"Arm your negroes!" exclaimed Colonel Belthorpe.
"Not to fight the battles of the nation, but to protect my wife and children and my property," answered the Riverlawn planter. "We can muster but four white men, and two of them are boys. If a mob of fifty or a hundred or five hundred ruffians come over here to hang me and burn my house, shall I let them do so rather than employ the willing hands of men with black faces to defend myself?" demanded Noah Lyon, earnestly enough to mount almost to the height of eloquence.
"By the great Jehoshaphat, I believe you are right!" exclaimed Colonel Belthorpe, with a stamp of his foot. "I did not look at it in that way. But making soldiers of the niggers is another thing, and I'm not ready for that."
"We are all agreed so far as the situation on this place is concerned. If there were any State or national force at hand to call upon for protection against these reckless ruffians, I should invoke its aid; but there is none, and we must protect ourselves," added Colonel Cosgrove. "I heartily approve of Major Lyon's purpose to use his negroes to defend himself and his property."
"Then it is high time to get them in training for this service," said the major with energy. "Levi, call in the hands you just sent away."
Two of them came back without any calling, for they burst into the fort in a state of high excitement.
"Well, Bitts, what's the matter now?" asked Levi very calmly.
"Gouge and me done went down to de rapids, whar we kin see de bridge ober de riber, and dar's more'n two tousand men comin' ober it!" gasped Bitts.
"Call it fifty or a hundred, Bitts. But no matter, boy; call in all the hands except the two on the creek bridge."
Both of the negroes rushed off on their mission.
If the negroes asked no questions, most of them were intelligent enough to interpret the preparations which had been made at Fort Bedford. The six boatmen who had remained half the night in the rear of the schoolhouse had had time enough to do some talking among the hands, though they had come in contact only with those who had been at work on the fort.
These men had listened to the tumult in the building and in the road, and through the open window near the boat had come to their ears the demand of Titus Lyon when admitted, and the reply of the meeting. They knew that Colonel Cosgrove, Colonel Belthorpe, and Squire Truman had taken an active part in the meeting, and they could understand for what purpose they had come to Riverlawn so late in the night.