“Now look at you!” said Ned, when they were once more alone. “You have paved the way for the neatest kind of a fuss. Did you notice what Mr. Louden said about sending soldiers out here?”
“I did; but when he tries it I think he’ll find he has not been hired to take the command of the Department of the Gulf out of the hands of General Banks. If Banks is anything like the generals I have served under he’ll not take suggestions from anybody, much less a civilian. I told the truth when I hinted that that cotton might have been protected by citizens, for that is what Lambert and his gang are.”
“But Louden thought you meant planters,” urged Ned.
“I can’t help what he thought; and I noticed, too, that he suspected me of shielding the bushwhackers, because I would not tell who they were. Oh, I know we shall see fun before we hear the last of that cotton, but we’ll hold fast to it as long as we can.”
The boys rode rapidly while they talked, and in a few minutes turned off the road and plunged into the tangled recesses of as gloomy a piece of timber as could have been found anywhere—just the finest place in the world for an ambuscade, as Rodney remarked when he led the way into it. They could not see ten feet in any direction, but they heard something before they had gone a mile into the swamp. The hounds gave tongue savagely and dashed away in a body, a wild shriek of terror arose from a thicket close in front of Rodney’s horse, and in the next instant up bobbed Mr. Biglin. But he didn’t show any of the courage of which he had boasted. His face was very white, and his empty hands were held high above his head. He had as fair a view of Rodney’s face as he ever had in his life, but was so badly frightened that he did not recognize him.
“Don’t you see that I surrender?” he yelled. “Call off your bloodhounds.”
Mr. Biglin Surrenders.
“All right,” said the boy, who rather enjoyed the spectacle. “The dogs won’t hurt you. Come out of the bushes and tell us all about it.”
“O Rodney, is that you?” exclaimed Mr. Biglin, but he wasn’t quite sure of it, and didn’t think it safe to lower his uplifted hands. “Where are they? They have been beating the woods in every direction to find me.”