AN OVERWHELMING ARGUMENT
Levi Bedford had not come to the bridge to interfere with the
conversation or to listen to what was said; but as he was returning from
the distant fields of the plantation by the creek road, he could not
help seeing that a stormy interview was in progress on the bridge. He
believed that he understood Titus Lyon better than Noah did. He
considered him capable of violence to his brother when under the
influence of liquor, and he deemed it prudent for him to be within call
if he was needed.
Noah would have scouted the idea of Titus raising his hand against him,
even when he had been drinking; for in former years they had always
lived together on the best of terms. Levi had seen more of the mason
within a few years than Noah. While the colonel lay unburied in the
mansion, he had spent most of the time at Riverlawn, and to some extent
had assumed the control of the plantation.
The manager had not required the negroes to do anything but necessary
work during the sad interval; but Titus had interfered, and sent the
field-hands to their usual occupation. He had "bossed" Levi himself as
though he were only a servant, and even meddled with the affairs of
Diana in the house. The manager could not resent this interference at
such a time, and he could not help seeing that Titus was taking more
whiskey than usual; for he had even ordered Diana to bring out the
choice stores of this article which the colonel had kept for his friends
rather than for his own use.
He talked to Levi just as though the plantation would soon come into his
hands, and had made himself as unnecessarily offensive to the overseer
and all the petted servants as possible. It would not be overstating the
truth to say that he was thoroughly hated at Riverlawn. Levi had packed
his trunk in readiness to leave as soon as the tyrant took possession of
the place; and even some of the people were thinking of making their way
to the free State of Ohio.
Levi bowed and smiled as he passed the planter, but he only reined in
his fiery steed, and did not stop. He did not even look at Titus, much
less salute him, for he despised him; and pleasant as he was to all on
the place, including the people, he was an honest man, and appeared to
be just what he was. He rode over in the direction of the river, and
when he reached a thicket of trees and bushes he stopped the colt and
tied him to a tree. He remained there where he could see the bridge
without being seen by those upon it.
"I wonder that you keep that fellow on the place," said Titus, as Levi
rode off. "In my opinion, and I have seen more of him than you have,
Noah, he is a rascal;" and the last remark was seasoned with an oath.
"I think he is a very useful man, and my family are already very much
attached to him; for he is always good-natured, and kind and obliging to
everybody," replied the planter.
"There ain't no accounting for tastes, as my wife says; but if I had
this place that cuss would get kicked out before he had a chance to
breathe twice more," said Titus with a look of disgust which caused him
to twist his mouth and nose into such a snarl that Mrs. Titus would
hardly have known him.
Levi had not told his employer in what manner the would-be owner of the
plantation had conducted himself on the place after the death of the
colonel; and Noah could not understand why his brother had such an
antipathy to so genial a man as the manager, viewed from his own and his
family's standpoint.
"I take Levi as I find him, and I have been very much pleased with him,"
added Noah.
"But I did not come over here to talk about that dirty shote," continued
Titus, suddenly bracing himself up to attack the subject of the
grievances which had gnawed like a live snake at his vitals for nearly
two years. "In the fust place, I want you to understand, Noah Lyon, that
there ain't a word of truth in the story Meely told this noon in your
house."
"All right, Brother Titus," replied Noah. "I haven't looked for the arms
and ammunition, and I know nothing about them."
"Do you believe what I say, Noah?" demanded Titus with a savage frown.
"I have no reason to doubt your statement."
"If you and your family want to make trouble over that statement, I
s'pose you can do so. You 'n' I don't agree on politics."
"We are not disposed to make trouble. If there should be any difficulty
it will come from your side of the house, Titus."
"You are an abolitionist, and folks on the right side in this county
have found it out. They don't believe in no Lincoln shriekers, and the
Union's already busted," said the Secessionist brother with a good deal
of vim; and in this, as in other matters, he believed the popular
sentiment was on the side he wished it to be.
"I voted for Lincoln, and I believe in the Union," added Noah quietly.
"Yes; and there is five hundred men in this county that would like to
drive you out of the State, and burn your house over your head!"
exclaimed Titus, becoming not a little excited. "I believe they'd done
it before this time if I hadn't stood in their way."
"Then I am very much obliged to you for your friendly influence. I was
not aware that I had been in any peril before," returned Noah with a
smile, which was suggestive of a doubt in his mind. "Do you think I am
in any danger from such an outrage as you suggest?"
"I know you are!" Titus belched out with something like fury in his
manner. "If it hadn't been for me they'd done it before now. You haven't
been a bit keerful in your doings. You've got up a Union meeting at the
Big Bend schoolhouse for to-morrow night; and if you go on with it, I'm
almost sure you will get cleaned out; and the folks on the right side
may come over here, after they have shut your mouths at the Bend, and
see whether your house will burn or not. I have done all I could to keep
our folks quiet, and advised them not to meddle with the meeting at the
schoolhouse; but if you keep on the way you're going, I won't be
responsible for what happens."
"Though I came from the North since you did, all the people I meet seem
to be very friendly to me," answered Noah, the smile still playing upon
his lips; a satirical smile which indicated that he did not believe more
than a very small fraction of what his brother had been saying.
