Brother Against Brother; Or, The War on the Border

"Then you mean I am drunk."

Both of his fists were clinched, and he was shaking one in the face of the planter, when the bay colt dashed in between them, Noah falling back before the menacing demonstration of Titus. Levi had dismounted at the end of the bridge, and seated himself in the arbor where he could still see the two men. When Titus shook his fist in the face of the planter, he leaped upon the colt as though he had been fifty pounds lighter, and galloped to the scene of the wordy contest.

"What do you want here?" demanded the visitor, with a very unnecessary expletive.

"What is it, Levi?" asked Noah.

"I didn't know but you might want me," replied the manager; but the demonstrative person was his employer's brother, and he refrained from using the strong language that came to his tongue's end.

"I don't want you for anything just now, Levi," replied the planter, sorry that there should have been a witness to the stormy interview with his brother; and he wondered if he had not been too plain-spoken, mild and dignified as he had been.

"What do you mean, you scoundrel, by stickin' your nose in where you're not wanted?" demanded Titus savagely, as he shook his fist, relieved from duty before the planter, in the direction of the overseer.

Levi wheeled his horse so that he crowded the angry man out of his place, and made him spring to keep out of the way of the fiery animal; but he made no reply to the abuse cast upon him. Noah nodded his head in the direction of the mansion, and the manager rode off, though it was evident to his employer that he was itching to lay hands on the turbulent visitor.

"I hate that villain!" gasped Titus.

"And he despises you as thoroughly as you hate him; so there is no love lost. But I think you had better conduct yourself a little more peaceably, Titus; for I do not like to have the people on the plantation see that there is any difficulty between us, for we are brothers, I wish you to remember. Perhaps we had better drop the subject where it is, for it is almost suppertime," said Noah with the most conciliatory tone and manner.

"Not jest yet," returned Titus warmly. "I said that valuation was a fraud, meant to cheat me out of my rightful due; and you told me I was drunk, which ain't no kind of an argument."

"I did not say that exactly; but if it was an argument for anything, it was that we should talk this matter over some time when you had not drunk anything."

"I drink something everyday; and I have a perfect right to do so."

"I don't dispute it."

"Dunk gave you all the niggers, and did not put them in the valuation. Wasn't that cheating me out of my share of the thirty thousand they would bring even in these shaky times?"

"I don't think it was. I repeat that the colonel had a perfect right, just as good a right as you have to drink whiskey, though I don't do so, to dispose of his property as he pleased," added Noah, looking down at the planks of the bridge, and remaining for a minute in deep thought.

"That ain't no argument!" blustered Titus. "The law gives a man's property to his brothers and sisters when he leaves no parents or children; and every honest and just man does the same thing."

"I did not mean to say anything to anybody about the servants on the place; but I feel obliged to speak to you about them so far as to tell the facts relating to them," said Noah when he had come to this conclusion.

"I cal'late you better speak out if you've got anything to say, or else pay me over fifteen thousand dollars for my share in the value of them niggers," replied Titus with a triumphant air, for he believed he had gained a point.

"When I was at Colonel Cosgrove's house on the day of our arrival, he handed me a letter, heavily sealed with red wax, from our deceased brother. This letter contained another. I have both of these letters in the safe in the library. Now, if you will go to the house with me, I will show you both of these letters," continued the planter, disregarding the tone and manner of his irate brother.

Titus was curious to know what the colonel had to say in defence of his conduct, and he assented to the visit to the library. Noah produced the two letters, handing the opened one to his brother, and showing the heavily sealed one to him but not permitting it to pass out of his hands. The malcontent read the opened one.

"Not to sell one of the niggers for five years!" he exclaimed when he had finished it. "That is another outrage! And you are not to open that other letter for the same time. Give it to me, Noah, and I will open it now!"

"It shall not be opened till the five years have expired," answered the planter firmly, as he returned both of the epistles to the safe and locked the door of it.

Titus was more violent than ever, for he had been defeated in his last and most promising stronghold, as he regarded it. He stormed like a madman, and kept it up for nearly an hour. He made so much noise that Mrs. Noah knocked at the door to learn what was the matter. At the same time she called them to supper; but Titus was so angry that he rushed out of the house, called for his team, and left with his wife at once.

THE SINK-CAVERN NEAR BAR CREEK

The supper at the mansion had waited till it was quite dark; and it was evident to Mrs. Noah that the brothers were engaged in important business, for they had been talking on the bridge all the afternoon, and Titus spoke so loud in the library that he could be heard all over the house, though he could not be understood. Something very exciting was passing between them; Mrs. Noah thought it was politics, but Mrs. Titus thought it was about "that story" she had repeated.

As the angry brother passed the door of the sitting-room he called his wife out, and bolted from the house. Noah followed, and rang the stable bell. Frank brought the team to the door; Titus pushed his suffering wife into it, and drove off without the formality of saying good-night. The planter ate his supper, and was as pleasant as usual, saying nothing of the business which had brought Titus to Riverlawn.

"It seems that story about the arms and ammunition has no truth at all in it," said Mrs. Noah.

"So Titus says," replied the husband.

"Meely was terribly excited about it, and said she ought not to have said a word about it. She begged me not to let any one in the house say anything about it to any one. Her husband abused her, and even struck her, for what she had done."

"I did not know but he would strike me this afternoon. I suppose the boys have had their supper," added Noah, looking over the table to their vacant places.

"No, they have not; I haven't seen anything of them since they went from dinner," answered Mrs. Lyon. "I wonder where they are?"

"They went up the creek together in one of the boats just after Titus came, and I haven't seen or heard anything of them since," said Noah. "I don't think they were going a-fishing. They have been gone about seven hours now, and it is time they were at home. Did you see anything of them, Levi?"

"I saw them rowing up the creek when I was riding up to the hill pasture; but I haven't seen them since," replied the overseer.

"I hope nothing has happened to them," continued Mrs. Lyon, looking quite anxious. "Perhaps the boat has been upset."

"I don't believe it did; but if it went over, both of the boys can swim like ducks," replied the planter.

The conversation in regard to the absentees was continued till the meal was finished, and all the party were very much troubled. Levi volunteered to ride up the creek road and look for them; and just as he was going to the stable, the absentees came into the house.

"Where in the world have you been, boys?" demanded Mrs. Lyon, delighted to find they were safe.

"We have been exploring the creek, and we have been a good ways up, as far as the rocky hills," replied Deck, as he seated himself at the table; and Diana went for the waffles she had kept hot for them.

"Did you catch any fish?" asked Levi.

"Not a fish; we did not put a line into the water."

They had no narrative to relate, or if they had they did not relate it, though they were questioned for some time, and they told what they had seen, or a portion of it.

