d sweep before the day was done!

He had boldly despatched Cook across the Potomac bridge with the wagons,
horses and treasures stolen from Colonel Washington's house to be stored
at headquarters. There was still no doubt or shadow of turning in his
imperious soul.

With each passing moment the swift feet of the avengers were closing the
trap into which he had walked.

By ten o'clock the terror-stricken people of the town and county had
seized their weapons and the fight began. Bullets were whistling from
every street corner and every window commanding a glimpse of the Arsenal
and Armory.

Brown's handful of men began to fall. The Rifle Works surrendered first
and his guard of three men were all dead or wounded. By three o'clock
his forces had been cut to pieces and he had taken refuge in the Engine
House of the Armory. The bridges were held by the people. Owen, Cook and
his guard at the old log house on the Maryland side were cut off and
could not come to his rescue.

The amazing news of an Abolition invasion of Virginia and the capture
of the United States Arsenal and Rifle Works had shaken the nation.
President Buchanan hastily summoned from Arlington the foremost soldier
of the Republic and despatched Colonel Robert E. Lee to the scene
with the only troops available at the Capital, a company of marines.
Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart volunteered to act as his aide. The young
cavalier was in the East celebrating the birth of a baby boy.

CHAPTER XXX

When the marines arrived from Washington it was past midnight. The town
swarmed with armed men from every farm and fireside. Five companies of
militia from Maryland and Virginia were on the ground and Henry Wise,
the Governor of Virginia, was hurrying to take command.

Stuart had established Colonel Lee's headquarters behind the brick wall
of the Arsenal enclosure. Not more than fifty yards from the gate stood
the Engine House in which Brown had barricaded himself with his two
sons, Oliver and Watson, and four of his men. He held forty white
hostages.

A sentinel of marines covered the entrance to the enclosure. The militia
had yielded command to the United States troops.

As Stuart stood awaiting Colonel Lee's arrival, Lieutenant Green, in
command of the marines, stepped briskly to the aide's side to report the
preliminary work.

As yet no one in the excited town knew the identity of the mysterious
commander "John Smith" who led the invasion. No one coul