"I am delighted to see you, Mr. Lyon!" exclaimed the young lady, who was only nineteen years old, as she sprang to the hero of the night, grasped his hand, and then kissed him as though he had been a baby. Deck was seventeen years old, and rather large of his age, as well as somewhat forward for his years; and he felt as though he had tumbled into a sugar-bowl at that moment. The blaze of Clinker's fire lighted up his blushing face, and possibly he was sorry there were no more ruffians at hand for him to shoot if such was to be his reward. He forgot that he was tired and sleepy in the pleasurable excitement which followed the encounter. "If you please, we will go over to the fire where the other lady is waiting for you," said he, as he started for the point indicated. "Fall in behind and follow us, boys," he added to the recruits. "I have never happened to meet any negroes in arms before," said Tom Belthorpe, as he walked along with Deck. "But they seem to be ready for business." "They are indeed; and these boys are as brave as any white men could be," added Deck, loud enough for the subject of his remark to hear it. The two ruffians who had been left at the heads of the horses had fled into the woods as soon as they saw that the assault was repulsed, and the animals had become restive. Clinker had rushed over to secure them, and he had quieted them down so they were quite reasonable by this time. The young lady committed to his charge had followed him. "This is my sister, Miss Kate Belthorpe," said Margie, when the party reached the spot. "Oh, I am so glad you came when you did, Mr.----" "Dexter Lyon," added Tom. "Mr. Lyon; and you were as brave as a lion!" exclaimed Kate, as she took the hand of Deck; and either because she had witnessed the reception her sister had given the hero, or as an inspiration of her own, she promptly kissed him on both cheeks, and Deck felt as though he had fallen into a barrel of sugar. "You grappled with that villain, just as though you had been as big as he was, and held on to him till one of your boys knocked him into the hole with his fist. You are a brave fellow, and I shall remember you as long as I live." "And 'none but the brave deserve the fair,'" added Major Gadbury. "How did you happen to get into this scrape, Mr. Belthorpe?" asked Deck. "We were all invited to a party at Rock Lodge, and we went. The governor couldn't go, for he insisted upon attending a Union meeting at the Big Bend schoolhouse," replied Tom. "But he promised to call for us on his way home, for he drove us to the Lodge himself. Most of the guests left by midnight, but father did not come, and we could not walk home. But at three o'clock Captain Carms volunteered to send us home when we became impatient." "My father and I went to that meeting, and so did some of these ruffians that committed this outrage," added Deck. "But these scoundrels are not Union men," objected Tom.