by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XIX
THE CONFERENCE IN FORT BEDFORD
The two windows in the rear of the schoolhouse had been wide open allthe evening, and the negroes of the boat's crew could not help hearingthe excited speeches, and the thunders of applause in the meeting of theUnionists; but not one of them spoke a word about them to the planterand the boys. They pulled with all their might, and made a quick run tothe boat-pier.
The first thing that attracted the attention of Major Lyon--we may aswell call him so, as most of the people of Barcreek did--was the lightsin Fort Bedford. Through the embrasures which had been made in the frontand ends of the building it could be seen that the interior of thebuilding was brilliantly illuminated.
"You have come back safe and sound, Major," said Levi, as he took thepainter of the Magnolia.
"By the skin of our teeth we have," replied the planter.
"Then you have had trouble over there?" asked the overseer.
"Yes; some of the ruffians tried to break up the meeting, and we putthem out without any ceremony."
"Good!" exclaimed Levi heartily. "I feel as though I were an inchtaller. I was afraid our friends would let the ruffians bully you."
"Buck Lagger and about half a dozen others took places in theschoolhouse, and began to yell while Squire Truman was making hisspeech. He is a very smart young man, an eloquent orator, and full ofvim. When he proposed to put the disturbers out, we went in with him anddid it. The boys faced the music, and stood up to it like veteranpolicemen," said Major Lyon.
"Good, boys! I knew you would do it," added Levi.
"But why is the fort lighted up so late in the evening, Levi?" asked theplanter.
"I have had a dozen hands at work there, all the carpenters and masonsincluded, and we have the building about ready for business," repliedthe overseer. "The fact of it is, I am taking a more serious view of thestate of things than you appear to be doing, and I thought I would havethings ready for whatever comes, and as soon as it comes."
"I am glad you have done so; and I should have worked with you if I hadnot had to attend the meeting," added the major. "The situation looksdecidedly serious to-night, and my eyes have been opened wide enough tosee it."
The boatmen had been ordered by the planter to take all the boats out ofthe water; and while they were doing so the major informed the overseermore fully in regard to the meeting, especially of the demand for therestoration of the military supplies, and that he and the boys should begiven up to the mob.
"I didn't think Captain Titus would show himself in the meeting," saidLevi, as they walked up to the fort. "That Buck Lagger is one of thebiggest villains that goes unhung; and hanging would do him good. Ishould say that the ball had opened."
The hands in the old ice-house were all hard at work, and it at onceappeared to the planter that a great deal of labor had been done in thebuilding during his absence. The cases had all been opened, the arms hadbeen removed from them, and arranged conveniently about the interior.The two twelve-pounders had been mounted on their carriages, and thepieces were pointed out at the two front embrasures, from which theycould be readily removed to those at the ends of the structure.
Two large chandeliers of three burners each had been removed from thedrawing-room of the mansion, and were suspended from the roof; but thesewere for temporary use while the work was in progress. The ammunitionhad been arranged for the present in the boxes outside of the building.
Major Lyon and the boys had hardly taken a hasty survey of the premisesin their changed aspect before the noise of carriage wheels was heard onthe road leading from the bridge to the fort by the side of the creek.The vehicle was drawn by two horses, and was approaching at a rapidrate.
"Who can that be?" asked Levi with a troubled expression on his roundface.
"It may be my brother coming to demand the arms," replied Noah Lyon, ashe took one of the muskets from the wall. "Probably he has a load of hissupporters with him if it is he."
"I think we are all ready for them," added the overseer; and he took agun, and handed one to each of the boys. "I think we had better go outand meet them, for we don't care to have them see what we have beendoing here;" and he led the way hastily up the road.
His employer and the boys followed him, and soon confronted theoccupants of the wagon.
"Halt!" called Levi in a very decided tone, as he placed himself infront of the team; and the driver reined in his horses. "What is yourbusiness here?"
"Good-evening, Levi," came from the party in the wagon; and thechallenger promptly recognized the voice of Colonel Cosgrove. "I wish tosee Major Lyon at once."
"Here I am, Colonel; but I did not expect to see you again so soon,"replied the planter, hastening to the carriage. "But drive on, and wewill see you at Fort Bedford."
"Fort Bedford!" exclaimed the Kentuckian; and he told his coachman todrive on.
"This is Fort Bedford you see ahead of you; it is named after Levi, forhe originated the idea. To what am I indebted for this unexpected visitto Riverlawn?" answered the planter.
"To the fact that we consider you in great danger, Major, and we thoughtyou would be in pressing need of assistance from your friends even thisvery night."
"We are here to stand by you, Major," said one on the back seat of thewagon, who proved to be Colonel Belthorpe.
"And to show that we can fight as well as talk," added Squire Truman,who was seated at his side.
"I am very grateful to you for coming to my assistance, for you have allproved this evening that talking is not your only strength," said theplanter, as he walked along at the side of the wagon.
"I see you are all armed and ready for business," continued ColonelCosgrove.
