"I couldn"t tell how far I was from home, but I knew it was a long distance, and I made tracks for the canoe as soon as I saw that it was getting dark. I hurried up till my arms ached so that I had to stop and rest. I made up my mind that I must take it moderately or I never should get home.
"While I was resting I saw three lights off to the south of me, and then I knew I was near that road. I could make out about half a dozen men or boys there, and I watched them for some time. I concluded that they were up to some mischief, and in my interest I forgot how late it was getting. I was possessed to know what iniquity was going on there, and I hauled the canoe up to the sh.o.r.e and made the painter fast to a bush. I landed, and made my way as near to the road as I dared to go. The ground was low, and covered with clumps of bushes, so I had no difficulty in hiding myself till I was within twenty feet of the party.
"I could hear every word they said; and the man who was bossing the job, whatever it was, satisfied me that he was Uncle t.i.tus."
"Uncle t.i.tus!" exclaimed Deck, ceasing to row in his astonishment.
"Not the least doubt of it; and more than this, I soon recognized the tones of Sandy and Orly; but I don"t know who the other three were."
"But what were they doing?" asked Deck, absorbed in the narrative.
"You have stopped rowing, Deck, and we shall never get there at this rate."
The stroke oarsman turned his body so that he could change hands at the handle of the oar, and then resumed pulling.
"Well, this was an adventure; but you didn"t tell me what they were doing," added Deck.
"I will tell you all about it, but don"t stop rowing, or we shall not get home before midnight, and father will give us a lecture for being out late at night. The men were handling a lot of boxes. Some of them were long enough to hold coffins, and I wondered if they hadn"t been killing Union men, and were getting rid of the bodies. Then they brought out a lot of haypoles or hand-barrows from the two big wagons in the road. I saw them put one of the boxes on the poles or barrow, and move towards the creek. I thought it was about time for me to be leaving, for I believed they would kill me if they caught me."
"They wouldn"t have let you off with a whole skin, anyhow," said Deck.
"Do you suppose the boxes contained bodies, Artie?"
"Hold on till I come to it, and I will tell you all about it," replied the narrator rather impatiently. "I wasn"t safe where I was, and I crept back to the creek between the clumps of bushes without making a bit of noise on the soft ground. The box the first couple carried was heavy and the bushes were in their way, so that they could not get along very fast. As soon as I was out of hearing of the party, I ran with all my might."
"I don"t blame you for being in a hurry, for if Uncle t.i.tus had got hold of you he would have made you see more stars then were in the sky just then. I wonder if they had been killing Union men. The Seceshers have done that thing in this State. A Union man was murdered in his own house not far from here."
"Dry up, Deck, or I shall never get through with my story!" exclaimed Artie, who did not relish these repeated interruptions.
"Go on, Artie; I won"t say another word," Deck promptly promised.
"I reached the creek, and cast off the canoe. I crossed over to the other side, and pulled down stream; for I knew that the two with the box could not be near the sh.o.r.e. I kept on towards home, but I was careful not to make any noise with my oars. Just below I saw a big flatboat, like the gundalow they used to have on the river to carry hay from the meadows. I drove the canoe into some bushes, and waited. The two men brought that long box to the sh.o.r.e, and loaded it into the flatboat, which was big enough to carry six cords of wood.
"The next load was brought by four men; and I could see by the way they handled it that it was very heavy. I stopped till they had brought down two more boxes, and then I thought it was time for me to be going. When the party had all left the sh.o.r.e I rowed along by the bushes that overhang the creek till I got round the bend. I didn"t wait to see any more, but rowed as fast as I could; and when I got to the pier I was so tired I could hardly stand up. That is the end of the story, Deck, and you know as much about the affair as I do; and I will answer all of your questions as well as I can."
"You did not find out anything for certain?" added the listener, disappointed because his cousin had not ascertained what was in the boxes.
"I did not; but I have been able to guess at some things; and that is the privilege of a New England Yankee."
"Well, what do you guess was in those boxes?"
"I didn"t guess on that question at the time of it; but I was satisfied that they concealed some sort of iniquity."
