THE EJECTION OF THE NOISY RUFFIANS
The planter of Riverlawn was not a fighting character; he had always been one of the most peaceful of men. He had never raised a hand against one of his fellow-beings, and it required the stimulus of an occasion like the present to rouse a belligerent feeling in him, if the groundwork of any such emotion existed in his nature. It was hardly that, but rather a sense of his solemn duty, which he was called upon to perform, as a surgeon is required to amputate a limb to save life; and he was impelled to save the life of the Union.
Noah Lyon was not physically a large man, but one who weighed a hundred and a half; yet his frame was well knit, firmly compacted, and inured by hard labor from his boyhood. As he rose to his feet and marched down the middle aisle of the schoolroom, his face exhibited more strength than his form; for all the determination of his nature was concentrated in his eyes and the muscles of his countenance.
The fervid speech of the young orator had brought him to his bearings. Deck and Artie had been similarly affected; and with their fists clinched they followed the planter. Squire Truman leaped from the platform into the midst of them, as the dozen others sprang to their feet, some with their eyes flashing with indignation, and all of them with a fixed purpose not to submit to the outrage in which the ruffians were engaged.
When Mr. Lyon had proceeded as far as the middle of the room, one of the disturbers of the peace, whom the planter had spotted, rose to his feet and confronted him in the aisle. It was Buck Lagger, a pedler, who was one of the most virulent of the Secessionists, and who aspired to be a leader among the turbulent spirits of the county.
"What are you go'n' to do about it?" demanded he savagely.
"Are you a Union man?" asked Mr. Lyon with quiet determination.
"No, I'm not!" yelled the ruffian, who had the reputation in Barcreek of being a brute of the lowest order, with a whole volley of oaths.
"Then you were not invited here, and you will leave!" said the planter.
"This buildin' is public, and I have as much right here as you have!" answered Buck Lagger, with a coarse guffaw.
Noah Lyon did not wait for anything more, but grappled with the fellow as an eagle swoops down on his prey. Buck tried to get his right hand into his breast pocket, evidently to obtain a weapon of some kind; but his assailant understood his purpose, and crowded him over backwards upon one of the desks, choking him so hard that he soon lost all his pluck.
