When they came to assist Brightly to his feet they found that he had fainted. They carried him to Mrs. Silsbee's rooms, and after a little time he returned to consciousness. He was badly bruised, and his wrist and shoulder were sprained. Beyond that, he had sustained no bodily injury; but the shock to his nerves, already weak and disordered, had completely prostrated him. That night a fever came on, and the next day he was delirious.
When the boys marched into the schoolroom on the following evening, they all wore very sober faces. The events of the past twenty-four hours had been so dramatic, so tragic, that the impressions left by them on these young minds were little less than terrible. The lads were frightened, humbled, submissive; the rebellious spirit was utterly broken.
Colonel Silsbee saw this in their faces that night as he looked down on them from the desk; his sympathy grew strong for them, and he laid down his book and spoke to them.
"I had not thought," he said, "to speak to you of the occurrences of the past few days until some later period, when the excitement attending them should have died out, and we could talk of them calmly and without prejudice; but the developments of the last twenty-four hours seem to make it fitting that something should be said to you to-night. I trust that the climax of the evil has been reached and passed. Indeed, I know on looking into your faces, that this is so. I cannot doubt that you realize that the painful events of the past three days have been the result of the folly of your own conduct. I speak to those of you who have been engaged in rebellion."
"You thought you knew better than we did what was best for you. In carrying out that idea you took a fatiguing journey down the river; you narrowly escaped drowning in crossing the Hudson; and had it not been for the kindness of a stranger to all of you save one, you would have been shelterless and hungry in the storm and night. Your return home was a journey, of the sufferings of which I need not speak to you. Its accomplishment was made possible only by the energetic effort and forceful conduct of one of your own number.
"That was your holiday. Now what are the results? Broken studies, physical ailments, nervous exhaustion, ruined clothing, officers reduced to ranks, half of the school on perpetual delinquency. These are some of them, but not the most serious.