something with the chest, which contains
all his money and papers. I can't carry it any farther, for it is very
heavy."

"And what were you gwine to do with it?" inquired Life, looking into
her pretty face.

"I was going to carry it over to the house of Colonel Ben Halliburn, my
guardian's brother, as he told me to do."

"All right, Missy; I'll tote it over to the road, and report to the
leftenant as soon as he comes up with the men," added Life as he picked
up the treasure-chest.

It was heavy, as the young woman had said, though it was a light load
for the powerful Kentuckian; and he concluded at once that it must
contain a considerable amount of gold. In the distracted condition of
the State very few had any confidence in the banks, and some had turned
their bills into coin for any emergency that might arise. Before he
reached the road he saw another scout getting over the fence.

"Get on your hoss agin, Fronklyn!" shouted Life, who walked with long
and hurried strides, so that Grace had to run in order to keep near
him.

The story of the bearer of the chest had fully aroused him by this
time; and he was ready for action, whether it was in a fight, or in the
service of the fair maiden, though there was hardly a fibre of
sentimentalism in his composition. When he reached the road, Sergeant
Fronklyn had mounted his horse, and was waiting for orders from the
chief scout.

"Ride back like a streak o' lightnin', and tell Leftenant Lyon that the
gorrillas is cleanin' out a house over yender!" said Life in hurried
speech. "How fur back is the platoon?"

"Not more than half a mile," said Fronklyn.

"Go it, and don't let the grass grow under your hoss's irons!"

The other scout went off at the fastest gallop of his steed, and soon
disappeared beyond a turn in the road. The Riverlawn Cavalry had been
enlisted, drilled, and mustered into the loyal army at the plantation
of Noah Lyon, who had inherited the property under the will of his
elder brother. The raising of hemp and horses had made the deceased
brother, Colonel Duncan Lyon, a rich man, as worldly possessions were
gauged in this locality. His property had been fairly divided among his
heirs. The plantation had been given to his younger brother, greatly to
the dissatisfaction of the elder one.

Titus Lyon, the other surviving brother, was an entirely different kind
of man from Noah, as the original owner of Riverlawn was well aware
when he gave the place to