Levi called in one of the sentinels, and the bed of the wounded man was drawn out before the door where the light was best, and the doctor proceeded with his work. The morphine pills he had given the patient appeared to have relieved his pain. The operator probed for the ball, and soon found it. Then he dressed the wound with as much care as though the sufferer had been a Kentucky colonel. He had hardly completed his office before Buck dropped asleep under the influence of the powerful medicine he had taken. The bed was moved back without waking him, and Dr. Falkirk passed out of the fort, followed by the overseer. "Keep the man quiet for a week, and give him anything he wants to eat," said he, as he looked about him at the warlike preparations which had been finished the day before. "We have three more wounded men in the hospital who need a surgeon," added Levi. "What are those niggers doing over on the other side of the creek?" asked the surgeon, whose gaze had wandered to the grove at the side of the road. Some of the hands had been directed to bury the man who had fallen behind the tree where he had taken refuge from the shots of the defenders of the plantation. He had been seen in the act of levelling his gun at the advancing column, and Levi had brought him down before he could discharge his weapon. "They are burying a man that fell in the skirmish last night," Levi replied to the question of the doctor. "What skirmish?" inquired Dr. Falkirk, with evident astonishment. "You don't appear to have heard the news, Doctor," replied the overseer. "What news? I was called to General Longman's plantation last evening; I spent the night there, and did not get home till half-past eight this morning." As briefly as possible Levi gave the details of the events of the preceding night, beginning with the meeting at Big Bend, and ending with the final defeat and surrender of the ruffians. "An Abolition row!" said the doctor contemptuously. "Not exactly, Dr. Falkirk; it was a Secession row!" added Levi with energy. "Brought about by the insane wrangling of the traitors to the State of Kentucky!" snapped the surgeon. "The traitors to the State of Kentucky are loyal to the government of the United States and the Union," protested the overseer. "There is no longer any United States, and the Union has ceased to exist! The men who are making all this trouble in Kentucky are those who are trying to make war upon the Southern Confederacy, to subdue and enslave a dozen sovereign States!" argued the doctor, almost furiously. "I reckon it's no use for you and me to argue this question, for we don't live in the same world on that subject," said the overseer, with a smile on his round face. "But Kentucky is for the Union by a large majority, and what you call sovereign States are in rebellion against the lawful authorities of the nation, and the insurrection will be put down just as sure as fate."