THE APPROACH OF THE RUFFIAN FORCES
If the negroes asked no questions, most of them were intelligent enough to interpret the preparations which had been made at Fort Bedford. The six boatmen who had remained half the night in the rear of the schoolhouse had had time enough to do some talking among the hands, though they had come in contact only with those who had been at work on the fort.
These men had listened to the tumult in the building and in the road, and through the open window near the boat had come to their ears the demand of Titus Lyon when admitted, and the reply of the meeting. They knew that Colonel Cosgrove, Colonel Belthorpe, and Squire Truman had taken an active part in the meeting, and they could understand for what purpose they had come to Riverlawn so late in the night.
The people on this plantation were doubtless better informed and more intelligent than upon most of the estates in this portion of the South, for they had always been treated with what other planters regarded as imprudent indulgence. In the time of Colonel Lyon, slavery had been a patriarchal institution, and the negroes regarded him as a father, guide, and friend rather than as a taskmaster.
Many of them had learned to read, and even carried their education several points farther. The planter had given them his illustrated papers, and others fell into their hands. Their usefulness increased with their intelligence; and to oblige his neighbors the colonel had occasionally sent his carpenters and masons to do jobs for them.
The more intelligent of them had kept their eyes and ears open to learn the "signs of the times" during the troubles which agitated the State; and there were those among them who were well informed in matters which were generally believed to be above their comprehension. They went about among the people of other plantations, and when they obtained any news in regard to the movements of either party, it was circulated among the whole of them.
Neither Noah Lyon nor Levi Bedford ever said anything about politics or the struggle between the contending parties for the mastery of the State; but the silence of the people indicated that they understood the situation. Though they were treated with what was considered extreme indulgence, and were entirely devoted to the planter and his family, the instinct of freedom doubtless existed in all of them.
In a short time about a dozen of the negroes had come to the fort in obedience to the order of the overseer. Half of them were mechanics who had been at work during the evening. They were collected in the building, and the white men present proceeded to interrogate them in regard to their qualifications.
"What is your name?" asked Colonel Belthorpe of the leader of the boat-crew.
"General, sar," replied he.
"You are a big fellow; did you ever fire a gun?" asked the planter.
"Yes, sar; Cunnel Lyon done send me often to shoot some ducks for de dinner."
"Are you a good shot?"
"De boys say I am," answered General modestly. "I done bring down tree quails out'n five on de wing, mars'r."
"Did you ever fire a rifle?"
"Yes, sar; Christmas time mars'r cunnel lend us his two rifles to shoot at a mark for a prize ob half a dollar; dis nigger won de prize," replied General, with a magnificent exhibition of ivory.
"Are you willing to fight for your master?" demanded Colonel Belthorpe sharply, as though he expected a negative response to the question.
"Yes, sar!" answered General with more energy than he had spoken before. "Ready to be killed for Mars'r Lyon; an' so's all de boys on de place."
"You will do," added the planter, as he handed him a breech-loader and a small package of ammunition. "Do you know how to use this piece?"
"Yes, sar; seen 'em before," replied the boatman, as he took the weapon and retired.
With the boys there were seven white men present, and each one of them had examined a servant in regard to his qualifications. The questions were similar, though not the same as those put by Colonel Belthorpe; and it appeared that all of them were more or less familiar with the use of firearms, for they were the best informed and most reliable hands on the estate. They were all provided with breech-loaders and cartridges. General and Dummy were sent with weapons to Rosebud and Mose at the bridge, and ordered to remain there; but they were not to fire upon the ruffians.
"Now we have a force of twenty-two men," said Colonel Belthorpe. "I don't know about these recruits with black faces, and I have my doubts about making soldiers of them. Fall in, and we will march up to the bridge."
All the white men were armed with revolvers as well as rifles. The men did not "fall in" in the military sense of the term, but simply followed their leader, as the experienced soldier, who had rendered most of his active service in fighting the Indians, was tacitly recognized to be.
"Don't you think we had better put out the lights in the fort, Colonel Belthorpe?" asked Levi.
"By no means. I have had fighting enough with cut-throat Indians to satisfy my tastes in that direction, and I am not anxious for any more of it," replied the planter. "Let the building remain lighted, and it will assure the ruffians that you are awake over here. If they will about wheel and go off, that will suit me better than a fight with them."
"Just my sentiments, Colonel," added Major Lyon.
"The creek is about fifty feet wide by the bridge," said Colonel Cosgrove. "It widens at its mouth to about a hundred. Is there any way by which the ruffians can get over at your boat-pier?"
"Without a boat there is no way to get across," replied Levi. "They must come across the bridge if they come at all."
"There they come!" exclaimed Major Lyon, as he pointed to the cross-roads where the creek road branched off from the others.
"They have provided themselves with lanterns and torches," said Levi. "We can see just what they are about."
