"The boys?" queried the lieutenant, wondering where they were to come from, as he had seen only two of them.
"I mean the negroes who defended the place the other night," added the planter. "They have learned to handle the breech-loaders, and they would fight for my boys as long as there was anything left of them."
"I dare say they would," replied the officer with a significant smile. "But if you send six negroes armed with breech-loaders to Bowling Green, you may be sure there will be a row."
"Just my sentiments," added Levi Bedford. "I don't think Artie will have any trouble if he goes alone."
"Very well, let him go alone; but I am confident half a dozen of the boys would make it hot for any band that attempted to molest him," said the major; and the messenger departed on his mission.
"Have you an American flag, Major Lyon?" asked the lieutenant when he had gone.
"Two of them, for my brother always celebrated the Fourth of July."
"We always hoist one on a recruiting office."
Under the direction of Levi a flagstaff was erected in front of the fort, and before dinner-time the Star Spangled Banner was spread to the breeze. Major Lyon took off his hat and bowed to it as soon as it was shaken out to the breeze; and cheers were heard from the negroes in the field beyond the stables.
"If you had set that flag over your office in the village, it would have been hauled down and trampled under foot inside of an hour," said the planter.