THE GRATITUDE OF TWO FAIR MAIDENS
The mansion house of Colonel Belthorpe was quite near the road. The
force under his command must have arrived some time before, for several
of the windows were lighted. The four white men were not to be seen, but
the eight boys who had been mounted stood near the house, apparently
waiting for orders.
Though the encounter of the wagon party with the ruffians has required a
considerable time for its recital, they had not been detained over half
an hour, if as long as that; but no one took account of time in the
exciting event of the night. The ladies were handed out of the wagon,
and Deck perceived that Major Gadbury was very attentive to Miss Margie,
while he waited upon Miss Kate, the younger, and, in his judgment, the
prettier of the two daughters of the colonel.
When the hero of the occasion had attended the young lady to the door of
the house, he excused himself, and hastened to the mounted men who stood
in front of the mansion. They were astonished at the arrival of two
wagons instead of one, and were discussing the matter among themselves.
"Where is Colonel Belthorpe, General?" inquired Deck, after he had
saluted the boys in his usual familiar manner; for he had none of the
haughtiness of those who were "to the manner born."
"Don't know, Mars'r Deck; he and the oder gen'lemen done went ober dat
way," replied General. "De ole road's ober dat way, and I 'spect dey
went to look out for de ruffi'ns."
"They won't be here for half an hour or more," added Deck, as Captain
Carms's man drove up to the party with the wagon.
"You done see 'em on de road, mars'r Deck?"
"I have seen some of them, General."
"Dey was ober on de ole road, mars'r, I t'ought."
But Deck did not stop to give them any information, for both wagons had
stopped near the party. The driver from Rock Lodge had run away as soon
as his vehicle was beset by the ruffians; yet he could tell his portion
of the story, while those from Riverlawn could relate the rest of it.
The hero went into the mansion, and a mulatto in a white jacket, who was
gaping with all his might, showed him to the sitting-room, where he
found the wagon party. There was no Mrs. Belthorpe, for she had passed
away years before.
"I was afraid you had run away and left us, Mr. Lyon," said Miss Kate,
rushing up to him as he entered.
"Please don't 'mister' me," replied Deck, laughing. "It makes me feel
just as though I was a dude."
"Well, you are not a dude," added the fair daughter of the planter, as
indignantly as though some person besides herself had called him by the
opprobrious name.
"And I don't run away, either."
"That's so!" exclaimed Major Gadbury with decided emphasis. "But I
really wonder that you did not run away instead of pitching into that
scoundrel who was carrying off Miss Kate."
"I couldn't have done that if I had tried while the lady seemed to be in
such a dangerous situation," answered Deck, as he seated himself as near
Miss Kate as he could find a place. "But I have been talking myself all
the time since we started from the cross-cut, and I don't know yet how
you happened to get into this scrape."
"We don't know much more about it than you do, Mr.----"
"Deck," interposed the hero.
"Deck, if you insist upon it, Mr. Lyon," laughed the major. "We left
Rock Lodge, and Tom told the driver to go by that cross road. It was a
terribly rough passage we had of it, and I think we went over rocks a
foot high."
"As I told you in my account of the troubles of the night, the ruffians,
after they had been driven off from Riverlawn, took the old road, and
Squire Truman found that they were going to this mansion," said Deck.
"Didn't you see anything of them before you turned into the cut-off?"
"We neither saw nor heard anything."
"The main body of the ruffians could not have been very far down the
road. I don't see how Buck Lagger happened to be where he was with the
rest of his gang," added Deck.
"He appears to have had six men with him as nearly as I can make it
out," said Tom Belthorpe.
"I don't know what he was doing there, but I can guess," continued Deck.
"But which was the fellow you call Buck Lagger?" asked the major.
"He was the one who captured Miss Margie, and whom I wounded with the
shot from my revolver," replied Deck. "I am sorry to say that my Uncle
Titus is a Northern doughface, and is the leader of these ruffians. He
bought the arms and ammunition of which we took possession at the
sink-hole. I believe he hates my father on account of his Unionism and
his taking of the arms worse than any man who is not his brother."
"I have heard something about him since I have been at Lyndhall," said
Major Gadbury.
"Buck Lagger is his lieutenant and supporter, and I have no doubt
Captain Titus sent him to the schoolhouse to disturb the meeting. He
carried the flag of truce to-night at the bridge over the creek when his
leader demanded the return of the arms," Deck explained. "Though I don't
know any more about it than you do, I have no doubt Captain Titus sent
this scalliwag ahead of the main body to see that all was clear."
"As scouts," suggested the major.
"Yes, sir; as scouts. As the ruffians had been severely punished in the
fight from the bridge, and by the shots from Fort Bedford, they were
likely to be more cautious than they had been before. They were whipped
out at every approach to Riverlawn. Captain Titus may have found out
that Colonel Belthorpe was on the way to his plantation to protect it
with force enough to do his ruffians a good deal of mischief. I think
Buck Lagger was sent out to obtain information."
"That is a reasonable supposition," the major acquiesced.
"Of course he could not expect to find the colonel and his force on the
old road, and he was going by the cross-cut to the new road, which
passes by the bridge over Bar Creek," Deck proceeded, perhaps feeling
that he had an inspiration of wisdom as well as of heroism. "When he
came to the cross-cut he must have seen that the Lodge was lighted."
"What you say reminds me that our party stood for some time on the
portico talking with Captain Carms and his family about an excursion up
the river which Tom suggested as we came out of the house. The wagon was
standing before the door waiting for us."
