AT THE HEAD WATERS OF BAR CREEK
It was quite dark when the Magnolia went out from the pier, though it
was a starlight night. The crew pulled very well, for the colonel had
taken no little pride in the appearance of his boat on the river. Before
his health was impaired he occasionally went to the county town by
water; for it was on a branch of the river, and was full thirty miles
distant by the winding streams.
The crew were powerful men, and had had plenty of practice in former
years. But the present planter preferred the vehicles, drawn by fine
horses, and the boys used the smaller boats, so the Magnolia had not
been manned under the new order of things. Under the vigorous stroke of
the negroes she soon passed under the bridge, and headed up the creek.
"We are fairly started, and this boat seems to be making at least five
miles an hour," said the planter, when he had fully recovered his
breath.
"More than that, I should say, Major Lyon. I don't believe the hands can
keep up this gait all the way; but we shall get to the sink about
midnight," replied Levi.
"I don't know that there is anything to apprehend in the way of danger,"
added Mr. Lyon.
"I don't know whether there is or not; but I put my revolver and a box
of cartridges into my pocket."
"I never owned a pistol of any kind, and have hardly fired a gun since I
was a boy; but in the storeroom out of the library I found some very
nice weapons,--a double-barrelled rifle and a fowling-piece."
"The colonel had two revolvers; and they must be somewhere about the
library. A few years ago some horse-thieves were in this vicinity, and
we kept a watch on the place every night for a couple of weeks," said
Levi.
"If Uncle Titus put five thousand dollars into these guns and pistols, I
should think he would be apt to keep a watch over them," suggested Deck.
"A watch would not amount to anything unless he put as many as half a
dozen men on it," answered Levi. "But I think he depends upon the
secrecy of his movements and the safety of the cavern for the security
of the arms. He put the things away in the night, and I don't believe
anybody ever goes over the spring road in the darkness. If he put a
watch anywhere he would station it on that road at the place where they
shifted the boxes from the wagon to the flatboat. But I reckon we can
take care of the watch if there is any there."
"But the road is about a quarter of a mile from the creek," said Deck.
"All of that; and we may pass the place without much of any noise, and
no one on the road would be likely to hear us," replied Levi.
"I don't think the watch, if there is one, will give us any trouble, for
if they hear us, we can keep out of their way; and I don't think they
would have any boat in the creek," added the planter. "Your revolver
will keep them at a proper distance when we reach the cavern."
"I found a shingling hatchet in the boathouse, and I brought that along
with me," said Artie.
"Are you going to fight with that?" asked Deck.
"Not exactly that; but we couldn't open one of the boxes this afternoon
for the want of a tool, and we can do so with this hatchet; then we
shall have all the muskets, revolvers, and cartridges we can use,"
replied Artie.
"That is a good scheme, my boy," added Levi approvingly. "But I don't
believe we shall have to do any fighting. If the conspirators have set a
watch, it must be in the road; and I reckon we shall clean out the
cavern before they can get there."
"We won't fight any battles before we get there," interposed the
planter. "We have always been peaceable people, but I suppose we must
get used to fighting, for we are going to have a terrible war; and I
don't believe in Mr. Seward's prediction that it will all be over in a
hundred days. I am ready to become a soldier, Levi, and so are the boys,
in defence of the Union."
"I suppose I ought to do the same," added the overseer; "but I had not
thought of it."
"You are fifty years old, and you will not be called upon to go into the
army, Levi," replied Mr. Lyon.
"But I am ready to do my share of the fighting; and if I am over fifty,
I reckon I am as tough and hearty as any of them that will shoulder a
musket," said the overseer; and those near him could hear his chuckle,
though they could not see his smile.
"I hope you will not go to the war, my friend," continued Mr. Lyon in a
very serious tone. "I am only forty-two, and I believe it is not only my
duty to send my boys into the army, but to go myself. I have thought a
great deal of this subject within the last month, though I haven't said
much. I believe a man's first duty is to his family, and I should hate
to go off into the army, and leave my wife and the girls here; for I
believe whoever stays in Barcreek will see some fighting here."
"And see some before a great while," added Levi. "Everything is boiling
round here, and it will boil over before long. These Secession ruffians
are not going to keep the peace much longer. They are itching to begin
the work of driving the Union men into their cub pasture."
"That is my own opinion; and that is my only dread in joining the army.
But I have comforted myself with the belief that Levi Bedford was over
fifty, and he would remain on the plantation and take care of my
family."
"I am very much obliged to you, Major Lyon, for the confidence you put
in me, and I can assure you it shall not be abused," returned the
manager, with more gravity in his tone and manner than usual. "If by
staying here I can keep three good Union soldiers in the field, perhaps
that will be doing my fair share of the work."
"We will talk this matter at another time, Levi; and I will only say I
could not have found a man more to my mind to take charge of the
plantation and the women-folks if I had hunted for him all over the
nation."
"That's handsome, Major; and you may wager your life and all you have in
the world that I will never go back on you or your family," protested
the overseer warmly.
"We understand each other perfectly, Levi. But there is a more pressing
question than that before the house just now," said Mr. Lyon, as he took
Levi's offered hand, and gave it an earnest grasp. "What are we to do
with all these arms and ammunition when we get them down to Riverlawn?"
