"Major Lyon, I think you had better let me do the talking, for the situation must be very annoying to you," suggested the leader. "I shall be very glad to have you do so, Colonel," answered the planter. "I am extremely sorry that my own brother is the leader of the ruffians, and I did not expect to see him engaged in such a work. He warned me yesterday that my place might be burned, and that I might be hung to one of the big trees, though he had prevented such an outrage so far." "I suppose the loss of the military stores has roused him to the highest pitch of wrath, which he manifested in his visit to the meeting. But if he can proceed so far as to bring a horde of ruffians to burn your house and hang you to a tree, you can't do less than defend yourself, even if he is your own brother," said the lawyer. "I do not shrink from my duty," added Noah Lyon. "March!" exclaimed the leader, as he advanced to the middle of the bridge, where the party from the other side had halted by this time. Captain Titus was evidently surprised to find his brother supported by two of the most distinguished men of the county, to say nothing of the eloquent village lawyer. He could not help seeing that there was law enough on the other side, and that they knew what they were doing. "What is your business here?" demanded Colonel Belthorpe in a very stern tone. "I stated my position in the meet'n' you held to-night, and you heard what I had to say," Captain Titus began. "We all heard you; and it is not necessary to repeat it," replied the commander. "What is your business here at this time of night?" "We came here for the arms and ammunition that was stole from us last night. They were my property till they were given out to the company," Captain Titus explained. "What company? Do you mean the ruffians you have led over here? They are a horde of lawless men. You have no authority to raise a company, and it does not appear in what service they are to be employed. They have made war upon the peaceable people of this county, as they did this evening at the schoolhouse." "We hain't made war on nobody!" protested Titus, warming up to the occasion. "You sent some of your force into the schoolroom to break up a Union meeting; and that was making war upon the people there assembled. The man at your side with the white flag was one that I assisted in putting out. We knew the arms were for the use of these ruffians in terrorizing the whole country," said Colonel Belthorpe in the most emphatic speech; and he used the "we" to shift the responsibility from the shoulders of Major Lyon to those of himself and associates. "Captain Titus Lyon, you and your gang have been bullying and persecuting the Union citizens of this vicinity long enough; and from this time they intend to defend themselves in earnest. You have made war on them, and the arms and ammunition were simply the spoils of war."