"While you are here, boys, I want to tell you that your Aunt Amelia has been at the house all the afternoon," said Mrs. Lyon. "She came to take back that story she told me this morning in her own house about the arms and ammunition. She misunderstood your uncle, and there is not a word of truth in it. So you will understand, all of you, that not a word is to be said about it out of the house."

"Not a word of truth in it!" exclaimed Deck; and Artie dropped his hot waffle in astonishment, or under the influence of some other emotion.

"Your aunt says there are no arms hidden on the river, or anywhere else. You mustn't say a word about the matter, and I have cautioned all in the house not to whisper a sound of it," added Mrs. Lyon.

Deck looked at Artie, and Artie looked at Deck. A significant smile passed between them, but they said nothing. As soon as they had finished their supper they followed the planter into his library, which had been lighted before. It was an important conference which followed there, and it must be left in progress in order to return to the boat in which the boys were pursuing their adventure on the creek.

Artie had the floor on the boat, and he had just recalled the time when Noah had spoken to him about being out so late the night before. Deck remembered it very well, and also that his cousin had evaded an adequate explanation of his absence from the house when he ought to have been in bed.

"You never explained why you were out so late that night," said he.

"I wanted to look into the matter a little more before I said anything, for I didn't care to make a fool of myself," replied Artie.

"You have a habit of keeping your mouth shut pretty tight," said Deck with a smile.

"I don't believe in talking too much about things you don't understand, and I meant to have looked into the matter before this time, but somehow I haven't had the chance to do so," replied Artie, still pulling his oar. "I'm going to tell you about my night adventure now, and you can judge for yourself whether we are going on a wild-goose chase up the creek."

"All right; and I will keep my oar moving all the time, so that we shall be getting ahead while I listen," replied Deck.

"I was in the canoe, and I had gone farther up the creek than I had ever been before," Artie began. "You have been up the road that leads to Dripping Spring and the Mammouth Cave. It crosses the railroad about five miles before you get to the spring, and the creek flows within a quarter of a mile of this place."

"I remember the place very well; for Levi stopped his team there to let the girls get out and pick some flowers. I could see the creek from this spot," added Deck.

"Then you know the place. I had been up the creek three or four miles farther, and I was on my way home. I had been ashore just abreast of Dripping Spring, and I got interested in looking over a sink,—I believe that is what they call these holes in the ground down here,—and the sun went down before I thought how late it was getting. But I found the hole led into a cave; but it was too dark for me to explore it. I made a note of it, to bring a lantern up and survey the cavern when I had plenty of time to do so."

"That will be a good job for both of us some time," suggested Deck.

"I couldn't tell how far I was from home, but I knew it was a long distance, and I made tracks for the canoe as soon as I saw that it was getting dark. I hurried up till my arms ached so that I had to stop and rest. I made up my mind that I must take it moderately or I never should get home.

"While I was resting I saw three lights off to the south of me, and then I knew I was near that road. I could make out about half a dozen men or boys there, and I watched them for some time. I concluded that they were up to some mischief, and in my interest I forgot how late it was getting. I was possessed to know what iniquity was going on there, and I hauled the canoe up to the shore and made the painter fast to a bush. I landed, and made my way as near to the road as I dared to go. The ground was low, and covered with clumps of bushes, so I had no difficulty in hiding myself till I was within twenty feet of the party.

"I could hear every word they said; and the man who was bossing the job, whatever it was, satisfied me that he was Uncle Titus."

"Uncle Titus!" exclaimed Deck, ceasing to row in his astonishment.

"Not the least doubt of it; and more than this, I soon recognized the tones of Sandy and Orly; but I don't know who the other three were."

"But what were they doing?" asked Deck, absorbed in the narrative.

"You have stopped rowing, Deck, and we shall never get there at this rate."

The stroke oarsman turned his body so that he could change hands at the handle of the oar, and then resumed pulling.

"Well, this was an adventure; but you didn't tell me what they were doing," added Deck.

"I will tell you all about it, but don't stop rowing, or we shall not get home before midnight, and father will give us a lecture for being out late at night. The men were handling a lot of boxes. Some of them were long enough to hold coffins, and I wondered if they hadn't been killing Union men, and were getting rid of the bodies. Then they brought out a lot of haypoles or hand-barrows from the two big wagons in the road. I saw them put one of the boxes on the poles or barrow, and move towards the creek. I thought it was about time for me to be leaving, for I believed they would kill me if they caught me."

"They wouldn't have let you off with a whole skin, anyhow," said Deck. "Do you suppose the boxes contained bodies, Artie?"

"Hold on till I come to it, and I will tell you all about it," replied the narrator rather impatiently. "I wasn't safe where I was, and I crept back to the creek between the clumps of bushes without making a bit of noise on the soft ground. The box the first couple carried was heavy and the bushes were in their way, so that they could not get along very fast. As soon as I was out of hearing of the party, I ran with all my might."

"I don't blame you for being in a hurry, for if Uncle Titus had got hold of you he would have made you see more stars then were in the sky just then. I wonder if they had been killing Union men. The Seceshers have done that thing in this State. A Union man was murdered in his own house not far from here."

"Dry up, Deck, or I shall never get through with my story!" exclaimed Artie, who did not relish these repeated interruptions.

"Go on, Artie; I won't say another word," Deck promptly promised.

"I reached the creek, and cast off the canoe. I crossed over to the other side, and pulled down stream; for I knew that the two with the box could not be near the shore. I kept on towards home, but I was careful not to make any noise with my oars. Just below I saw a big flatboat, like the gundalow they used to have on the river to carry hay from the meadows. I drove the canoe into some bushes, and waited. The two men brought that long box to the shore, and loaded it into the flatboat, which was big enough to carry six cords of wood.

"The next load was brought by four men; and I could see by the way they handled it that it was very heavy. I stopped till they had brought down two more boxes, and then I thought it was time for me to be going. When the party had all left the shore I rowed along by the bushes that overhang the creek till I got round the bend. I didn't wait to see any more, but rowed as fast as I could; and when I got to the pier I was so tired I could hardly stand up. That is the end of the story, Deck, and you know as much about the affair as I do; and I will answer all of your questions as well as I can."

"You did not find out anything for certain?" added the listener, disappointed because his cousin had not ascertained what was in the boxes.

"I did not; but I have been able to guess at some things; and that is the privilege of a New England Yankee."

"Well, what do you guess was in those boxes?"

"I didn't guess on that question at the time of it; but I was satisfied that they concealed some sort of iniquity."

"What do you suppose they were putting them in the boat for?"

"Not to take them down the river, for they would have carried them to some place on its banks if they had wanted to do that. They wanted to take them up the creek, and this was the nearest point to it."

"What did they want to do with the boxes? Oh, I know! They were going to sink the bodies in the creek!" exclaimed Deck.

"That would have been a good enough guess a fortnight ago; but it isn't worth shucks now. I told you before that I could explain things better this afternoon than I could when I saw what the men were doing."

