In the Saddle

e a very handsome fortune. But he died at the age of fifty, and bequeathed his property, consisting of a large plantation, which he had named Riverlawn, because it had a delightful lawn, with gr

ative town. He was a mason by trade, and had done fairly well in his former home at his business. He was one of those men who believed that fate or circumstances had misused him, as he co

nd was really opposed to his coming. His discontent with his condition had induced him to change his residence to this far-off section of the country, probably with a motive which he conce

e in that rural section of the country. It was not a prohibition State, which seemed to make it all the worse for the head of this family; for

to some extent his habit affected his manners and his morals. He had always appeared to be extremely devoted to the colonel, and ev

decease he paid a visit of a month to his brother Noah, the youngest of the three brothers, in his native town. The latter was a substantial man, who held

, Dexter and Hope. Cyrus, a fourth brother of the Lyons, had lost his life in a freshet in Vermont, where he had settled as a farmer; and his wife had perished with him, leaving two small children,

is wife for not doing so, and the little ones had reached the ages of seventeen and fifteen when they were removed to Kentucky. Noah and his wife treated them in ev

ah to the late home of the deceased. To the intense disappointment of Titus, the Riverlawn plantation had been left to Noah, with the fifty-one slaves, and

ng about the estate. For this reason, and because he was next in age to the deceased, he had come to believe that the place belonged to him. The colonel had othe

roperty among his nearest of kin. He had given some legacies to his personal

dollars in trust for these children. He had left the same sum to Titus, less a mortgage note given at the time the mason had purchased his residence in the village. The will was

um of money left to his successor on the plantation, in payment for the support of the niece and nephew of the testator, and the disposition of the negroes, were the principal grievances of Titus, apparently, though the r

ns with his angry and discontented brother. Some discussion had taken place between them, and Titus was as unreasonable as

een hired servants instead of slaves, perhaps more so. The "people," as they were often called on the plantation, after the manner of a man-of-war,

wrath. He appeared to believe that his deceased brother had no rights in his own property, all of which he had accumulated himself. He had nursed himself into the conviction that he was

shadow of justice in the charges of his brother against him. Noah had not a particle of it in his composition; for he was a true Christian, an

to be as patriotic as the other. Probably because Noah was emphatically devoted to the Union, Titus had taken the other side of the question in Kentu

Union men, and appealed to the traditions of the past as the first State to join the original thirteen. Captain Titus had become the commander of one of these companies, on his promise to uniform and eq

tended that his company should be the best equipped in the region, and his newly acquired wealth made him very extravagant. But the Union forces had begun to show themselves in the State, and the lo

ch he had conveyed them to one of the numerous sink-hole caverns which abound in this part of the State. He had carefully di

nce of the place where the munitions had been concealed. Noah believed it was a duty he owed to his country to obtain possession of these arms. He had already been warned by his broth

very enthusiastic Union meeting was held at the Big Bend schoolhouse, and was attended by some of the most prominent citizens of the county. The action of Major Lyon

the plantation of Major Lyon, intending to burn and destroy it, if not, as was hinted, to hang the planter to one of the big trees on his lawn. Bu

te, and the mob marched to his plantation to wreak their vengeance upon him by the destruction of h

a hundred steeds were pledged. Letters had been written to the commander of the Union army in Kentucky, relating to this project, and Lieutenant Burke Gordan had been sent to organize the company; and he w

manner; for they were enthusiastic in the support of the government. The two companies, though hardly entitled to the name, were called a squadron. The planter, in spite of his protest, was made the major of the command; a