"Put the same question, Artie," added Colonel Cosgrove, amused at the earnestness of Deck.
Artie put the question with less pomposity than his cousin, and the answer was the same. The brace of colonels then took part in the challenging, and the dozen applicants were promptly admitted. One of the colonels then suggested to the other that the boys could remain in the lobby while they stood inside the door.
Noah Lyon had presided on several occasions in town meetings, and his modesty had been so far overcome that he could face an audience, especially in such a cause as the present. He was received with applause and cheers, and proceeded to make a speech in his usual quiet way. He said he could not make such a speech as the eloquent gentleman from Barcreek village had done; but he was a Union man in every fibre of his being, whether he was in New Hampshire or Kentucky.
This statement was received with tremendous applause. He proceeded to say that he was a peaceable man, and was in favor of peaceable measures; but he did not intend to be overridden and trodden down by the Secession element, which he believed was in a large minority in the State. He was ready to talk as long as talking did any good; but when he had talked enough he was ready to fight.
This was the popular sentiment in the meeting, and a tumult of applause followed, ending in nine rousing cheers. He was ready to shoulder a musket in any Kentucky regiment, and he was glad that some had already been organized. He had twenty-seven horses he would give "without money and without price," to the cause of the Union, with which to start a cavalry company; and "I think I can _find_ arms for the men," he added.
This offer was greeted with yells of approval, and it was some time before he could say anything more.
"I will also contribute twenty horses," shouted Colonel Cosgrove.
"I will give the next twenty," Colonel Belthorpe cried out.
The clapping of hands and the cheering were renewed with more vigor than ever, if possible; and others offered to contribute from one to five each, till over a hundred horses were pledged for the company. In the midst of this enthusiasm the voice of Deck was heard in the lobby.
"Are you a Union man, sir?" he demanded in a voice loud enough to be heard in a momentary lull of the enthusiasm.
"No, I am not!" replied the applicant, with a volley of expletives.
"Then you can"t go in," answered Deck.
"Who says I can"t?" asked the intruder in fierce tones.
"This is a Union meeting, and none but Union men are admitted," replied Deck, loud enough to be heard on the platform; for the meeting had become silent, and all were turning around to see the door.
"Do you see that?" demanded the ruffian, as he drew a bowie-knife from his pocket, and threw it open with a jerk.
Deck had put his right hand on his hip pocket, which contained his revolver; and, the moment he saw the knife, he drew it, and pointed it at the part where the intruder carried what brains he had.
"And do you see that?" called the plucky boy.
"And that?" added Artie on the other side of the door.
"Take yourself off!" shouted Deck furiously, as he retreated a pace, to keep out of the reach of the wicked-looking blade of the knife.
"Isn"t this a free building?" asked the ruffian, as he looked from one revolver to the other.
"Free to Union men to-night," answered Deck.
By this time half a dozen men from the interior were approaching the door, and the ruffian suddenly decamped. Deck followed him to the door, and saw the man disappear in the grove on the other side of the road.
Then he heard a voice among the trees; and it was evident to him that there were more ruffians, perhaps biding their time to make an attack upon the Unionists when they went to their homes.
"Three cheers for the boys!" shouted one of the men who had come to the door, and observed the retreat of the ruffian.
They were l.u.s.tily given, and then Deck announced to the meeting that there were more men in the grove, for some one had hailed the ruffian that had just left the door.
"No matter for them," said the chairman. "Let us go on with this meeting, and when they come in, if they do so, we will take care of them. The boys will keep watch, and let us know if they approach the schoolhouse."
A committee of three were appointed to attend to the enrolment of the company of cavalry. The two colonels and the major by courtesy were appointed on this committee. Then Colonel Cosgrove was called upon to make the speech he had promised. He was not so eloquent as his professional brother from the village; but he was more solid, and was as vigorously applauded as the other speakers had been.
He said there had been a sort of reign of terror in the county, and it was because the Unionists had been less demonstrative than the Secessionists, and for that reason he believed in the present meeting.
He was disposed to be peaceable, but he was ready to fight for the Union. He proceeded at considerable length. He was in favor of having it understood in the county that there were plenty of Unionists within its borders, and that they were not to be frowned or bullied down by the ruffians of the other side.
This remark seemed to be the sense of the a.s.sembly, which had now increased in numbers to over a hundred, and the applause was decided.
While the colonel from the county town was speaking, Deck and Artie had been over to the other side of the road, and penetrated the grove for a short distance. Probably those who had been ejected from the meeting were there; but the boys crept near enough to make out that there were not less than fifty men there, and possibly double that number.
As they retired from the grove they found that a single man was following them. They retreated to the lobby of the schoolhouse, with their revolvers in their hands. They had hardly resumed their stations at the door when the man presented himself before them. To the astonishment of his two nephews this person proved to be t.i.tus Lyon.
"Are you a Union man?" demanded Deck.
"I am not," replied t.i.tus.
"Then you can"t go into this meeting," added Deck, as firmly as he had spoken at any time before.
The applicant could not fail to see that both of the boys had weapons in their hands. He looked earnest and determined, but he did not appear to be even angry. He halted and fixed his gaze upon the floor, apparently in deep thought.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE DEMAND OF CAPTAIN t.i.tUS LYON
Revolvers are dangerous weapons; and Deck and Artie had used them enough in sport to realize this truth. They had not yet become accustomed to seeing bullets fired into the bodies of human beings; to the sight of strong men falling with a death-wound in the head or heart, which was afterwards almost an everyday spectacle in the battles of the Great Rebellion.
They had been brought up where human life was held to be more sacred than in the locality to which they had been transplanted; and if they had thought of discharging their weapons into the vital parts of even the ruffians who menaced the Union meeting with violence, they were certainly not ready to begin with one of their own flesh and blood, though t.i.tus Lyon had proved himself to be one of the most virulent enemies of the public peace.
"I have no weapons, as you have, boys, and I have something to say to this meeting," said t.i.tus, after he had meditated for two or three minutes. "I want to go in; but I shall not stop there many minutes."
"We can"t let you in, Uncle t.i.tus," replied Deck decidedly; "that"s the order of the meeting."
"But I"m going in if I"m shot for it," continued the applicant for admission very quietly, but with none of the bl.u.s.ter which had become almost a second nature to him.
Perhaps the interest he felt in the mission which brought him to the schoolhouse had induced him to refrain from his usual potations, for he appeared to be perfectly sober. He used none of the intemperate language which was generally on his tongue, so that the boys were not roused to indignation, even if they were tempted to use their weapons; but both of them placed themselves in the doorway as though they intended to dispute his pa.s.sage into the room.
The meeting was proceeding with its business, though the orators had finished their speeches. A Union farmer was telling about one of his neighbors who had been threatened by the ruffians, as the Secessionists had come to be generally called by this time. He was quite earnest in his plea that something should be done to protect men who stood by the government.
The two colonels were interested, and they had moved forward where they could hear the farmer, who spoke in a low tone; and no one inside was aware of what was transpiring in the lobby, so that the boys were practically alone.
"We can"t let you in, Uncle t.i.tus, and we don"t want to shoot you,"
interposed Artie. "I will call Colonel Cosgrove, and you can make your request to him;" and he went to the place where the colonel was standing.
"But I am going in," persisted t.i.tus Lyon, attempting to push Deck aside.