“That’s my opinion,” said another.

“And I, for one, wish I had kept out of this scrape,” said a third.

“So do I,” said the one who had first spoken.

“Oh, you begin to back down, do you, you cowards?” exclaimed Charles, who was taken completely by surprise by this sudden change of affairs. “I never give up till I am whipped.  If it hadn’t been for my lame hand, I would have knocked some of those fellows into cocked hats.  I’ll fix that Frank Nelson, the next time I catch him.”

“Why didn’t you do it to-night?” inquired one of the boys, sneeringly.

“I’ve got a lame hand, I tell you,” roared the bully; “and I don’t want you to speak to me in that way again; if you do, you and I will have a meeting.”

“That would be an unpleasant job for you, to say the least,” said one of the boys; “the most of us are heartily sick of your company, and we have been talking, for two or three days, of sending in our resignations.  Now, boys,” he continued, “this is as good an opportunity as we shall have; so those that won’t have any thing more to do with Regulating, say ‘I!’”

“I!  I!” burst from a score of throats.

“Now,” he resumed, turning to Charles, “good-by; and, if you ever wish to recruit another company, you need not call on any of us.”

So saying, he walked off, followed by nearly all the Regulators; those who remained were Frank’s enemies and rivals.

“Well, boys,” said Charles, as soon as the others had gone, “there are a few of us left, and we can annoy the fellows who think they are too good to associate with us in the worst way.  Let us adjourn to our barn, where we can talk the matter over.”

A few moments’ walk brought them to Mr. Morgan’s house, and, when they entered the long carriage-way that led up to the barn, Charles said,

“Now, boys, you stay here, and I’ll go in and get a light.”

He ran into the house, and soon reappeared with a lantern in each hand, and led the way toward the barn.  He unlocked the door, and he and his companions entered; and, after allowing them time to examine, to their satisfaction, the splendid equipage that had attracted so much attention the morning they arrived at the village, Charles proceeded to call the meeting to order.

“Now, boys,” said he, “we don’t intend to disband, do we?”

“No,” answered several.

“Then, the first thing for us to do is to change our name, for we don’t want to let those cowardly sneaks that deserted us to-night know any thing about us.  What shall we be called?”

Several names were proposed, but they did not suit Charles.  At length, one of the boys inquired,

“What name would you like?”

“I think that ‘Midnight Rangers’ would be a good name for us,” answered Charles.

“That’s a splendid name!”

“Now,” continued Charles, “we must change our plan of operations a little.  We must give up the idea of thrashing the Hillers for awhile, because there are not enough of us; but I should like it, if we could go to work and whip every one of those fellows that stuck up for Lee Powell to-night, especially Frank Nelson.”