THE CONFERENCE IN FORT BEDFORD
The two windows in the rear of the schoolhouse had been wide open all
the evening, and the negroes of the boat's crew could not help hearing
the excited speeches, and the thunders of applause in the meeting of the
Unionists; but not one of them spoke a word about them to the planter
and the boys. They pulled with all their might, and made a quick run to
the boat-pier.
The first thing that attracted the attention of Major Lyon--we may as
well call him so, as most of the people of Barcreek did--was the lights
in Fort Bedford. Through the embrasures which had been made in the front
and ends of the building it could be seen that the interior of the
building was brilliantly illuminated.
"You have come back safe and sound, Major," said Levi, as he took the
painter 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 put
them out without any ceremony."
"Good!" exclaimed Levi heartily. "I feel as though I were an inch
taller. I was afraid our friends would let the ruffians bully you."
"Buck Lagger and about half a dozen others took places in the
schoolhouse, and began to yell while Squire Truman was making his
speech. He is a very smart young man, an eloquent orator, and full of
vim. When he proposed to put the disturbers out, we went in with him and
did it. The boys faced the music, and stood up to it like veteran
policemen," 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 the
planter.
"I have had a dozen hands at work there, all the carpenters and masons
included, and we have the building about ready for business," replied
the overseer. "The fact of it is, I am taking a more serious view of the
state of things than you appear to be doing, and I thought I would have
things 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 had
not had to attend the meeting," added the major. "The situation looks
decidedly serious to-night, and my eyes have been opened wide enough to
see it."
The boatmen had been ordered by the planter to take all the boats out of
the water; and while they were doing so the major informed the overseer
more fully in regard to the meeting, especially of the demand for the
restoration of the military supplies, and that he and the boys should be
given up to the mob.
"I didn't think Captain Titus would show himself in the meeting," said
Levi, as they walked up to the fort. "That Buck Lagger is one of the
biggest villains that goes unhung; and hanging would do him good. I
should say that the ball had opened."
The hands in the old ice-house were all hard at work, and it at once
appeared to the planter that a great deal of labor had been done in the
building during his absence. The cases had all been opened, the arms had
been removed from them, and arranged conveniently about the interior.
The two twelve-pounders had been mounted on their carriages, and the
pieces were pointed out at the two front embrasures, from which they
could be readily removed to those at the ends of the structure.
Two large chandeliers of three burners each had been removed from the
drawing-room of the mansion, and were suspended from the roof; but these
were for temporary use while the work was in progress. The ammunition
had 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 premises
in their changed aspect before the noise of carriage wheels was heard on
the 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 rapid
rate.
"Who can that be?" asked Levi with a troubled expression on his round
face.
"It may be my brother coming to demand the arms," replied Noah Lyon, as
he took one of the muskets from the wall. "Probably he has a load of his
supporters with him if it is he."
"I think we are all ready for them," added the overseer; and he took a
gun, and handed one to each of the boys. "I think we had better go out
and meet them, for we don't care to have them see what we have been
doing here;" and he led the way hastily up the road.
His employer and the boys followed him, and soon confronted the
occupants of the wagon.
"Halt!" called Levi in a very decided tone, as he placed himself in
front of the team; and the driver reined in his horses. "What is your
business here?"
"Good-evening, Levi," came from the party in the wagon; and the
challenger promptly recognized the voice of Colonel Cosgrove. "I wish to
see 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 we
will see you at Fort Bedford."
"Fort Bedford!" exclaimed the Kentuckian; and he told his coachman to
drive on.
"This is Fort Bedford you see ahead of you; it is named after Levi, for
he originated the idea. To what am I indebted for this unexpected visit
to Riverlawn?" answered the planter.
"To the fact that we consider you in great danger, Major, and we thought
you would be in pressing need of assistance from your friends even this
very night."
"We are here to stand by you, Major," said one on the back seat of the
wagon, 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 all
proved this evening that talking is not your only strength," said the
planter, as he walked along at the side of the wagon.
"I see you are all armed and ready for business," continued Colonel
Cosgrove.
"When I heard the sound of your vehicle on the bridge, I suspected that
it might be my deluded brother and his supporters coming over here to
execute 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 his
cubs should be given up to them when they did not find you and the boys
in the column. Then they swore that they would have you. I talked over
the situation with our friends here, and we concluded that the ruffians
would be over here before morning to capture their victims, and burn
your mansion. We decided to come here for this reason,--to warn you of
your danger, and help you beat them off if they came."
"I am very much obliged to you; but you will find everything in
readiness for their reception," replied Major Lyon, as they reached the
fort.
"You are lighted up here as though you were going to have a ball instead
of a fight," suggested Colonel Belthorpe.
"There are plenty of balls in the fort, but they are all
twelve-pounders," returned the major as the party alighted. "Levi has
been at work here while we were at the meeting, and he will explain
everything to you better than I can."
The trio of visitors entered the building, and were astonished at the
nature and extent of the preparations to defend the mansion and its
occupants 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, Colonel
Cosgrove?" 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 that
bridge?" asked Colonel Belthorpe, who was the only military man in the
party 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 only
approach; 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 be
necessary to cut away the bridge," added the military gentleman. "They
can only cross the creek in boats."
"Our boats are all taken out of the water."
"With those twelve-pounders you can beat off a regiment. You have
everything for the defence except soldiers," added the authority of the
party.
"Perhaps we can find them when they are needed," said Major Lyon.
The lawyer understood, but the planter did not. It was a delicate
subject, and it could not be considered in that presence. The former
realized this fact, and suggested that something ought to be done to
give them notice of the coming of the hostile ruffians.
"That's so," added Colonel Belthorpe. "I think you had better station
the 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 that
duty just as well," replied Levi.
"All right," answered the military gentleman, who made no objection to
the employment of the servants for this duty. "Give each of them a
revolver, and tell them to fire three shots if any force approaches."
Rosebud and Mose were detailed for service at the bridge; and perhaps
this was the first time that negroes had ever been armed on the
plantation. They were proud of the position assigned to them, and
departed 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, Major
Lyon?" inquired Colonel Belthorpe. "You hinted that you knew where to
look for them."
"I think we had better not discuss that subject just now," interposed
the lawyer, as he looked around him at the negroes, who had finished all
the work given them to do, and were listening with their ears wide open
to all that was said.
Levi solved the difficulty by sending all the negroes out of the
building, and directing them to patrol the bank of the creek as far as
the swamp.
"On the question of enlisting negroes in the army, either as regulars or
volunteers, I have not yet come to a decision," said Major Lyon. "But in
defence of my property, and the protection of my family I should have no
objection 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 and
children and my property," answered the Riverlawn planter. "We can
muster but four white men, and two of them are boys. If a mob of fifty
or a hundred or five hundred ruffians come over here to hang me and burn
my house, shall I let them do so rather than employ the willing hands of
men with black faces to defend myself?" demanded Noah Lyon, earnestly
enough to mount almost to the height of eloquence.
"By the great Jehoshaphat, I believe you are right!" exclaimed Colonel
Belthorpe, 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 ready
for 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 for
protection against these reckless ruffians, I should invoke its aid; but
there is none, and we must protect ourselves," added Colonel Cosgrove.
"I heartily approve of Major Lyon's purpose to use his negroes to defend
himself and his property."
"Then it is high time to get them in training for this service," said
the 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 fort
in 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 bridge
ober de riber, and dar's more'n two tousand men comin' ober it!" gasped
Bitts.
"Call it fifty or a hundred, Bitts. But no matter, boy; call in all the
hands except the two on the creek bridge."
Both of the negroes rushed off on their mission.