by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXV
THE GRATITUDE OF TWO FAIR MAIDENS
The mansion house of Colonel Belthorpe was quite near the road. Theforce under his command must have arrived some time before, for severalof the windows were lighted. The four white men were not to be seen, butthe eight boys who had been mounted stood near the house, apparentlywaiting for orders.
Though the encounter of the wagon party with the ruffians has required aconsiderable time for its recital, they had not been detained over halfan hour, if as long as that; but no one took account of time in theexciting 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, theprettier of the two daughters of the colonel.
When the hero of the occasion had attended the young lady to the door ofthe house, he excused himself, and hastened to the mounted men who stoodin front of the mansion. They were astonished at the arrival of twowagons instead of one, and were discussing the matter among themselves.
"Where is Colonel Belthorpe, General?" inquired Deck, after he hadsaluted the boys in his usual familiar manner; for he had none of thehaughtiness of those who were "to the manner born."
"Don't know, Mars'r Deck; he and the oder gen'lemen done went ober datway," replied General. "De ole road's ober dat way, and I 'spect deywent to look out for de ruffi'ns."
"They won't be here for half an hour or more," added Deck, as CaptainCarms'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 hadstopped near the party. The driver from Rock Lodge had run away as soonas his vehicle was beset by the ruffians; yet he could tell his portionof 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 wasgaping with all his might, showed him to the sitting-room, where hefound the wagon party. There was no Mrs. Belthorpe, for she had passedaway 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 feeljust as though I was a dude."
"Well, you are not a dude," added the fair daughter of the planter, asindignantly as though some person besides herself had called him by theopprobrious name.
"And I don't run away, either."
"That's so!" exclaimed Major Gadbury with decided emphasis. "But Ireally wonder that you did not run away instead of pitching into thatscoundrel who was carrying off Miss Kate."
"I couldn't have done that if I had tried while the lady seemed to be insuch a dangerous situation," answered Deck, as he seated himself as nearMiss Kate as he could find a place. "But I have been talking myself allthe time since we started from the cross-cut, and I don't know yet howyou 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 leftRock Lodge, and Tom told the driver to go by that cross road. It was aterribly rough passage we had of it, and I think we went over rocks afoot 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, andSquire 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 theroad. I don't see how Buck Lagger happened to be where he was with therest of his gang," added Deck.
"He appears to have had six men with him as nearly as I can make itout," 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 theshot from my revolver," replied Deck. "I am sorry to say that my UncleTitus is a Northern doughface, and is the leader of these ruffians. Hebought the arms and ammunition of which we took possession at thesink-hole. I believe he hates my father on account of his Unionism andhis 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," saidMajor Gadbury.
"Buck Lagger is his lieutenant and supporter, and I have no doubtCaptain Titus sent him to the schoolhouse to disturb the meeting. Hecarried the flag of truce to-night at the bridge over the creek when hisleader demanded the return of the arms," Deck explained. "Though I don'tknow any more about it than you do, I have no doubt Captain Titus sentthis 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 thefight from the bridge, and by the shots from Fort Bedford, they werelikely to be more cautious than they had been before. They were whippedout at every approach to Riverlawn. Captain Titus may have found outthat Colonel Belthorpe was on the way to his plantation to protect itwith force enough to do his ruffians a good deal of mischief. I thinkBuck 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 theold road, and he was going by the cross-cut to the new road, whichpasses by the bridge over Bar Creek," Deck proceeded, perhaps feelingthat he had an inspiration of wisdom as well as of heroism. "When hecame 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 theportico talking with Captain Carms and his family about an excursion upthe river which Tom suggested as we came out of the house. The wagon wasstanding 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, andwanted to see why the mansion was lighted up at three o'clock in themorning. He understood that those who were to go in the wagon belongedto Colonel Belthorpe's family."
"The house is close by the road, and he could easily have seen who wewere," said Tom.
