"Nothing but a big tree beyond the road, and a large branch fell to the ground," replied Deck.
"I had an idea that you had been fooling us at first, Levi," added Artie, "and had fired at the main body, for they stopped as short as though the cannon ball had gone through the crowd. All the men at work on the raft knocked off instantly, and ran away as though the shot were chasing them."
"I reckon we needn't fire another shot, for the ruffians won't go near that raft again," added Levi. "I fired over their heads, as I told you I should, and nobody was hurt by that shot. I dropped one man behind that tree, and that is all the mischief I have done."
"Are you sorry for that one?" asked Deck.
"I am sorry for him, but not that I hit him, for he might have killed two or three of our people from his hiding-place behind the tree. I don't believe in killing anybody as long as it can possibly be avoided; but the ruffians began the shooting, and they are responsible for the consequences. At least half a dozen Union men have been killed in this county by those ruffians, or those like them; and your father might have been swinging from a big tree by this time if we hadn't taken the bull by the horns. No, I am not sorry for anything I have done!"
"And the house would have been burnt down, and mother and the girls subjected to the insults of these miscreants," added Artie; and all three of them were much moved as they contemplated the possibilities before them.
"Can you see anything of our people over there, Deck?" asked Levi.
"I don't believe there will be anything more to do at the fort to-night, though the affair may not be over yet," continued Levi, after he had anxiously peered through the gloom to discover the rest of the defenders of Riverlawn. "I want you, Deck, to go up to the bridge, and down the creek road, and ascertain what our people are doing. You may report to Colonel Belthorpe that we have driven off the builders of the raft, and that the main body of the ruffians have fallen back from the road into the grove."
"All right, Levi," replied Deck, who was very glad to be appointed to such a mission; and, with his breech-loader on his shoulder, he marched in the direction indicated at a lively pace, though he was so tired and sleepy that it required a determined effort to enable him to keep on his feet, for it was now two o'clock in the morning.