Probably there was no enemy within a mile of the fort; but they had been told that they were not to leave their places for anything, and they were disposed literally to obey their orders. But the angry tones of the surgeon had awakened Levi Bedford, who was sleeping at one end of the fort. He sprang to his feet, and discovered the doctor at the couch of his patient.
"Good-morning, Doctor Falkirk," said he. "I did not know you were here."
"I knew I was here, and I ordered those black scoundrels to a.s.sist me, and they refused to do so," replied the doctor angrily.
"They only obey their orders, but they rather overdo it. I will a.s.sist you, Doctor," added Levi.
"Orders!" exclaimed the professional gentleman contemptuously. "One would think this was a regular garrison."
"That is about what it is," replied the overseer.
"Humbug!" said the surgeon, as he turned to his patient.
Levi called in one of the sentinels, and the bed of the wounded man was drawn out before the door where the light was best, and the doctor proceeded with his work. The morphine pills he had given the patient appeared to have relieved his pain. The operator probed for the ball, and soon found it. Then he dressed the wound with as much care as though the sufferer had been a Kentucky colonel. He had hardly completed his office before Buck dropped asleep under the influence of the powerful medicine he had taken. The bed was moved back without waking him, and Dr. Falkirk pa.s.sed out of the fort, followed by the overseer.
"Keep the man quiet for a week, and give him anything he wants to eat,"
said he, as he looked about him at the warlike preparations which had been finished the day before.
"We have three more wounded men in the hospital who need a surgeon,"
added Levi.
"What are those n.i.g.g.e.rs doing over on the other side of the creek?"
asked the surgeon, whose gaze had wandered to the grove at the side of the road. Some of the hands had been directed to bury the man who had fallen behind the tree where he had taken refuge from the shots of the defenders of the plantation.
He had been seen in the act of levelling his gun at the advancing column, and Levi had brought him down before he could discharge his weapon.
"They are burying a man that fell in the skirmish last night," Levi replied to the question of the doctor.
"What skirmish?" inquired Dr. Falkirk, with evident astonishment.
"You don"t appear to have heard the news, Doctor," replied the overseer.
"What news? I was called to General Longman"s plantation last evening; I spent the night there, and did not get home till half-past eight this morning."
As briefly as possible Levi gave the details of the events of the preceding night, beginning with the meeting at Big Bend, and ending with the final defeat and surrender of the ruffians.
"An Abolition row!" said the doctor contemptuously.
"Not exactly, Dr. Falkirk; it was a Secession row!" added Levi with energy.
"Brought about by the insane wrangling of the traitors to the State of Kentucky!" snapped the surgeon.
"The traitors to the State of Kentucky are loyal to the government of the United States and the Union," protested the overseer.
"There is no longer any United States, and the Union has ceased to exist! The men who are making all this trouble in Kentucky are those who are trying to make war upon the Southern Confederacy, to subdue and enslave a dozen sovereign States!" argued the doctor, almost furiously.
"I reckon it"s no use for you and me to argue this question, for we don"t live in the same world on that subject," said the overseer, with a smile on his round face. "But Kentucky is for the Union by a large majority, and what you call sovereign States are in rebellion against the lawful authorities of the nation, and the insurrection will be put down just as sure as fate."
"This used to be a free country, though it isn"t so now; but every man can have his own opinion as long as he is willing to be responsible for it."
"It isn"t exactly a free country as long as the loyal citizens of this county cannot hold a meeting without being attacked by the ruffians of Secession, as was the case at Big Bend last night. Then the same villains came over here in a mob of a hundred to burn Major Lyon"s house, and capture his daughters, as they tried to do with Colonel Belthorpe"s girls. They did not succeed, and some of them were shot down in the attempt. The right to commit such outrages as these is what you call free; but we at Riverlawn don"t understand it in just that way."
"But, according to your own statement, Mr. Bedford, your people had stolen the arms intended for the company of the Home Guards whom Captain t.i.tus Lyon has enlisted," returned the doctor.
"We took possession of the arms and ammunition, including the two guns at those embrasures, to prevent these ruffians from using them against the loyal citizens of the county in carrying out their ideas of freedom," said Levi stoutly. "Do you believe these ruffians, the offscourings of the county, ought to be permitted to burn, ravage, and destroy the homes of some of the most respectable people in this vicinity, Dr. Falkirk?"
"But your people were the aggressors, and I think they were justified in trying to recover the property that had been stolen from them."
"The ruffians issued their threats to burn the mansion of Major Lyon before the arms entered into the question."
The discussion might have continued all day, if Sam, Colonel Belthorpe"s house servant, had not ridden up at this moment.
"I come for the doctor, sar," said the man.
"Who is sick at Lyndhall, Sam?" asked Levi with much interest.
"n.o.body sick, Mars"r Bedford; but Mars"r Tilford"s very bad with his wound, and Mars"r Cunnel send me for the doctor," replied the servant.
"Is this another of your victims, Mr. Bedford?" asked the doctor with a heavy sneer.
"It is Colonel Belthorpe"s overseer. He refused to a.s.sist in protecting the family from the ruffians, and left the mansion. It seems that he was shot in attempting to join your army, doctor."
"He"s a brave fellow! I will go and see him."
"But he deserted your army of ruffians, and crawled back to the house, where the girls nursed him and cared for him. Now the colonel sends for you to patch him up, the ingrate!"
"True to his principles against his employer!"
The doctor was conducted to the hospital, where he did his duty faithfully to those who had been wounded, though Levi reminded him that they belonged to "his army." None of them were in a bad way, and the surgeon said they would be all right in a few days.
All was quiet again at Riverlawn, and the sleepers used most of the day in their beds. On the following morning, after the whole evening had been used in discussing the events of the preceding night, everything went along as usual on the plantation. No more ruffians appeared on the other side of the creek, though Major Lyon and the boys remained on duty at the fort.
"What is to be the end of all these disturbances, Noah?" asked Mrs.
Lyon, as the family seated themselves at the breakfast-table the second morning after the battle, as they had come to call the events of that stormy night.
"I think we all understand what is before us. We are to have war, and I don"t believe it will end in a hundred days, as the statesman at Washington says," replied Major Lyon; and even some of his family had learned to apply this t.i.tle to him. "Within a few days we shall begin to form a company of cavalry. I am still of military age, and the boys are old enough to take part in the struggle before us. But Levi will remain on the plantation; and as the hands have proved that they can stand up under fire, he will have the means of protecting you, Ruth."
"Of course we shall be sorry to have you go, but I agree with you, Noah, that your country has a claim upon you which you cannot shirk," replied Mrs. Lyon, struggling to repress a tear.
"Buck Lagger asked me this morning if I thought he was well enough to be hung," said Levi, perhaps to break off the conversation in that line.
"Do you think of hanging him, Levi?" inquired the planter.
"That is what I promised him; but I leave that matter to you, Major Lyon. He is a murderer at heart, and the bullet from his gun pa.s.sed within two inches of the top of my head."
"I should not like to have him hung at Riverlawn," added the planter. "I will talk with him, and see what can be done; but there is no law in this part of the country just now."
The family were to dine that day at Lyndhall at one o"clock, so that none of them need be absent after dark. Major Lyon left the house, and was directing his steps towards Fort Bedford for an interview, when he saw Captain t.i.tus Lyon driving over the bridge. He did not care to meet him, but he could hardly avoid doing so, and he stopped in front of the flower-garden. t.i.tus fastened his horse to a post, and approached his brother.