Brother Against Brother Part 21

"Then you have had trouble over there?" asked the overseer.

"Yes; some of the ruffians tried to break up the meeting, and we put them out without any ceremony."

"Good!" exclaimed Levi heartily. "I feel as though I were an inch taller. I was afraid our friends would let the ruffians bully you."

"Buck Lagger and about half a dozen others took places in the schoolhouse, and began to yell while Squire Truman was making his speech. He is a very smart young man, an eloquent orator, and full of vim. When he proposed to put the disturbers out, we went in with him and did it. The boys faced the music, and stood up to it like veteran policemen," said Major Lyon.

"Good, boys! I knew you would do it," added Levi.

"But why is the fort lighted up so late in the evening, Levi?" asked the planter.

"I have had a dozen hands at work there, all the carpenters and masons included, and we have the building about ready for business," replied the overseer. "The fact of it is, I am taking a more serious view of the state of things than you appear to be doing, and I thought I would have things ready for whatever comes, and as soon as it comes."

"I am glad you have done so; and I should have worked with you if I had not had to attend the meeting," added the major. "The situation looks decidedly serious to-night, and my eyes have been opened wide enough to see it."

The boatmen had been ordered by the planter to take all the boats out of the water; and while they were doing so the major informed the overseer more fully in regard to the meeting, especially of the demand for the restoration of the military supplies, and that he and the boys should be given up to the mob.

"I didn't think Captain t.i.tus would show himself in the meeting," said Levi, as they walked up to the fort. "That Buck Lagger is one of the biggest villains that goes unhung; and hanging would do him good. I should say that the ball had opened."

The hands in the old ice-house were all hard at work, and it at once appeared to the planter that a great deal of labor had been done in the building during his absence. The cases had all been opened, the arms had been removed from them, and arranged conveniently about the interior.

The two twelve-pounders had been mounted on their carriages, and the pieces were pointed out at the two front embrasures, from which they could be readily removed to those at the ends of the structure.

Two large chandeliers of three burners each had been removed from the drawing-room of the mansion, and were suspended from the roof; but these were for temporary use while the work was in progress. The ammunition had been arranged for the present in the boxes outside of the building.

Major Lyon and the boys had hardly taken a hasty survey of the premises in their changed aspect before the noise of carriage wheels was heard on the road leading from the bridge to the fort by the side of the creek.

The vehicle was drawn by two horses, and was approaching at a rapid rate.

"Who can that be?" asked Levi with a troubled expression on his round face.

"It may be my brother coming to demand the arms," replied Noah Lyon, as he took one of the muskets from the wall. "Probably he has a load of his supporters with him if it is he."

"I think we are all ready for them," added the overseer; and he took a gun, and handed one to each of the boys. "I think we had better go out and meet them, for we don't care to have them see what we have been doing here;" and he led the way hastily up the road.

His employer and the boys followed him, and soon confronted the occupants of the wagon.

"Halt!" called Levi in a very decided tone, as he placed himself in front of the team; and the driver reined in his horses. "What is your business here?"

"Good-evening, Levi," came from the party in the wagon; and the challenger promptly recognized the voice of Colonel Cosgrove. "I wish to see Major Lyon at once."

"Here I am, Colonel; but I did not expect to see you again so soon,"

replied the planter, hastening to the carriage. "But drive on, and we will see you at Fort Bedford."

"Fort Bedford!" exclaimed the Kentuckian; and he told his coachman to drive on.

"This is Fort Bedford you see ahead of you; it is named after Levi, for he originated the idea. To what am I indebted for this unexpected visit to Riverlawn?" answered the planter.

"To the fact that we consider you in great danger, Major, and we thought you would be in pressing need of a.s.sistance from your friends even this very night."

"We are here to stand by you, Major," said one on the back seat of the wagon, who proved to be Colonel Belthorpe.

"And to show that we can fight as well as talk," added Squire Truman, who was seated at his side.

"I am very grateful to you for coming to my a.s.sistance, for you have all proved this evening that talking is not your only strength," said the planter, as he walked along at the side of the wagon.

"I see you are all armed and ready for business," continued Colonel Cosgrove.

"When I heard the sound of your vehicle on the bridge, I suspected that it might be my deluded brother and his supporters coming over here to execute the threat he made at the meeting."

"No; after we got away from the ruffians, we talked the matter over,"

replied Colonel Cosgrove. "Buck Lagger demanded that the major and his cubs should be given up to them when they did not find you and the boys in the column. Then they swore that they would have you. I talked over the situation with our friends here, and we concluded that the ruffians would be over here before morning to capture their victims, and burn your mansion. We decided to come here for this reason,--to warn you of your danger, and help you beat them off if they came."

"I am very much obliged to you; but you will find everything in readiness for their reception," replied Major Lyon, as they reached the fort.

"You are lighted up here as though you were going to have a ball instead of a fight," suggested Colonel Belthorpe.

"There are plenty of b.a.l.l.s in the fort, but they are all twelve-pounders," returned the major as the party alighted. "Levi has been at work here while we were at the meeting, and he will explain everything to you better than I can."

The trio of visitors entered the building, and were astonished at the nature and extent of the preparations to defend the mansion and its occupants from a hostile demonstration. Levi stated what he had done, and pointed out everything in detail.

"You think the ruffians are coming over here to-night, do you, Colonel Cosgrove?" asked the planter.

"I think they are on their way here now," replied the Kentuckian.

"Is there any other way they can get to your house than over that bridge?" asked Colonel Belthorpe, who was the only military man in the party who had seen real service, though Levi had been in the militia.

"There is no other way," replied Levi, when his employer nodded to him.

"No mob could get through the swamp back of the mansion in the daytime, to say nothing of doing it in the night. The bridge is the only approach; and, if worse comes to worst, we can cut that away."

"You are in a very strong position, and I don't believe it will be necessary to cut away the bridge," added the military gentleman. "They can only cross the creek in boats."

"Our boats are all taken out of the water."

"With those twelve-pounders you can beat off a regiment. You have everything for the defence except soldiers," added the authority of the party.

"Perhaps we can find them when they are needed," said Major Lyon.

The lawyer understood, but the planter did not. It was a delicate subject, and it could not be considered in that presence. The former realized this fact, and suggested that something ought to be done to give them notice of the coming of the hostile ruffians.

"That's so," added Colonel Belthorpe. "I think you had better station the two boys, who have proved that they have pluck enough for any duty, where they can give us early notice of the approach of the enemy."

"We shall want the boys here, and a couple of negroes will do for that duty just as well," replied Levi.

"All right," answered the military gentleman, who made no objection to the employment of the servants for this duty. "Give each of them a revolver, and tell them to fire three shots if any force approaches."

Rosebud and Mose were detailed for service at the bridge; and perhaps this was the first time that negroes had ever been armed on the plantation. They were proud of the position a.s.signed to them, and departed on the run, promising to be as faithful as white men could be.

"Where are you going to find your soldiers when you want them, Major Lyon?" inquired Colonel Belthorpe. "You hinted that you knew where to look for them."

"I think we had better not discuss that subject just now," interposed the lawyer, as he looked around him at the negroes, who had finished all the work given them to do, and were listening with their ears wide open to all that was said.