"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. CHAPTER XX THE APPROACH OF THE RUFFIAN FORCES 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. The people on this plantation were doubtless better informed and more intelligent than upon most of the estates in this portion of the South, for they had always been treated with what other planters regarded as imprudent indulgence. In the time of Colonel Lyon, slavery had been a patriarchal institution, and the negroes regarded him as a father, guide, and friend rather than as a taskmaster. Many of them had learned to read, and even carried their education several points farther. The planter had given them his illustrated papers, and others fell into their hands. Their usefulness increased with their intelligence; and to oblige his neighbors the colonel had occasionally sent his carpenters and masons to do jobs for them. The more intelligent of them had kept their eyes and ears open to learn the "signs of the times" during the troubles which agitated the State; and there were those among them who were well informed in matters which were generally believed to be above their comprehension. They went about among the people of other plantations, and when they obtained any news in regard to the movements of either party, it was circulated among the whole of them. Neither Noah Lyon nor Levi Bedford ever said anything about politics or the struggle between the contending parties for the mastery of the State; but the silence of the people indicated that they understood the situation. Though they were treated with what was considered extreme indulgence, and were entirely devoted to the planter and his family, the instinct of freedom doubtless existed in all of them. In a short time about a dozen of the negroes had come to the fort in obedience to the order of the overseer. Half of them were mechanics who had been at work during the evening. They were collected in the building, and the white men present proceeded to interrogate them in regard to their qualifications. "What is your name?" asked Colonel Belthorpe of the leader of the boat-crew. "General, sar," replied he.