"How is that?" asked Deck with his mouth half open.

"The moment mother told that story from Aunt Amelia, I knew what was in the boxes; and they did not contain bodies, either."

"Oh, I see! They contained the arms and ammunition."

"A blind man could see that."

"Well, that was an adventure. You mean that they were going to put them in the cavern by the sink?"

"Precisely that, and nothing less; and now we are going up to the sink to see for ourselves what is in the boxes," replied Artie.

They had a long pull before them; but they reached the place by five o'clock, and explored the cavern. They found the boxes and two cannons with their carriages. They could not open the boxes for the want of any tools; but the labels assured them they contained muskets and revolvers. They hastened down the creek; but it was eight o'clock when they reached the mansion.

AROUSED TO THE SOLEMN DUTY OF THE HOUR

It was more than two hours after suppertime when Deck and Artie arrived. They were very tired and very hungry after their long pull up the creek; but they felt better after they had taken a hearty supper. Deck sought the first opportunity to detail the operations of the afternoon to his father.

"Your Uncle Titus has been here this afternoon, and I have had a long talk with him on the bridge; but his first business here was to disclaim any knowledge of the arms and ammunition concealed on the river," said Mr. Lyon, before the boys had an opportunity to open with the story of their adventure. "He says your Aunt Amelia understood him with her elbows, and it was a ridiculous story she told your mother without a word of truth in it."

"Without a word of truth in it," repeated Deck, who was more inclined than Artie to do the talking, though the latter was fluent enough of speech when the occasion required it.

The boys looked at each other; and they did something more than smile this time, for they laughed out loud. In view of the revelation they had to make, the affair became more exciting; but after the discovery they had made, they did not wonder that Titus had been so earnest in his purpose to contradict the statement their aunt had made.

"What are you laughing at, boys?" interposed their father. "This is a serious matter as your uncle looks upon it; and I suppose such a rumor circulated about the county might get him and his sons into trouble. The Unionists regard the Home Guards as precisely the same as Secessionists, and believe that they are armed, so far as they are armed, to help along the cause of the South."

"I should say that Uncle Titus might be a little shaken up about the story Aunt Amelia related," added Artie with a significant look at his cousin.

"I don't know but the Union people would mob him if they believed he had obtained arms for any Home Guards, especially for such ruffians as they say he has been gathering together for his company," said Mr. Lyon. "I have cautioned all who heard the story not to mention or hint at it in the strongest manner; for of course I don't want to get your uncle into trouble by repeating a false rumor."

"Suppose he gets himself into trouble?" suggested Deck. "He is an out-and-out Secesher, and he don't make any bones of saying so out loud. Sandy thinks they will break up the Union meeting at the schoolhouse to-morrow night."

"Titus says he has done his best to prevent anything of the kind being done," replied Mr. Lynn. "He thinks I should be mobbed and this house burned over our heads if he did not use his influence to prevent it. But your uncle believes what he wants to believe, and is certain a vast majority of the people of the county are Secessionists. I am very well satisfied that they are at least about equally divided. At any rate, the Secessionists are doing their best to overawe the Union people, and they might succeed to some extent if they could arm the villains they have enrolled."

"Then it is better not to let them be armed," suggested Deck, with a glance at his cousin.

"The story your mother told at dinner made it look as though they were to be provided with weapons and ammunition at once; but the statement is not true, and we appear to be safe for the present," said Mr. Lyon. "But where have you been all the afternoon, boys?"

"Deck will tell the story, father," replied Artie.

"You led off in this business, Artie, and I think you had better tell it," said Deck, though he was ready enough to relate the adventure.

"We will both tell it, then," added Artie. "I will begin and go as far as where you joined me this afternoon at the bridge, and you shall tell the rest of it."

"All right; fire away, Artie."

In accordance with this arrangement, the boys minutely narrated the events of the afternoon, to the great astonishment and indignation of Mr. Lyon. He occasionally interrupted his son to ask questions in regard to the boxes they had examined in the cavern. The boys described the cases, with the marks upon them, and the listener had no doubt they contained arms and ammunition. The two carriages for the field-pieces were the only portion of the warlike material not contained in boxes; and these were almost evidence enough to determine the character of the rest of the goods.

"Were the boxes all of the same kind?" asked the father, deeply interested, and not a little disturbed by the revelation of the evening.

"They were not the same," replied Deck, taking a paper from his pocket, on which he had written down a list of the cases. "The lid of one of the two in which the cannon were boxed up had been split off in part, so that we could see what was in it. Twelve cases were labelled 'Breech-loading Rifles,' and the rest of the lot were marked with the kind of ammunition they contained. The smallest of them had cannon-balls and grape in them."

"There isn't any doubt about the matter now," replied Mr. Lyon. "This means war; and I have no doubt they are to be used in this county by your uncle's cut-throats; for that is what they are according to what Colonel Cosgrove said to me the other day. This is bad business," and the planter gazed at the floor, his wrinkled brow indicating the deep thought in which he was engaged.

"Sandy says the company of Home Guards is about full, and I suppose they will not leave the arms and ammunition in the cavern for any great length of time," suggested Deck.

"Something must be done," said Mr. Lyon. "If that company get these weapons they will terrorize the whole county. There are some very strong Unionists in this vicinity. Colonel Cosgrove told me they had threatened to burn his house, though he is a very conservative man. He was in favor of neutrality; but he admits that the Home Guards in this county are about all Secessionists. Your Uncle Titus says I am looked upon as an abolitionist, and if it had not been for him they would have 'cleaned me out,' as he called it, before this time. It is time something was done," and the planter relapsed into a revery again.

The boys were silent. Fort Sumter had been bombarded, and its heroic garrison had marched out with the honors of war. The country was in a state of war. The call of the President for seventy-five thousand men had been made. Northern soldiers were marching South for the protection of Washington. Flags were flying, drums were beating, trumpets were blaring, and troops were organizing all over the loyal nation.

In Kentucky men were enlisting in both armies, though the majority of them clung to the flag of the Union, inspired by the traditions of the State. But large portions of it were subjected to a reign of terror. One party was struggling to carry the State out of the Union, and the other to keep it in the Union. The county in which Noah Lyon and his family were located was even more shaken by these discordant elements than most of the others; for it was not more than thirty miles from the southern boundary of the State.

"It almost breaks my heart to have my only living brother associated with, and even leading, these conspirators against the Union," Mr. Lyon resumed, as he wiped some tears from his eyes. "But when it comes to the defence of the old flag under which we have become the most enlightened and prosperous nation in the world, no true man can favor even his brother when he plots to ruin it. Something must be done!" he repeated with energy as he rose to his feet, and emphasized his remark with a vigorous stamp of his foot.

"What shall be done, father?" asked Deck, awed by the manner and the tears of his father; and he had never been so moved before in his life.

