hold on, Briscoe!”

“What’s the matter now?” demanded Briscoe, startled by my enthusiasm as a new idea took possession of me.

“We must regulate this matter a little.”

“How?”

“On the whole, I think it will be better to have the election come off in legal earnest.”

“Why don’t you say what you mean, Skotchley!” added the senior captain, impatient with me, as my ideas so far outreached my speech.

“I will. We must give Tommy men enough to let him have a quorum. We will pick out ten good fellows, true-blue, and send them over to-night--let them walk the plank. Of course they are not to vote for Tommy for major.”

“They can if they like,” added Briscoe, modestly.

“They will not. To-morrow noon, when the balloting has commenced, the rest of us will go over on the tree, and see that the election goes as it should.”

“Suppose the tree should not work to suit us?” suggested the prudent senior captain.

“Then we can throw this plank over again. But there will be no trouble about the tree--not a bit.”

“All right; I am satisfied.”

“I want you to make a demonstration, Briscoe, while we are laying down the plank.”

“I’m ready; what shall it be?”

“Anything you like.”

“As you are engineer, you must say what you will have done.”

“You can take this raft and work it over to the bluff, for I shall want one of the ropes with which it is moored, and make a feint of scaling the rocks. This will bring all of Tommy’s fellows to the spot, and I shall be permitted to work without interruption.”

“Well, I will do so. It is not necessary for me to remind you that this raft and this plank do not belong to us.”

“We will leave everything just as we find it, and make it all right with the hotel-keeper when we get to Priam.”

“I don’t like to meddle with private property.”

“Nor I; but it is one of the necessities of war.”

“Humph! Well, we will pay the damage, and recommend the hotel to all our friends. Mine host will be satisfied, I know.”

Having thus disposed of this difficult question, we walked back to the camp.