CHAPTER VIII.
SIGNING THE PAPERS.
Thomas went to sleep at last, and, worn out by the fatigue and excitement of the day, he slept long and soundly.

His mother did not call him till eight o'clock, and it was nine before he reached the store of his employer, where the recital of the adventure of the preceding night proved to be a sufficient excuse for his non-appearance at the usual hour.
In the course of the week Captain Benson had procured the necessary authority to raise a company for three years or for the war.

When he exhibited his papers, he found twenty persons ready to put down their names.

A recruiting office was opened at the store, and every day added to the list of brave and self-denying men who were ready to go forward and fight the battles of liberty and union.

The excitement in Pinchbrook was fanned by the news which each day brought of the zeal and madness of the traitors.
Thomas had made up his mind, even before his mother had been surprised into giving her consent, that he should go to the war.