"We must defend the old flag, my boys! We must rally with those who are marching to the defence of the Union! The time for talking has gone by, and the time for action has come. I have not passed the military age, and I shall not shirk the plain duty of the citizen, which is to become a soldier," replied Mr. Lyon impressively.

"Do you mean to say that you shall join the army, father?" asked Deck.

"Certainly; what else can I do at a time like this?" replied the father. "And that is not all, my son; you and Artemas are now sixteen years old, nearly seventeen. You are both stout boys; and not only the sire, but the sons, must shoulder the musket and march to the battle-field."

"I am ready for one!" exclaimed Deck with enthusiasm.

"I am ready for the other!" added Artie quite as earnestly.

"For some time I have seen that this was what we must come to; but I have put off saying anything about it, for it is a solemn and even an awful thing to engage in the strife of civil war, brother against brother, the son against his father, and the father against his son."

"In our own family, we shall all be on the same side," added Deck.

"But your uncle and his two sons will be with the enemies of the Union. It is not of our choosing, and God will be with us while we do our duty to our country," said the patriot father, as he solemnly lifted his eyes upward. "Now, my sons, for you both call me father, and I have always tried to be the same to both of you"—

"And you always have been! And Aunt Ruth has been a mother to me and my sister Dorcas!" interposed Artie, as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "I shall never again call either of you anything but father or mother. I am ready to enlist whenever you say the word, father."

"You are honest and true, and that is the kind of man you will make, my son; and I can say the same of Dexter. You will both make good soldiers."

Both the father and the sons shed tears as they realized, as they never had before, the solemn duty which the peril of the Union imposed upon them; and they were inspired to do that duty to the last drop of their life-blood.

"There, boys! I did not intend to make a scene like this; but the finding of the arms and ammunition convinces me that your Uncle Titus and his villanous associates mean to make war upon loyal men in this county. When you join the ranks of the Union army, you will find them all in the columns of the enemy. You have done good service to our cause in the discovery and ferreting out of this conspiracy against the true men of this locality."

"It was all by accident that I found out about it," added Artie modestly.

"I hope you will forgive me for scolding at you for being out so late that night," said Mr. Lyon.

"You didn't scold me; you only gave me some good advice, and I hope I shall always remember it. But I did not know then what I had discovered, or where they were storing the arms."

"You did exceedingly well, whether you knew what you were doing or not. Now it is driven into my very soul that I ought not to let the enemy profit by obtaining those arms. I have made up my mind that it would be treason, or next door to it, for me to let Titus and his gang have all these weapons; and with the blessing of God they never shall have them!"

"That is the talk, father!" exclaimed Deck.

"So say we all of us!" Artie chimed in. "But what can we do?"

"Before the light of to-morrow morning breaks upon Riverlawn, we must move all those boxes to the plantation," replied Mr. Lyon; and he proceeded to discuss the means by which this purpose could be accomplished.

"We have teams enough to haul the whole of them over here at one load," said Deck, boiling over with enthusiasm.

"Keep cool, my son, for we must be very prudent in our movements. Do you know what became of the flatboat with which the conspirators moved the cases up to the cavern?"

"Artie thought of that; and we found the gundalow in a little inlet at the mouth of a brook, covered up with bushes."

"Then we may use that," replied the planter. "But I am in doubt about one thing which may bother us."

"What's that, father?" asked Deck, who could not think of any impediment to the carrying out of the plan announced by his father.

"I don't know that we can depend upon every person about the plantation. A single one opposed to our scheme could ruin it. He might go to the village and tell Titus, or some of his fellow-conspirators, what we were about, and interfere with us before we got back."

"No one here would do such a thing," protested Deck. "All the servants believe in you."

"I was thinking of Levi Bedford."

"Levi!" exclaimed both of the loyal boys together.

"I have never spoken a word to him about politics, or he to me. Absolutely all I know about him is that he is a Tennesseean. But we must settle this point on the instant; you may go and find him, Dexter, and ask him to come into the library."

Deck left the room. He found the overseer in the sitting-room with the family, and he returned with him a minute later.

THE NIGHT EXPEDITION IN THE MAGNOLIA

Levi Bedford walked into the library not a little excited with curiosity; for Titus Lyon had spent the whole afternoon on the bridge with the planter, who had been closeted with the two boys for some time. It was evident to him that something unusual had occurred. Noah was seated in a great arm-chair which usually faced his desk, but he had turned it around. The overseer walked up to this chair, and planted himself in front of it with a respectful look of inquiry on his round face.

"I am in doubt, Levi, and I have sent for you," Mr. Lyon began. "As you are aware, I have never talked politics with you, and have not known to which party you belong."

"I don't belong to any party," replied Levi with a very broad smile on his face. "My party is the plantation and the family. I look out for them, and I don't bother my head much about anything else."

"I suppose you have relatives in Tennessee?" suggested the planter.

"Second or third cousins very likely; but I don't know anything about them, and I don't lie awake nights thinking of them. My father died before I was twenty-one; I had no sisters, and my only brother went to California twenty years ago, and I haven't heard from him in ten years."

"I don't mean to meddle with your affairs, Levi, but the time has come when every man, must declare himself."

"I should think it had, Mr. Lyon; and this afternoon I thought I was going to have a chance to strike for your side of the house. I was ready to do it, for two or three times I thought you were in peril. I don't know what you were talking about, only it was something very stirring," replied Levi with his usual smile.

"I don't think I was in any danger, but I am very much obliged to you for looking out for me. Now things have come to such a pass that I must put a direct question to you: Are you a Union man or a Secessionist?"

"I am a Union man now from the crown of my foot to the sole of my head," laughed Levi. "But it wouldn't be anything more than honest and square, Major Lyon, for me to say that I haven't been so many months. Colonel Lyon was a Union man; but he didn't have it half as bad as you have it. Some of his neighbors thought he was too tender with his people; but he and Colonel Cosgrove were pretty well matched on politics."

"He is a strong Union man, though he is in favor of neutrality if it can be carried out, which is utterly impossible," added the planter.

"About the only thing in the row that set me to thinking and made me mad was that such a set of reckless scallawags have run the machine on the other side. There is hardly a man of any standing among them. I know that your brother, who is nothing but a Northern doughface, is one of the principal leaders among them, and—"

"We haven't any time to talk about this matter now, Levi," interposed Noah Lyon, looking at his watch. "I see that you are all right, for you are a Union man, and you do not approve the course of the violent party in this county, and the time has come for the boys and me to do something."

The planter proceeded in rather hurried speech to state the situation, and to describe the discovery the boys had made that afternoon. The overseer evidently had a very strong desire to express his mind in regard to Titus Lyon; but with great effort he restrained himself, and listened almost in silence to the narrative of the speaker.

