"I know just where that sink-hole and cavern are, and all we have to do to get there is to follow the creek," added the manager. "The flatboat is near the place, and we can move the boxes in that, as the conspirators conveyed them from the road," replied Mr. Lyon. "But there are only four of us, two men and two boys. The cannons must weigh six or seven hundred pounds apiece, and we shall want more help." "Well, we have help enough, and we can take a dozen of the people with us, if we want as many as that," added Levi. "I know something about these things, for when I kept stable in my State I used to belong to an artillery company." "Can the negroes be trusted? We must keep our operations a profound secret." "In this business you can trust them a great deal farther than you can a white man," said the overseer, as he took a piece of paper from the desk and wrote down the names of some of the hands. "How many do you want, Major Lyon?" "Half a dozen; we can't accommodate more than that. Put in the boatmen, for there is a deal of boating to be done." Levi revised his list and then handed it to the planter. "General, Dummy, Rosebud, Woolly, Mose, Faraway," Mr. Lyon read from the list. "I should say you had picked out just the men we need. They are all used to the boats, and they are among the toughest and strongest hands on the place. Yon must put them under oath, if need be, to be as secret as death itself. I will leave all that to you. Now, have them at the lower boat pier just as soon as possible, and we will be there." "I will have them there in fifteen minutes," replied Levi, as he hastened to execute his mission. "Now, boys, go to the pier, and get the Magnolia in condition to go up the creek," continued Mr. Lyon. "The Magnolia!" exclaimed Deck. "Why, she--" "We have no time to argue any question, Dexter," interposed the father. "Take your overcoats; and you are to be as secret as the rest of us. Ask your mother to come into the library, but don't stop to talk, my son." The boys left the room, and Mrs. Lyon immediately presented herself in the library. "What in the world is going on here to-night, Noah?" asked the good woman. "Ever since the boys came in you have been closeted in here as if you were planning something." "So we are, Ruth, for the boys made a great discovery on their trip up the creek," answered the planter hurriedly. "That story about the arms and ammunition which Titus and Amelia came down here to disclaim and deny was all as true as gospel, for the boys have found them."