mmand, and pass it over to you."

"I accept it, for I know the ground, as you say; but I shall be happy
to have your counsel," replied the colonel.

"I have none to offer at present. I will take a rifle, and act with
your sons, though they are better riflemen than I am."

"All we have to do is to blaze away when the enemy begin to rise the
hill, and I shall use the same weapon. Warren is the chief gunner, and
he has trained some of the servants to handle the guns," said the
planter, looking down the hill.

"Can any of your negroes handle a rifle, Colonel?" asked Deck,
recalling the time when his father's servants had been armed with
muskets, and had made good use of them at the "Battle of Riverlawn."

"Some of them can; but I have scruples against arming them for fighting
purposes."

"So had my father; but when it came to the question of defending
himself and the members of his family against a mob of ruffians such as
those now approaching your mansion,--for they threatened to burn his
house and hang him to a tree,--he did not hesitate," added Deck,
recalling the stirring events of that time. "Of course there was no
place for them in the army, though the overseer has kept them in
training for the defence of the family and the plantation."

"We have no time to discuss that question now, and the negroes are
assisting Warren at the guns," replied the colonel. "But who is that
man over on the left? He seems to be running with all his might towards
the column of the robbers."

"That must be Captain Grundy who surrendered and then ran away,"
answered Deck. "But he is too far off even for the riflemen."

The chief of the brigands had taken a wide sweep in order to reach the
approaching force of mounted men, and was now about as far from them as
from the colonel's fort. The face of the country was uneven, and he
soon disappeared behind a hill. Lieutenant Lyon had endeavored to
obtain some information in regard to the Riverlawn Cavalry of Warren
Hickman as soon as he found the time to do so. But the riflemen were
quartered apart from the mounted men, and he knew very little about the
squadron. In the morning it was ascertained that General Crittenden's
forces had evacuated the fort, and crossed the river. The
sharpshooters, being no longer needed, had been dismissed, and the
planter's sons had gone directly to their home.

"There comes Cuffy the ferryman, riding with all the speed he can get
out of his poor horse," s