"What do you suppose they were putting them in the boat for?"
"Not to take them down the river, for they would have carried them to some place on its banks if they had wanted to do that. They wanted to take them up the creek, and this was the nearest point to it."
"What did they want to do with the boxes? Oh, I know! They were going to sink the bodies in the creek!" exclaimed Deck.
"That would have been a good enough guess a fortnight ago; but it isn"t worth shucks now. I told you before that I could explain things better this afternoon than I could when I saw what the men were doing."
"How is that?" asked Deck with his mouth half open.
"The moment mother told that story from Aunt Amelia, I knew what was in the boxes; and they did not contain bodies, either."
"Oh, I see! They contained the arms and ammunition."
"A blind man could see that."
"Well, that was an adventure. You mean that they were going to put them in the cavern by the sink?"
"Precisely that, and nothing less; and now we are going up to the sink to see for ourselves what is in the boxes," replied Artie.
They had a long pull before them; but they reached the place by five o"clock, and explored the cavern. They found the boxes and two cannons with their carriages. They could not open the boxes for the want of any tools; but the labels a.s.sured them they contained muskets and revolvers.
They hastened down the creek; but it was eight o"clock when they reached the mansion.
CHAPTER XI
AROUSED TO THE SOLEMN DUTY OF THE HOUR
It was more than two hours after suppertime when Deck and Artie arrived.
They were very tired and very hungry after their long pull up the creek; but they felt better after they had taken a hearty supper. Deck sought the first opportunity to detail the operations of the afternoon to his father.
"Your Uncle t.i.tus has been here this afternoon, and I have had a long talk with him on the bridge; but his first business here was to disclaim any knowledge of the arms and ammunition concealed on the river," said Mr. Lyon, before the boys had an opportunity to open with the story of their adventure. "He says your Aunt Amelia understood him with her elbows, and it was a ridiculous story she told your mother without a word of truth in it."
"Without a word of truth in it," repeated Deck, who was more inclined than Artie to do the talking, though the latter was fluent enough of speech when the occasion required it.
The boys looked at each other; and they did something more than smile this time, for they laughed out loud. In view of the revelation they had to make, the affair became more exciting; but after the discovery they had made, they did not wonder that t.i.tus had been so earnest in his purpose to contradict the statement their aunt had made.
"What are you laughing at, boys?" interposed their father. "This is a serious matter as your uncle looks upon it; and I suppose such a rumor circulated about the county might get him and his sons into trouble. The Unionists regard the Home Guards as precisely the same as Secessionists, and believe that they are armed, so far as they are armed, to help along the cause of the South."
"I should say that Uncle t.i.tus might be a little shaken up about the story Aunt Amelia related," added Artie with a significant look at his cousin.
"I don"t know but the Union people would mob him if they believed he had obtained arms for any Home Guards, especially for such ruffians as they say he has been gathering together for his company," said Mr. Lyon. "I have cautioned all who heard the story not to mention or hint at it in the strongest manner; for of course I don"t want to get your uncle into trouble by repeating a false rumor."
"Suppose he gets himself into trouble?" suggested Deck. "He is an out-and-out Secesher, and he don"t make any bones of saying so out loud.
Sandy thinks they will break up the Union meeting at the schoolhouse to-morrow night."
"t.i.tus says he has done his best to prevent anything of the kind being done," replied Mr. Lynn. "He thinks I should be mobbed and this house burned over our heads if he did not use his influence to prevent it. But your uncle believes what he wants to believe, and is certain a vast majority of the people of the county are Secessionists. I am very well satisfied that they are at least about equally divided. At any rate, the Secessionists are doing their best to overawe the Union people, and they might succeed to some extent if they could arm the villains they have enrolled."
"Then it is better not to let them be armed," suggested Deck, with a glance at his cousin.
"The story your mother told at dinner made it look as though they were to be provided with weapons and ammunition at once; but the statement is not true, and we appear to be safe for the present," said Mr. Lyon. "But where have you been all the afternoon, boys?"
"Deck will tell the story, father," replied Artie.