As they came opposite the boat-pier the ruffians halted. They were not marching in any kind of order, but all of them were straggling along as though the Home Guard to which they belonged had not yet done any drilling.
"What have they stopped there for, Colonel Belthorpe?" asked Major Lyon.
"They can see your fort by this time, and the lights have attracted their attention," replied the military gentleman. "They can see that you are ready for them, and perhaps they will not deem it advisable to come any farther."
"I hope they will not," added the owner of Riverlawn.
The aggressive force remained a long time at this spot. In the stillness of the night the sounds which came up the creek indicated that a dispute was in progress in the ranks of the enemy. It looked as though the ruffians were divided among themselves in regard to the prudence of advancing any farther. If Titus Lyon was there, he could readily see that the stone ice-house had undergone some change. The brilliant light within it flashed out through the open door in the rear, and through the three embrasures in sight.
"Major Lyon, do those rascals know that you took possession of the military stores, or do they only guess at it?" asked Colonel Cosgrove.
"They know the arms they stored in a sink-hole cavern are gone, and they appeared at the meeting to know that I had caused their removal; but I have no idea how or where they obtained their information," replied the planter; and while they were waiting the approach of the ruffians, he gave a full account of the discovery and removal of the ammunition.
"They don't know that three extra white men are with you, and I don't think they would believe you would arm your servants, or that they would be good for anything if you did so," added Colonel Belthorpe. "Perhaps it would be a good idea to return to the fort and send a twelve-pound shot over the heads of that crowd."
"It would let them know that we have the cannon, if nothing more," said Colonel Cosgrove.
"You are a lawyer, Colonel; can't Captain Titus recover these arms by process of law?" inquired the other colonel.
"There is no law in this part of the State at the present time. Men have been murdered within a few miles of this spot, and no notice has been taken of the fact. Those arms were brought here for the use of the Home Guards, which is the same as saying that they are for the use of the Secessionists. The law won't touch the arms," replied the legal gentleman very deliberately.
"They have settled their dispute, whatever it was, and the ruffians are moving again," said Levi. "It is too late to send a twelve-pound shot over their heads, and if there is to be any fight, it will be at the bridge."
"You are right," replied Colonel Belthorpe, after a long look at the enemy; for as the road where they were was parallel to his line of vision, it was difficult to determine whether they were moving or not. "Let them come; and while they are doing so we will have a little drill of the forces."
He formed the six white men in one line, and the fifteen negroes in another, though some of the latter were only a shade or two darker than the former. Levi Bedford soon proved that he was familiar with the manual, and he was sent to drill the dark section of the army. But the exercise was confined to loading and firing. The men were drawn up in line across the bridge, and instructed as far as "shoulder arms," and then the drill officer explained how they were to conduct themselves.
"The ruffians are getting pretty near, Colonel," suggested Major Lyon.
"We are all ready for them," replied he.
The men were then placed at "Order arms," and permitted to watch the approach of the enemy. Their torches, which had probably been made in a birch grove on the other side of the river, and must have been occasionally renewed with material brought for the purpose, blazed brightly, and lighted up the road, so that they could be plainly seen.
"There are at least a hundred of them," said the officer in command.
"And some of them have muskets," added Colonel Cosgrove.
"It looks as though some one or more of us might be shot," continued Major Lyon. "If there is any man here, black or white, who wants to leave and find a safer place than this may be in a few minutes, he is at liberty to do so. I don't want any man to render unwilling service on my account; and you can make peace with that gang by giving me and my boys up to them."
"Never! Never! Never!" yelled every one of the servants.
"Mars'r Lyon foreber!" shouted General.
"Glory to God! We all die for Mars'r Lyon!" cried Dummy the preacher.
"Now all hands give three cheers!" interposed Colonel Belthorpe; and they were given as vigorously as on the deck of a man-of-war. "That will convince the enemy that we are wide awake, and don't mean to run away."
"I reckon that squad is just a little astonished about this time," said Levi.
For this reason, or some other, the enemy suddenly made a halt, and the tumult of many voices came up the road. If Captain Titus was in command of the enemy, his force was not reduced to anything like discipline. From the sounds there appeared to be many commanders, each of whom wanted to have his own way. The defenders of the mansion waited full a quarter of an hour before the tumult subsided, indicating that some point had been carried, though enough of the shouts of the stormy ruffians indicated that they were in favor of going ahead and making the attack. It was plain to the listeners that some of the gang had cooler heads, and knew what prudence meant.
Presently four men were seen marching up the road towards the bridge, the two at the flanks carrying flaming torches, as if to illuminate a white flag borne on a pole, which had possibly cost some member of the troop his white shirt. The two in the middle were evidently the officers, or ambassadors, of the ruffians. They came up to their end of the bridge, and halted there.