"What is it?" asked the lieutenant curiously; for he had not been able to make out the use of the mound.
"Come in a little nearer to the mansion, and you will see," replied Davis; and he led the way across a corner of the grove.
"It looks like a fort," added Deck as he obtained a view of the inside of the earthwork.
"That is just what it is," said his companion. "The governor has kept a squad of the servants over on the hill you see at the farther end of the valley through which the road passes, as sentinels. They all have horses; and when they discover the approach of an enemy, they gallop to the mansion, and notify the colonel. We are as careful of our lives here as you have been since you came."
"What's coming now?" inquired Deck, as he heard the tramp of footsteps behind him.
"The governor's coming, and I think we will go and meet him," replied the planter's son; and he led the way through the grove towards the great house.
It was quite a procession that advanced at a rapid pace from beyond the building. At the head of it rode Colonel Hickman, mounted on the horse he generally used. Next behind him came his sons Warren and Harlan. Then came Phil, leading a mule harnessed to a wagon, with all the other servants following it. Last of all came the two field-pieces Deck had seen on the piazza, each of them drawn by two mules. About a dozen negroes appeared in the rear and on the flanks of the column; and the lieutenant wondered where they had come from, though there was a village of huts some distance from the stable.
"How many of the robbers are left in the second story of the mansion?" asked Davis, as the procession approached.
"Only two, I think, though I am not sure," replied Deck; and he proceeded to reckon up the number that had been put out of the way. "Only two."
"Enough to burn the house," added Davis.