Down-stairs all was quiet. The Guardsmen were sleeping. Through an open window of the officers’ quarters there came the measured tramp of the sentry on the flagged walk outside.
At midnight the sky was clear, the stars were shining, the street-lights across the river gleamed like blazing jewels in the darkness. And over the sleeping world hung still the portent of evil and the promise of strife.
At five o’clock on Sunday morning the call came. Word was received at the armory that a marching mob, three hundred strong, was approaching the outskirts of Fairweather. At five-thirty, in command of Lieutenant McCormack, Company E was on the plaza fronting the Barriscale mills. Hot coffee and biscuits had been served to the men before leaving the armory, and now, at ease, with arms stacked, sitting, standing, talking in groups, the Guardsmen awaited the coming of the mob.
It is not to be supposed that there had been no discussion among the enlisted men concerning the propriety and risk of being led into action by Lieutenant McCormack. Even after Sergeant Barriscale’s failure to have the men demand the temporary retirement of the first lieutenant, the subject would not down. There were those who felt, and not without reason, that it was taking too long a chance to permit an avowed sympathizer with the disorderly element in the ranks of labor to lead them on such an expedition as this. Barriscale, himself, was bitter in his continued denunciation of such a programme.
“The man should have had a sufficient sense of decency,” he declared to a little group that surrounded him on the pavement, “to have prevented him from taking this company out. I don’t know what he intends to do,” he added; “but if his orders, or his refusal to give orders, show that he intends to let this mob have its way and work its will, I, for one, will revolt. If the first lieutenant plays traitor and the second lieutenant’s afraid to take hold, I’ll assume command of the company myself; I’ve got a right to under the Articles of War, and I’ll arrest McCormack and have him punished for treason and sedition. I tell you, boys, the honor of this company and of the whole National Guard is at stake this morning, and I’ll stop at nothing to save it.”