"I haven't any doubt Buck was near enough to hear what you said,"
interposed Deck. "Probably he had sent his scouts up the cross-cut, and
wanted to see why the mansion was lighted up at three o'clock in the
morning. He understood that those who were to go in the wagon belonged
to Colonel Belthorpe's family."
"The house is close by the road, and he could easily have seen who we
were," said Tom.
"He had been on the creek bridge when the colonel talked with Captain
Titus, and he saw that he was in command of the forces there. Very
likely he knew it was he who gave the order to fire upon his party below
the bridge. He must have been as hard down on your father as he was on
mine, Mr. Belthorpe. When he saw your two sisters ready to get into the
wagon, he had some trick in his head to obtain a hold upon your father.
The two ladies were to be hostages in the hands of the ruffians for the
conduct of your father."
"I think you have solved the problem, Deck, and only your bravery and
skill saved the girls," said Major Gadbury.
"My father would have burned his buildings himself to recover my
sisters, for no man was ever more devoted to his children than he is,"
added Tom. "If Buck had carried off the girls he would have had a
tremendous hold on him."
"I suppose the villain would have confined us in some hovel, under guard
of these miscreants, while he negotiated with my father with all the
odds in his favor," Miss Margie commented. "Perhaps that was his way to
have the arms returned to Captain Titus."
"You have saved us!" cried the younger and more impulsive Miss Kate, as
she rushed forward to grasp the hand of Deck; and perhaps she would have
kissed him again if Colonel Belthorpe had not entered the apartment at
this moment, and she retreated to the chair she had before occupied.
"I see you have arrived," said the devoted father. "I have been worrying
about you the last hour; but I concluded Captain Carms would send you
home. I left my wagon at the stable of a friend near the schoolhouse,
and I have been so busy all night that I have hardly thought of you, for
I knew that you would be safe at Captain Carms's."
"But we haven't been safe, papa," said Miss Kate, rushing into her
father's arms.
"Why, what has been the trouble, Kate?" asked the colonel, with his arms
around the beautiful girl.
Before she could answer, Colonel Cosgrove, followed by Major Lyon and
Squire Truman, entered the room.
"It seems that a fight has already come off in the cross-cut," said
Colonel Cosgrove, with some excitement in his manner. "Major Lyon's man
tells us you had a stormy time in the road, Deck. We did not wait to
bear the particulars."
Colonel Belthorpe presented his guest and the members of his family to
the party. Major Gadbury stated what had happened to them in the
cross-cut, and then asked Deck to describe the fight. But Deck, who was
not a bully or a blusterer, and was well ballasted with innate modesty
in spite of the great amount of talking he had done, declined to do so,
and the guest of the mansion described the fight with the marauders,
giving the young hero at least all the credit that was due to him.
Deck blushed up to the eyes at the praise bestowed upon him, and was
rather sorry he had not told the story, for he could have spared himself
the crimson on his cheeks.
"It is all true, every word of it, papa!" exclaimed Miss Kate.
"Deck, I am your debtor for life!" exclaimed Colonel Belthorpe,
detaching himself from the twining arms of his daughter, and rushing to
the hero of the night with both hands extended. "You are a noble and
brave fellow, Deck, and you will make your mark in the world!" And he
pressed both the hands of the boy.
"Upon my word, I think he has made his mark already!" added Major
Gadbury. "At any rate, he made it on the shoulder of Buck Lagger."
"My son, you have done well," said Major Lyon very quietly, as he took
the boy's hand. "I am glad I brought you with me."
"But, father, I was beaten by the ruffian who was holding Miss Kate; he
was too much for me, and he would have shaken me off if Mose had not
come up and given the fellow a sledge-hammer blow with his fist which
knocked him into a hole," Deck explained.
"Where is Mose?" demanded the father of the girl, as he took a gold
piece of money from his pocket. "Send for him, and let--"
"Excuse me, Colonel," interposed Major Lyon, placing his hand on his
arm. "I see what you mean, and I must beg you not to reward him, for
Mose did no more than every one of the faithful boys would have done if
he had had the opportunity, though all of them have not so hard a fist
as he."
"Just as you say, Major; but I feel grateful to Mose, as I do to Deck,
for the hard hit he made for the safety of my daughter," replied the
planter of Lyndhall. "We shall talk of this affair for the next week;
but just now perhaps we ought to attend to the duty of the present
moment. I sent the mounted men from Riverlawn down the old road for a
mile to reconnoitre, and those who came in the wagon over to the new
road to notify us of the approach of the enemy. We went over there on
our arrival to arrange a plan for the defence of the place."
"After hearing what transpired at the cross-cut, I doubt whether Captain
Titus will march his army up here," suggested Major Lyon.
"I think he will," added Colonel Cosgrove. "He is the maddest man I ever
met in my life, and he is determined to recover the arms."
"But the--I mean Captain Titus will try to gain his point by some
infamous trickery such as his lieutenant attempted at the cross road,"
said Major Gadbury, who was on the verge of calling him by some harsh
epithet.
"Your mansion is safe for the present, Colonel Belthorpe," said Major
Lyon, rising from the seat he had taken. "We might as well fight the
battle, if there is to be one, on the road near your house. I suggest
that we send our whole force down the new road, and drive the ruffians
across the river."
Before the others could express an opinion on this policy, the mulatto
in a white jacket announced that the horsemen were at the door, and
wanted to see "de ossifer."