He had no doubt that the gang with whom Titus and his sons associated
would do all and even more than he prophesied; but they did not form the
public sentiment of the county.
"You don't meet all nor a tenth part of the people, and you don't know
what is running in their heads," protested the Secessionist. "You and
your two boys keep on howling for the Union when the people round here
are all dead set agin it. What can you expect? Seven States is out of
the Union, and that busts the whole thing."
"I don't think a majority of the people about here are of your way of
thinking, Brother Titus; but if I am in danger of mob violence, as you
say I am, my house is my castle; I shall defend it as long as there is
anything left of me," added Noah, the same smile resting on his lips as
he uttered his strong words.
"Defend your house!" said Titus with a bitter sneer. "You hadn't better
do anything of the sort. If you show fight, the crowd will hang you to
one of them big trees. You ain't reasonable, Noah. Do you cal'late on
fighting the whole county?"
"We differ considerably in regard to the state of feeling in this
county. We are between two fires, and I think we had better not say
anything more on that subject."
"That's so; but one fire is an alfired sight hotter than t'other; and
that's the one that will burn up that big house of yourn."
"I shall defend my house, and I think I shall be able to hold my own.
But I am not an abolitionist any more than you are, Brother Titus,"
mildly suggested Noah.
"You shriek for the Union, and it's all the same thing among honest
folks down here," retorted the Secessionist.
"I hold about fifty slaves, and I had an idea that this made me a
slaveholder," said Noah lightly.
"Don't you own 'em?" demanded Titus violently; for this subject touched
upon one of his grievances. "I have done everything I could to save you
from any hard usage on the part of our folks in spite of the way you've
used me."
"I am not aware that I have used you badly, Brother Titus."
"You call me brother; but judging from your actions you ain't no brother
of mine."
"I should like to have you tell me in what manner I have wronged you,
Titus. I hear from others that I owe you five thousand dollars; but I am
not aware that I owe you a nickel," replied the planter, who had by this
time come to the conclusion that the quarrel his brother insisted upon
fomenting might as well be brought to a head then as at any other time.
Titus was silent for a moment, and resumed his seat on the bench, from
which he had risen a dozen times in his excitement as the interview
proceeded. He looked as though he was gathering up his thoughts in order
to present his argument, as he evidently intended it should be, in the
most forcible manner.
"If a man has two brothers, and one of them goes back on him, is that
any reason why the other should go back on him?" asked the dissatisfied
one with more coolness and dignity than he had before exhibited.
Mrs. Amelia, years before, had tried to reform his language, picked up
in the taverns and among coarse associates, and she had succeeded to
some extent. He could talk with a fair degree of correctness; but he had
two methods of expression, one of which he called his "Sunday lingo,"
used on state occasions, and his ordinary speech at home and among his
chosen associates, enlarged by the addition of some Southern words and
phrases. He began his argument in his best style, though he had never
been able to banish his use of the milder slang.
"Decidedly not," replied Noah very promptly. "On the contrary, he ought
to stand by the brother if he has been wronged."
"That is just exactly what you have not done, Noah Lyon!" exclaimed
Titus, springing from his seat again. "And Nathan said unto David, 'Thou
art the man!'"
"Which means that I am the man," answered Noah, his smile becoming
almost a laugh. "I didn't know, Brother Titus, that I was the David, and
I must ask you to explain."
"Dunk went back on me," continued the malcontent, recalling the name by
which the colonel was known on the farm in his boyhood.
"I was not aware that Dunk did any such a thing. I suppose you mean in
his will."
"That is just what I mean!" stormed Titus. "He gave you ten thousand
dollars more than he gave me; and that was not fair or right."
"But the will explains why he did so."
"On account of fetching up them two children! I wouldn't have brought in
any bill for taking care of my dead brother's children. I ain't one of
them sort!" protested Titus.
"But you refused to take one of them into your family when I proposed it
to you," suggested Noah very gently.
"Because my wife was sick at the time," said Titus, wincing at the
remark.
"You did not offer to take one of them afterwards. But I did not bring
in any bill; I never even mentioned the matter to the colonel when I
wrote to him. I boarded, clothed, and schooled them for ten years, and
paid all their doctor's bills."
"But Dunk gave you ten thousand dollars for it; and it wasn't right. He
spent a month with you in Derry not long before he died, and you
smoothed his fur in the right way," snarled Titus.
"But the children were not mentioned. I am sure it cost me a thousand
dollars a year to take care of the children; but I did not complain, and
never asked you or Dunk to pay a cent of the cost. The colonel made his
will to suit himself; and he never spoke or wrote of the matter to me."
"You got on the right side of him, and he cheated me out of what
rightfully belonged to me. I ain't talking about law, but about right.
Half of that ten thousand belongs to me, and you are keeping me out of
it."
"It was right for you and Dunk to pay as much for supporting the orphans
as I did. Then you and he owed me two-thirds of the sum bequeathed to
me. At compound interest that would amount to more than I receive under
the will. I will figure it up when I have time, and of course if you owe
me anything on this account, you will pay me."
This argument completely overwhelmed Titus; but Levi had concluded there
would be no violence, and dashed over the bridge on his fiery colt.