"He had been on the creek bridge when the colonel talked with CaptainTitus, and he saw that he was in command of the forces there. Verylikely he knew it was he who gave the order to fire upon his party belowthe bridge. He must have been as hard down on your father as he was onmine, Mr. Belthorpe. When he saw your two sisters ready to get into thewagon, 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 theconduct of your father."
"I think you have solved the problem, Deck, and only your bravery andskill saved the girls," said Major Gadbury.
"My father would have burned his buildings himself to recover mysisters, 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 atremendous hold on him."
"I suppose the villain would have confined us in some hovel, under guardof these miscreants, while he negotiated with my father with all theodds in his favor," Miss Margie commented. "Perhaps that was his way tohave the arms returned to Captain Titus."
"You have saved us!" cried the younger and more impulsive Miss Kate, asshe rushed forward to grasp the hand of Deck; and perhaps she would havekissed him again if Colonel Belthorpe had not entered the apartment atthis moment, and she retreated to the chair she had before occupied.
"I see you have arrived," said the devoted father. "I have been worryingabout you the last hour; but I concluded Captain Carms would send youhome. I left my wagon at the stable of a friend near the schoolhouse,an
d I have been so busy all night that I have hardly thought of you, forI knew that you would be safe at Captain Carms's."
"But we haven't been safe, papa," said Miss Kate, rushing into herfather's arms.
"Why, what has been the trouble, Kate?" asked the colonel, with his armsaround the beautiful girl.
Before she could answer, Colonel Cosgrove, followed by Major Lyon andSquire Truman, entered the room.
"It seems that a fight has already come off in the cross-cut," saidColonel Cosgrove, with some excitement in his manner. "Major Lyon's mantells us you had a stormy time in the road, Deck. We did not wait tobear the particulars."
Colonel Belthorpe presented his guest and the members of his family tothe party. Major Gadbury stated what had happened to them in thecross-cut, and then asked Deck to describe the fight. But Deck, who wasnot a bully or a blusterer, and was well ballasted with innate modestyin 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 wasrather sorry he had not told the story, for he could have spared himselfthe 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 tothe hero of the night with both hands extended. "You are a noble andbrave fellow, Deck, and you will make your mark in the world!" And hepressed both the hands of the boy.
"Upon my word, I think he has made his mark already!" added MajorGadbury. "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 tookthe boy's hand. "I am glad I brought you with me."
"But, father, I was beaten by the ruffian who was holding Miss Kate; hewas too much for me, and he would have shaken me off if Mose had notcome up and given the fellow a sledge-hammer blow with his fist whichknocked him into a hole," Deck explained.
"Where is Mose?" demanded the father of the girl, as he took a goldpiece of money from his pocket. "Send for him, and let--"
"Excuse me, Colonel," interposed Major Lyon, placing his hand on hisarm. "I see what you mean, and I must beg you not to reward him, forMose did no more than every one of the faithful boys would have done ifhe had had the opportunity, though all of them have not so hard a fistas 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 theplanter 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 presentmoment. I sent the mounted men from Riverlawn down the old road for amile to reconnoitre, and those who came in the wagon over to the newroad to notify us of the approach of the enemy. We went over there onour arrival to arrange a plan for the defence of the place."
"After hearing what transpired at the cross-cut, I doubt whether CaptainTitus will march his army up here," suggested Major Lyon.
"I think he will," added Colonel Cosgrove. "He is the maddest man I evermet in my life, and he is determined to recover the arms."
"But the--I mean Captain Titus will try to gain his point by someinfamous trickery such as his lieutenant attempted at the cross road,"said Major Gadbury, who was on the verge of calling him by some harshepithet.
"Your mansion is safe for the present, Colonel Belthorpe," said MajorLyon, rising from the seat he had taken. "We might as well fight thebattle, if there is to be one, on the road near your house. I suggestthat we send our whole force down the new road, and drive the ruffiansacross the river."
Before the others could express an opinion on this policy, the mulattoin a white jacket announced that the horsemen were at the door, andwanted to see "de ossifer."
