at Duncan Lyon had been a bachelor, and had never
felt capable of raising the children himself. To the children he left
one-quarter of his estate, half cash and half stocks, Noah to remain
their guardian until of age.

Of the balance of his property he gave to Titus only twenty-five
thousand dollars, from which amount was to be deducted a note for five
thousand, leaving the mason twenty thousand dollars, half cash and half
in stocks. All the stocks to be divided were named in a schedule, so
there might be no disputes.

As might be supposed, Titus Lyon was very angry over the provisions of
his brother's will, thinking that Riverlawn should have been settled
upon himself. When Noah Lyon gave up his home in the East to take charge
of Riverlawn, Titus did not call upon him for several days, and for some
time after that the unreasonable mason talked about being swindled out
of five thousand dollars, he thinking he ought to have had half of the
ten thousand given to Noah for supporting Cyrus's children, although he
had never lifted a hand to assist the orphans.

With the breaking out of the war Titus had been in his element. Strange
as it may seem, he had sided with the South in the struggle, and had
even gone so far as to spend a large amount of money in equipping a
company of Home Guards, of which he was to be captain. But the arms and
ammunition, hidden away in a cavern, had been discovered by Artie and
Deck who had turned them over to Noah Lyon, for use, later on, by the
Unionists. This confiscation of property had made matters even worse
between the two families, and for a long while Titus and his two sons
were very bitter. They entered the Confederate service much against the
wishes of Titus's wife, and while serving under the stars and bars one
of the sons, Orly, was killed and Titus was taken prisoner.

His own capture and the killing of Orly, coupled with the fact that
Sandy, the older son, was nearly starved while in the Southern service,
produced a profound impression upon Titus Lyon. While a prisoner he gave
up drinking and signed the pledge. Then when Sandy suddenly left the
Confederate service to enlist on the Union side under his Uncle Noah, he
began to study the situation, and he wrote to Noah that he had seen the
error of his ways and was now for the Union, once and forever. Later on
he was released, and he joined the Riverlawns, to become adjutant of the
regiment in which Sandy was now a second lieutenant