"I am with you in this matter, Major Lyon, on its merits, though I like to be on your side; but these ruffians who are trying to make civil war in the State of Kentucky must be checked," he replied, when the planter had hurried through his statement. "I am sorry that brother of yours used any of the money the colonel left him to buy arms and ammunition to help drag the State out of the Union. I will work day and night to euchre him and the rest of them."

"You are just the right man in the right place, Levi Bedford!" exclaimed Mr. Lyon. "We have no time now to decide what we will do with these warlike implements, only to get possession of them. It is quarter-past nine now, and I have my plan for the beginning. While we are carrying it out we can settle what is to be done with the arms."

"I know just where that sink-hole and cavern are, and all we have to do to get there is to follow the creek," added the manager.

"The flatboat is near the place, and we can move the boxes in that, as the conspirators conveyed them from the road," replied Mr. Lyon. "But there are only four of us, two men and two boys. The cannons must weigh six or seven hundred pounds apiece, and we shall want more help."

"Well, we have help enough, and we can take a dozen of the people with us, if we want as many as that," added Levi. "I know something about these things, for when I kept stable in my State I used to belong to an artillery company."

"Can the negroes be trusted? We must keep our operations a profound secret."

"In this business you can trust them a great deal farther than you can a white man," said the overseer, as he took a piece of paper from the desk and wrote down the names of some of the hands. "How many do you want, Major Lyon?"

"Half a dozen; we can't accommodate more than that. Put in the boatmen, for there is a deal of boating to be done."

Levi revised his list and then handed it to the planter.

"General, Dummy, Rosebud, Woolly, Mose, Faraway," Mr. Lyon read from the list. "I should say you had picked out just the men we need. They are all used to the boats, and they are among the toughest and strongest hands on the place. Yon must put them under oath, if need be, to be as secret as death itself. I will leave all that to you. Now, have them at the lower boat pier just as soon as possible, and we will be there."

"I will have them there in fifteen minutes," replied Levi, as he hastened to execute his mission.

"Now, boys, go to the pier, and get the Magnolia in condition to go up the creek," continued Mr. Lyon.

"The Magnolia!" exclaimed Deck. "Why, she—"

"We have no time to argue any question, Dexter," interposed the father. "Take your overcoats; and you are to be as secret as the rest of us. Ask your mother to come into the library, but don't stop to talk, my son."

The boys left the room, and Mrs. Lyon immediately presented herself in the library.

"What in the world is going on here to-night, Noah?" asked the good woman. "Ever since the boys came in you have been closeted in here as if you were planning something."

"So we are, Ruth, for the boys made a great discovery on their trip up the creek," answered the planter hurriedly. "That story about the arms and ammunition which Titus and Amelia came down here to disclaim and deny was all as true as gospel, for the boys have found them."

In five minutes more Mr. Lyon told his wife all that it was necessary for her to know, and charged her to be secret and silent. She seemed to be alarmed; but he assured her that there was no danger in the enterprise in which they were to engage. It was absolutely necessary that the arms and munitions should be removed beyond the reach of the conspirators. He asked her to bring him three lanterns without letting any one see them, which she did at once. With these in his hands, the planter left the house without going into the sitting-room.

Deck and Artie reached the boat-pier without speaking a word, and they ran half the way. The Magnolia was moored out in the creek; and taking the canoe, which was used as her tender when the sailboat was in service, as it had not been since the death of the colonel, she was towed alongside the pier. They went to work baling her out, of which she was in great need, though she had been well cared for in her idleness by the boatmen of the place.

The Magnolia had not been built for a sailboat. Site was long and narrow for her length, about thirty feet, and was provided with rowlocks for six oars. Before they had finished baling her out the General and Dummy reached the wharf. They were great strapping negroes, fully six feet tall, and the weight of each could not have been much below two hundred pounds, though they were not of aldermanic build.

When they saw what the boys were doing,—for Levi had not given them even a hint as to the nature of the service in which they were to be employed,—they seized the buckets, and soon cleared the well of water. Levi was the next to put in an appearance, just as Deck was telling the two men to take the mast out of her, an order which the manager countermanded.

"We may want the mast and sail," interposed Levi; "for the wind is fresh from the south-west to-night, and I don't believe in doing any more work with the oars than is necessary."

"But we have no boatman, and none of us know how to manage the sail," argued Deck. "It would be a bad time to get upset, and we have no time to indulge in fooling, Levi."

"The mast and sail are not in the way in the boat. I am no boatman, and I never tried to handle the Magnolia, for the colonel was the only person on the place who ever learned the trick of doing that; but I often sailed in her up and down the river, and I used to think I could do it if I tried," replied the manager, as the other four negroes came upon the pier.

"Oh, well, if you can handle her with a sail, that's another thing," answered Deck, yielding the point.

"Here, Rosebud, unlock the boathouse, and bring out six oars, the biggest ones, and all the boathooks you can find," said Levi, as he looked the boat over.

No one said a word about the mission upon which they were to embark, leaving the planter to do all the talking when he came. General and Dummy were the biggest of the six men who had been selected; but the other four were stalwart fellows. Their names were rather odd, the family thought when they first heard them; but not one of them bore the one his mother had given him in his babyhood, for the colonel had rechristened the whole of them on the plantation to suit his own fancy.

Some circumstance, or something in their appearance, had doubtless suggested the names; but after they were given they clung to their owners as though they had been recorded in a church. The General was a quick-witted fellow, which inclined him to take the lead when anything was to be done. Woolly had a tremendous mop of hair on his head. Dummy was a preacher in the shanty which served as a church at the Big Bend; and perhaps because he was always studying his sermons, he never spoke a word unless the occasion required it; but Levi, who had heard him preach, said he could talk fast enough in his pulpit, and delivered a more sensible sermon than some white clergymen to whom he had listened.

Rosebud, like the overseer, always had a smile on his face, and could hardly do or say anything without laughing. Mose did not swear profanely, but "by Moses;" and everything was as true, as high, as big, as handsome, as "Moses in de bulrushes." "Faraway" had been a pet word with the one to whom the planter had given this name. They were all reliable servants, and were devoted to their past and present masters. No king, prince, or potentate had ever been as big a man in their estimation as the colonel; and they had transferred this homage to the "major," as they were inclined to call Mr. Lyon after they heard the overseer use this title.

Levi placed the men in the boat, each with his oar, and then headed it up the creek. The boys took their places in the stern-sheets, and the overseer handled the tiller lines. These arrangements were no sooner completed than the planter appeared, and took his place with the boys. The rowers were sitting with the oars upright; for the General, who was the stroke oarsman, had learned either from pictures in the illustrated papers their former master used to give the hands when he had done with them, or from some person more experienced than himself, some of the forms used in boating.

"Drop your oars!" said Levi, and they all fell into the water together.

"Ought to say 'let fall,' Mars'r Levi," added General.