"When I heard the sound of your vehicle on the bridge, I suspected thatit might be my deluded brother and his supporters coming over here toexecute the threat he made at the meeting."
"No; after we got away from the ruffians, we talked the matter over,"replied Colonel Cosgrove. "Buck Lagger demanded that the major and hiscubs should be given up to them when they did not find you and the boysin the column. Then they swore that they would have you. I talked overthe situation with our friends here, and we concluded that the ruffianswould be over here before morning to capture their victims, and burnyour mansion. We decided to come here for this reason,--to warn you ofyour danger, and help you beat them off if they came."
"I am very much obliged to you; but you will find everything inreadiness for their reception," replied Major Lyon, as they reached thefort.
"You are lighted up here as though you were going to have a ball insteadof a fight," suggested Colonel Belthorpe.
"There are plenty of balls in the fort, but they are alltwelve-pounders," returned the major as the party alighted. "Levi hasbeen at work here while we were at the meeting, and he will explaineverything to you better than I can."
The trio of visitors entered the building, and were astonished at thenature and extent of the preparations to defend the mansion and itsoccupants from a hostile demonstration. Levi stated what he had done,and pointed out everything in detail.
"You think the ruffians are coming over here to-night, do you, ColonelCosgrove?" asked the planter.
"I think they are on their way here now," replied the Kentuckian.
"Is there any other way they can get to your house than over thatbridge?" asked Colonel Belthorpe, who was the only military man in theparty who had seen real service, though Levi had been in the militia.
"There is no other way," replied Levi, when his employer nodded to him."No mob could get through the swamp back of the mansion in the daytime,to say nothing of doing it in the night. The bridge is the onlyapproach; and, if worse comes to worst, we can cut that away."
"You are in a very strong position, and I don't believe it will benecessary to cut away the bridge," added the military gentleman. "Theycan only cross the creek in boats."
"Our boats are all taken out of the water."
"With those twelve-pou
nders you can beat off a regiment. You haveeverything for the defence except soldiers," added the authority of theparty.
"Perhaps we can find them when they are needed," said Major Lyon.
The lawyer understood, but the planter did not. It was a delicatesubject, and it could not be considered in that presence. The formerrealized this fact, and suggested that something ought to be done togive them notice of the coming of the hostile ruffians.
"That's so," added Colonel Belthorpe. "I think you had better stationthe two boys, who have proved that they have pluck enough for any duty,where they can give us early notice of the approach of the enemy."
"We shall want the boys here, and a couple of negroes will do for thatduty just as well," replied Levi.
"All right," answered the military gentleman, who made no objection tothe employment of the servants for this duty. "Give each of them arevolver, and tell them to fire three shots if any force approaches."
Rosebud and Mose were detailed for service at the bridge; and perhapsthis was the first time that negroes had ever been armed on theplantation. They were proud of the position assigned to them, anddeparted on the run, promising to be as faithful as white men could be.
"Where are you going to find your soldiers when you want them, MajorLyon?" inquired Colonel Belthorpe. "You hinted that you knew where tolook for them."
"I think we had better not discuss that subject just now," interposedthe lawyer, as he looked around him at the negroes, who had finished allthe work given them to do, and were listening with their ears wide opento all that was said.
Levi solved the difficulty by sending all the negroes out of thebuilding, and directing them to patrol the bank of the creek as far asthe swamp.
"On the question of enlisting negroes in the army, either as regulars orvolunteers, I have not yet come to a decision," said Major Lyon. "But indefence of my property, and the protection of my family I should have noobjection to using all my hands who were willing to be so employed."
"Arm your negroes!" exclaimed Colonel Belthorpe.
"Not to fight the battles of the nation, but to protect my wife andchildren and my property," answered the Riverlawn planter. "We canmuster but four white men, and two of them are boys. If a mob of fiftyor a hundred or five hundred ruffians come over here to hang me and burnmy house, shall I let them do so rather than employ the willing hands ofmen with black faces to defend myself?" demanded Noah Lyon, earnestlyenough to mount almost to the height of eloquence.
"By the great Jehoshaphat, I believe you are right!" exclaimed ColonelBelthorpe, with a stamp of his foot. "I did not look at it in that way.But making soldiers of the niggers is another thing, and I'm not readyfor that."
"We are all agreed so far as the situation on this place is concerned.If there were any State or national force at hand to call upon forprotection against these reckless ruffians, I should invoke its aid; butthere is none, and we must protect ourselves," added Colonel Cosgrove."I heartily approve of Major Lyon's purpose to use his negroes to defendhimself and his property."
"Then it is high time to get them in training for this service," saidthe major with energy. "Levi, call in the hands you just sent away."
Two of them came back without any calling, for they burst into the fortin a state of high excitement.
"Well, Bitts, what's the matter now?" asked Levi very calmly.
"Gouge and me done went down to de rapids, whar we kin see de bridgeober de riber, and dar's more'n two tousand men comin' ober it!" gaspedBitts.
"Call it fifty or a hundred, Bitts. But no matter, boy; call in all thehands except the two on the creek bridge."
Both of the negroes rushed off on their mission.