"I haven't had much time to think of that; but I had an idea come across
my head as I was running from the house down to the boat-pier. I passed
by the ice-house, and it jumped into my noddle that it would make a good
arsenal; but I haven't worked up the idea yet," replied the manager.
"That is a happy thought!" exclaimed the planter. "It never occurred to
me. It is in just the right place; for my brother has given me warning
that I was in danger of being mobbed as an abolitionist, and that
nothing but his influence has prevented it from being done before."
"It is hard work for me to believe that doughface is a brother of yours
and the late colonel; but if he dared to show his face in it, he would
be the first man to get up such a demonstration. Excuse me, Major, if I
am talking too plainly," said Levi, who had little patience with, or
toleration for, Titus Lyon. "He may send his company of Home Guards over
to clean out the mansion, but he won't come himself, for he is a poison
snake."
"Perhaps you know my brother as he has developed himself in this
locality better than I do, though he has even shown his fangs, under a
mask, to me; but I shall keep the peace with him," replied Mr. Lyon very
sadly.
"If he attempts anything of that sort, or any other border-ruffians do,
I believe we can make them wish they had stayed at home," said Levi
stoutly.
"We can make the ice-house into a fortress for the protection of the
mansion," continued the planter. "It is near the creek, and commands the
bridge and the road leading to it, which is the only practicable
approach to the mansion. The swamp half a mile back of the house lies
between the spring road and the creek, and extends all the way to the
hills, not less than ten miles by water; and no body of men can get
through that way."
Though he had had no military experience, Noah Lyon talked like an army
engineer. He was a man of very decided general ability, and he readily
comprehended the situation so far as his plantation was concerned. The
ice-house was about twenty-five feet square. It was built of stone under
the direction of Colonel Lyon, who had his own views, though they were
not always scientific. To preserve the ice, which did not consist of
great solid blocks as in New Hampshire, he believed that thick walls
were necessary, and he had put two feet of solid masonry into them. The
ice was generally not more than two inches thick in this latitude,
though an exceptionally hard winter sometimes made it four. It was
packed in solid, and then permitted to freeze by leaving the door and
two windows open during the freezing weather.
"Stop rowing," said Levi, when they came to a bend five miles above the
bridge. "Now rest yourselves for five minutes, boys."
"Don't need no rest, mars'r," said General, as he drew his arm over his
forehead, from which the perspiration was dropping on the handle of his
oar. "We done pulled dis boat twenty mile widout stoppin' once."
"A little rest will do you no harm, for you will be kept at work till
morning," replied Levi.
"Whar we gwine, mars'r?" asked General.
"About five miles farther," replied the overseer evasively. "Have you
brought your jackets or coats with you, boys?"
They had brought them. Levi had read of muffled oars, and he ordered
each of the rowers to wind the garment not in use around the loom of his
oar where it rested in the rowlock. They obeyed in silence, and no one
asked any question; for this reason they would have made good sailors,
for they must obey without asking the reason for the command. They had
been well trained by the overseer.
"Now, not one of you must speak a loud word, or make any noise,"
continued Levi, when he had seen that the oars were all properly
muffled. "You must excuse me, Major, if I request all in this part of
the boat to keep still also; for we are coming to the nearest point to
the spring road. If there is any one on watch there, we will fool him if
we can."
"All right, Levi; we will keep as still as mice in a pantry."
"Pull away again, boys," he added, to the disgust of General, who wanted
him to give his orders in "ship-shop" fashion.
The negroes obeyed the command just as well as though it had been
"ship-shop;" and the Magnolia went ahead with renewed speed after the
rest. A little later the overseer ordered them to pull more slowly and
with less noise, for the oars could be heard in spite of the muffling.
But they could not be heard at half the distance to the spring road, and
no challenge came to them from that or any other direction.
"Now you may put your muscle into your oars, boys," said the overseer
when the boat came to a bend which had carried it away farther from the
road.
The men bent to their oars again, and the Magnolia flew over the dark
water. Dark as it was, the pilot had no difficulty in keeping the boat
in the middle of the creek. At the end of about an hour from the
resting-place, Levi ordered the men to pull slowly again, for the boat
was approaching its destination. The planter lighted a match and looked
at his watch.
"Hold on, here, boys!" called the overseer. "We have gone too far, for
here is the mouth of the brook, and I reckon the flatboat is under that
heap of stuff;" and he pointed to a mound of branches by the shore of
the inlet. "I reckon we want the lanterns now, Major Lyon. Did you light
one of them?"
"No; I only looked at my watch. We are in good time, for it wants a
quarter of twelve," replied the planter. "Get out the lanterns, boys,
and we will light them."
Levi worked the boat into the little inlet, and alongside of the mound.
The flatboat was found under it, precisely as Artie had described it in
the library. Four of the hands were sent to the top of it, and ordered
to clear away the branches, which they did by throwing them on shore and
into the water. The gundalow was baled out, and then its painter was
made fast to the stern of the Magnolia. Deck and Artie were sent ashore
with one of the lanterns, and directed to find the sink.
The Magnolia towed the flatboat down the creek till Deck hailed her from
the landing-place where they had gone ashore in the afternoon. By a
little after midnight the gundalow was moored at a convenient point for
loading it.