"No talk, General. Now gather up, and pull away!" continued Levi.

General would have given him the proper form, "Give way!" but Levi was not in the humor to be instructed, and the rower said no more. The men pulled their oars with a will, and the implements bent under their vigorous stroke. The planter had run all the way from the mansion, and was out of breath, so he was silent for a time.

AT THE HEAD WATERS OF BAR CREEK

It was quite dark when the Magnolia went out from the pier, though it was a starlight night. The crew pulled very well, for the colonel had taken no little pride in the appearance of his boat on the river. Before his health was impaired he occasionally went to the county town by water; for it was on a branch of the river, and was full thirty miles distant by the winding streams.

The crew were powerful men, and had had plenty of practice in former years. But the present planter preferred the vehicles, drawn by fine horses, and the boys used the smaller boats, so the Magnolia had not been manned under the new order of things. Under the vigorous stroke of the negroes she soon passed under the bridge, and headed up the creek.

"We are fairly started, and this boat seems to be making at least five miles an hour," said the planter, when he had fully recovered his breath.

"More than that, I should say, Major Lyon. I don't believe the hands can keep up this gait all the way; but we shall get to the sink about midnight," replied Levi.

"I don't know that there is anything to apprehend in the way of danger," added Mr. Lyon.

"I don't know whether there is or not; but I put my revolver and a box of cartridges into my pocket."

"I never owned a pistol of any kind, and have hardly fired a gun since I was a boy; but in the storeroom out of the library I found some very nice weapons,—a double-barrelled rifle and a fowling-piece."

"The colonel had two revolvers; and they must be somewhere about the library. A few years ago some horse-thieves were in this vicinity, and we kept a watch on the place every night for a couple of weeks," said Levi.

"If Uncle Titus put five thousand dollars into these guns and pistols, I should think he would be apt to keep a watch over them," suggested Deck.

"A watch would not amount to anything unless he put as many as half a dozen men on it," answered Levi. "But I think he depends upon the secrecy of his movements and the safety of the cavern for the security of the arms. He put the things away in the night, and I don't believe anybody ever goes over the spring road in the darkness. If he put a watch anywhere he would station it on that road at the place where they shifted the boxes from the wagon to the flatboat. But I reckon we can take care of the watch if there is any there."

"But the road is about a quarter of a mile from the creek," said Deck.

"All of that; and we may pass the place without much of any noise, and no one on the road would be likely to hear us," replied Levi.

"I don't think the watch, if there is one, will give us any trouble, for if they hear us, we can keep out of their way; and I don't think they would have any boat in the creek," added the planter. "Your revolver will keep them at a proper distance when we reach the cavern."

"I found a shingling hatchet in the boathouse, and I brought that along with me," said Artie.

"Are you going to fight with that?" asked Deck.

"Not exactly that; but we couldn't open one of the boxes this afternoon for the want of a tool, and we can do so with this hatchet; then we shall have all the muskets, revolvers, and cartridges we can use," replied Artie.

"That is a good scheme, my boy," added Levi approvingly. "But I don't believe we shall have to do any fighting. If the conspirators have set a watch, it must be in the road; and I reckon we shall clean out the cavern before they can get there."

"We won't fight any battles before we get there," interposed the planter. "We have always been peaceable people, but I suppose we must get used to fighting, for we are going to have a terrible war; and I don't believe in Mr. Seward's prediction that it will all be over in a hundred days. I am ready to become a soldier, Levi, and so are the boys, in defence of the Union."

"I suppose I ought to do the same," added the overseer; "but I had not thought of it."

"You are fifty years old, and you will not be called upon to go into the army, Levi," replied Mr. Lyon.

"But I am ready to do my share of the fighting; and if I am over fifty, I reckon I am as tough and hearty as any of them that will shoulder a musket," said the overseer; and those near him could hear his chuckle, though they could not see his smile.

"I hope you will not go to the war, my friend," continued Mr. Lyon in a very serious tone. "I am only forty-two, and I believe it is not only my duty to send my boys into the army, but to go myself. I have thought a great deal of this subject within the last month, though I haven't said much. I believe a man's first duty is to his family, and I should hate to go off into the army, and leave my wife and the girls here; for I believe whoever stays in Barcreek will see some fighting here."

"And see some before a great while," added Levi. "Everything is boiling round here, and it will boil over before long. These Secession ruffians are not going to keep the peace much longer. They are itching to begin the work of driving the Union men into their cub pasture."

"That is my own opinion; and that is my only dread in joining the army. But I have comforted myself with the belief that Levi Bedford was over fifty, and he would remain on the plantation and take care of my family."

"I am very much obliged to you, Major Lyon, for the confidence you put in me, and I can assure you it shall not be abused," returned the manager, with more gravity in his tone and manner than usual. "If by staying here I can keep three good Union soldiers in the field, perhaps that will be doing my fair share of the work."

"We will talk this matter at another time, Levi; and I will only say I could not have found a man more to my mind to take charge of the plantation and the women-folks if I had hunted for him all over the nation."

"That's handsome, Major; and you may wager your life and all you have in the world that I will never go back on you or your family," protested the overseer warmly.

"We understand each other perfectly, Levi. But there is a more pressing question than that before the house just now," said Mr. Lyon, as he took Levi's offered hand, and gave it an earnest grasp. "What are we to do with all these arms and ammunition when we get them down to Riverlawn?"

"I haven't had much time to think of that; but I had an idea come across my head as I was running from the house down to the boat-pier. I passed by the ice-house, and it jumped into my noddle that it would make a good arsenal; but I haven't worked up the idea yet," replied the manager.

"That is a happy thought!" exclaimed the planter. "It never occurred to me. It is in just the right place; for my brother has given me warning that I was in danger of being mobbed as an abolitionist, and that nothing but his influence has prevented it from being done before."

"It is hard work for me to believe that doughface is a brother of yours and the late colonel; but if he dared to show his face in it, he would be the first man to get up such a demonstration. Excuse me, Major, if I am talking too plainly," said Levi, who had little patience with, or toleration for, Titus Lyon. "He may send his company of Home Guards over to clean out the mansion, but he won't come himself, for he is a poison snake."

"Perhaps you know my brother as he has developed himself in this locality better than I do, though he has even shown his fangs, under a mask, to me; but I shall keep the peace with him," replied Mr. Lyon very sadly.

"If he attempts anything of that sort, or any other border-ruffians do, I believe we can make them wish they had stayed at home," said Levi stoutly.

"We can make the ice-house into a fortress for the protection of the mansion," continued the planter. "It is near the creek, and commands the bridge and the road leading to it, which is the only practicable approach to the mansion. The swamp half a mile back of the house lies between the spring road and the creek, and extends all the way to the hills, not less than ten miles by water; and no body of men can get through that way."

Though he had had no military experience, Noah Lyon talked like an army engineer. He was a man of very decided general ability, and he readily comprehended the situation so far as his plantation was concerned. The ice-house was about twenty-five feet square. It was built of stone under the direction of Colonel Lyon, who had his own views, though they were not always scientific. To preserve the ice, which did not consist of great solid blocks as in New Hampshire, he believed that thick walls were necessary, and he had put two feet of solid masonry into them. The ice was generally not more than two inches thick in this latitude, though an exceptionally hard winter sometimes made it four. It was packed in solid, and then permitted to freeze by leaving the door and two windows open during the freezing weather.

"Stop rowing," said Levi, when they came to a bend five miles above the bridge. "Now rest yourselves for five minutes, boys."

"Don't need no rest, mars'r," said General, as he drew his arm over his forehead, from which the perspiration was dropping on the handle of his oar. "We done pulled dis boat twenty mile widout stoppin' once."

"A little rest will do you no harm, for you will be kept at work till morning," replied Levi.

"Whar we gwine, mars'r?" asked General.

"About five miles farther," replied the overseer evasively. "Have you brought your jackets or coats with you, boys?"

They had brought them. Levi had read of muffled oars, and he ordered each of the rowers to wind the garment not in use around the loom of his oar where it rested in the rowlock. They obeyed in silence, and no one asked any question; for this reason they would have made good sailors, for they must obey without asking the reason for the command. They had been well trained by the overseer.

"Now, not one of you must speak a loud word, or make any noise," continued Levi, when he had seen that the oars were all properly muffled. "You must excuse me, Major, if I request all in this part of the boat to keep still also; for we are coming to the nearest point to the spring road. If there is any one on watch there, we will fool him if we can."

"All right, Levi; we will keep as still as mice in a pantry."

"Pull away again, boys," he added, to the disgust of General, who wanted him to give his orders in "ship-shop" fashion.

The negroes obeyed the command just as well as though it had been "ship-shop;" and the Magnolia went ahead with renewed speed after the rest. A little later the overseer ordered them to pull more slowly and with less noise, for the oars could be heard in spite of the muffling. But they could not be heard at half the distance to the spring road, and no challenge came to them from that or any other direction.

"Now you may put your muscle into your oars, boys," said the overseer when the boat came to a bend which had carried it away farther from the road.

The men bent to their oars again, and the Magnolia flew over the dark water. Dark as it was, the pilot had no difficulty in keeping the boat in the middle of the creek. At the end of about an hour from the resting-place, Levi ordered the men to pull slowly again, for the boat was approaching its destination. The planter lighted a match and looked at his watch.

"Hold on, here, boys!" called the overseer. "We have gone too far, for here is the mouth of the brook, and I reckon the flatboat is under that heap of stuff;" and he pointed to a mound of branches by the shore of the inlet. "I reckon we want the lanterns now, Major Lyon. Did you light one of them?"

"No; I only looked at my watch. We are in good time, for it wants a quarter of twelve," replied the planter. "Get out the lanterns, boys, and we will light them."

Levi worked the boat into the little inlet, and alongside of the mound. The flatboat was found under it, precisely as Artie had described it in the library. Four of the hands were sent to the top of it, and ordered to clear away the branches, which they did by throwing them on shore and into the water. The gundalow was baled out, and then its painter was made fast to the stern of the Magnolia. Deck and Artie were sent ashore with one of the lanterns, and directed to find the sink.

The Magnolia towed the flatboat down the creek till Deck hailed her from the landing-place where they had gone ashore in the afternoon. By a little after midnight the gundalow was moored at a convenient point for loading it.

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE ARMS

The three lanterns were lighted, and Levi Bedford lost not a moment in making the preparations for loading the boxes into the flatboat. The sink-hole was a tunnel in the ground, at the bottom of which could be heard the gurgling of waters. The overseer said the brook which flowed into the creek where they had found the gundalow had its source in this place, though it made a considerable circuit before it reached its outlet.

On the side of the inverted cone nearest to the creek there was an opening which led into the cavern, the bottom of which was at least twenty feet above the water, whose ripple they could hear. The descent was gradual, both in the tunnel and in the cavern; and with lanterns in their hands Deck and Artie led the way down, for they had made themselves familiar with the subterranean chamber in the afternoon, and it was years since Levi had been there.

Mr. Lyon followed his son, while the overseer, with a coil of small line on his arm, which he had taken from the boathouse, brought up the rear. The party were taking a survey of the entrance in order to determine the best way to move the cases. It looked as though the water had flowed through the cavern at some remote period of time, probably rising from the sink-hole below, for the limestone at the floor was worn tolerably smooth. Doubtless the extinct stream had found a new outlet, lowering the level of the water so that it had ceased to flow through the cave.

The boxes were piled up just as they had been found in the afternoon. The roof of the cavern was very irregular, and in some places it was not more than five feet above the floor, while in others it was from eight to ten. The arms were deposited in a recess about twenty feet from the entrance. When the boys visited the sink-hole they had found the opening of the cave partly filled up with branches of trees and other rubbish; but they had removed these obstructions, which formed only a very weak attempt to conceal the depository of the arms.

Levi studied the interior of the cavern and the situation of the cases, attended by the planter. The lanterns were sufficient to light it so that they had no difficulty in seeing to work. The apartment began to wind about just below them, and all was gloom and darkness in that direction.

"It is about twenty feet to the opening," said Levi, as he measured the distance with his eye. "The roof is not more than five feet high half the way; and, if their skulls are not harder than the limestone, General and Dummy will be likely to stave a hole in them."

"The rest of the hands are not so tall," suggested Mr. Lyon.

"I brought this rope with me without knowing that it would be of any use to us; but I find that it is just the thing we want," continued the overseer as he uncoiled the line. "Now, boys, all we will ask you to do is to hold the lanterns; but you must not go to sleep and let them fall on the stone floor."

"No danger of that," laughed Deck. "But we can work in the low place without smashing our heads."

"I am glad there is no hard work for you, boys, for you must be tired after pulling a boat twenty miles this afternoon," added Mr. Lyon.

"I am not very tired, and I can do my share of the work," replied Artie.

"So can I," added Deck.

"But you can do the most good by holding the lights," replied Levi. "One of you stand down here; and the other, with two of the lanterns, near the opening."

The boys followed this direction, Deck placing himself at the entrance, where he could light a part of the cavern and the tunnel. The overseer uncoiled his rope, and with the help of the planter lifted one of the boxes down to the floor. He then made fast the rope to it with a slip-noose, the knot on the under side, so as to carry the case over any obstructions.

Walking up to the entrance, uncoiling the line as he proceeded, he passed out of the cavern into the tunnel. Calling General and Dummy from the place where they had been told to wait, he stationed them near the door, and then carried the line, which was not less than seventy-five feet in length, to the shore of the creek.

"Now, Rosebud, and the rest of you, take hold of this rope, and when the word comes up to you from General, haul up the box which is made fast to the other end of it," continued Levi. "As soon as you get it up here, unhitch the line, and throw the end down to General. As soon as you have done that, load the case into the boat, then haul up another, and do the same thing over again."

"Gunnymunks!" exclaimed the laughing negro. "Whar all de boxes come from?"

"None of your business, Rosebud; mind your work, and don't ask questions," returned the manager, as he descended to the entrance to the cavern.

"W'at we gwine to do, Mars'r Bedford?" asked General.

"You are going to pull and haul; and you can begin now," replied Levi. "Take hold of that line, and draw that box up here. Pull steady, so as not to break it."

The two powerful negroes manned the rope, and dragged the case up to the opening without any difficulty, and without doing it any great injury. It was placed so that it could be readily hauled out of the sink.

"Above there!" called the overseer. "Now haul steady on the rope! Ease it out of the opening, General."

The two big men crowded it around the corner, and then it went up to the ground above without any obstruction or delay. The line was detached from the box, and thrown down to the entrance, General passing it down to the pile of boxes. Another had been prepared for the rope, and the planter made fast to it. Levi had gone up to superintend the loading of the box, and arranged a couple of planks he found in the boat, so that this part of the work could be conveniently done. He made Rosebud the "boss" for the time being, and then went down into the cavern to assist his employer.

"It won't take long to do the job at this rate," said Mr. Lyon when the overseer joined him. "Your plan of doing the work makes an easy thing of it."

"I could not tell how it was to be done till I saw the situation of things here; but we shall be back to Riverlawn before daylight," replied Levi, as they lifted down the third of the boxes.

When the method of moving the cases to the boat had been adopted, and had been found to work so well, the task was practically accomplished. The ease and celerity with which they mounted to the upper regions astonished and delighted the planter and the boys, and they were filled with admiration at the skill displayed by Levi Bedford in the management of the business. He was accustomed to working the hands, and knew what each of them was good for; and no other person could have done so well.

The work proceeded with increased rapidity as the men became used to the operations. In less than an hour all but the two cases containing the cannon, which Levi said were twelve-pounders, had been removed. The "Seceshers" had evidently had a great deal of difficulty in handling them; for they had stove one of the cases in pieces, and the other was hardly in condition to hold the heavy piece. Levi made his rope fast to the cascabel, or but-end of the gun, and the word was passed for the men above to come down to the entrance.

The six negroes made easy work of hauling it up to the opening, while the overseer and the planter directed it with levers, split from the broken case, so as to prevent it from receiving any injury. The six men were then sent above the tunnel, and the gun was drawn up. Loading it into the boat was a more difficult matter; and the planter and the overseer were considering how it was to be done, when General interrupted them.

"Go 'way dar, niggers!" exclaimed General, waving his hand for the others to get out of the way. "Cotch hold ob de end ob de shooter, Dummy, and we uns will tote it in de boat!"

The big preacher seized the end of the piece at the vent end, and General did the same with the muzzle. They lifted the gun from the ground, though with a strain which brought out some grunts from them, and slowly marched to the boat with their burden. Levi ordered two more of the men to take hold with them, at the trunnions, and sent the other two into the boat, who assisted as they could obtain a hold on the load. It was safely deposited in the bottom of the craft.

The overseer opened the other case with the hatchet Artie had brought, and broke up the boards of which it was constructed. It was put into the boat in the same manner as the other. The water was deep enough in the creek for the boat, and Levi gave his attention next to the trimming of the craft, while he sent some of the hands to bring up the pieces of board left in the cavern; but the cargo needed but little adjusting, and the party were ready to return to Riverlawn.

"When your precious brother visits that cavern next time, he will be likely to wonder what has become of his arms and ammunition," said Levi, wiping the perspiration from his brow. "Now, boys, go down into that hole again, and see that we have left nothing there, for I don't want Captain Titus to find anything to let him know who has done this job for him."

While they were gone upon this mission, the overseer placed the Magnolia ahead of the flatboat, in readiness to tow it down the creek. The boys returned, and the hatchet was the only thing which had been left. To their astonishment they found that Levi had shaken out the sail of the Magnolia, and they had their doubts about his ability to manage it.

"I hope you won't tip the sailboat over, Levi," said Deck, as he stepped on board of her, followed by Artie.

"If I do I shall not spill you out, either of you; for I want you to take charge of the flatboat, with two of the hands," replied the overseer. "I shall keep four men in the Magnolia to row, and I think the sail will help us along a good deal."

"I should like to change that plan a little, Levi," interposed Mr. Lyon. "The boys and myself can take care of the flatboat, and you can have all the men at the oars."

"Just as you say, Major Lyon, and perhaps that will be the best scheme. I was thinking that you and the boys might sleep part of the way down," answered the overseer. "The wind is blowing pretty hard from the south-west, and I reckon we shall get some rain before a great many hours. The sail ought to help us a big piece."

The planter and the boys armed themselves with the long oars of the flatboat, which had been driven into the muddy bottom of the creek to hold her in place at the landing, and they were ready to keep her off the shore in going around a sharp bend. Mr. Lyon placed his between the pins in the stem to steer with.

With their oars in hand the six rowers were in their places, and Levi gave the word to shove off. When the men had pulled a short distance, the skipper, a position which the overseer had assumed, hauled in the sheet, and made it fast at the cleat for the purpose. The sail filled with a vengeance as a sharp flaw struck it, and the Magnolia forged ahead with a dart, dragging her tow after her. As the creek widened the sail strained, and the Magnolia seemed to be struggling to get away from the gundalow astern of her.

As she proceeded on her course down the stream, she increased her speed, and appeared to make nothing of hauling the tow after her. The motion produced by the sail bothered the rowers, who were not used to this situation. Some of them "caught crabs," and the oars of all of them were lifted and thrown back by the water that rushed past them. They made such bad work of it that Levi ordered them to unship their oars.

The Magnolia was making something like six miles an hour, and would have made ten without the tow. He steered her so that she carried the gundalow safely around the bends of the stream; and the planter had little to do, the boys nothing. Deck and Artie stretched themselves on the boxes, and were soon fast asleep; for they were worn out with the exertion and excitement of the day and night.

The bends in the stream near the spring road perplexed the skipper at first; but his excellent common-sense helped him out, and he hauled in his sheet so as to bring the boat up closer to the wind. Above the most troublesome bend at this point, the general course of the creek was west north-west. He let off the sheet, and the Magnolia flew faster than ever.

When he came to the bridge by the mansion, he waked the negroes, who had all fallen asleep, to take down the mast, so that he could pass under it, for he had already lowered the sail. He ran the boat close to the bank off the ice-house, and the negroes secured it and the gundalow.

"Dexter, Artemas!" shouted the planter. "Wake up! The cruise is ended."