her aunt--that aunt who had for years been a mother to her.
Hope joined the group, and tears flowed down every feminine cheek.

"Keep watch here, Artie!" called out Deck, when he saw that all was well
for the time being, and as the young captain nodded, the major leaped
out into the open once more. The battle between those in the mansion and
those on the edge of the lawn was waxing hot, and he felt that he was
needed.

A great load was lifted from his mind, now he knew his mother and the
girls were safe, and he felt that he could endure almost anything.
Taking a short cut by leaping over a ditch some ten feet wide, he came
up in front of Carson Lee and the others from the barn. Lee had already
been firing, at long range, and the man subject to fits declared he had
dropped one guerilla stationed at an attic window.

"It is best that we divide our forces," said Deck. "Levi can take care
of those under him. We will take the opposite side of the house. There
are two magnolias over there--just the spot for such a sharpshooter as
you, Lee."

"Co-rect, lead on and I'll follow," answered Carson Lee, with a grin,
for nothing pleased him more than to have his marksmanship praised. Soon
the entire party was making another detour, while Levi's men fell back
gradually to a safe position in a dry trench near the centre of the
meadow--a trench begun in the spring but never connected with the creek.

When the major's party reached the magnolias, Lee and another of the
farmers climbed into the branches, taking care, however, to keep the
main trunks of the trees between themselves and the mansion. The others
collected underneath, also, on the sheltered sides.

"Levi and the niggers have fallen back to a ditch in the meadow,"
announced Lee, a minute later. "All the guerillas have gone into the
house."

"An' there ain't a head to be seen at the winders," finished Dowleigh,
the other man in the tree. "Reckon they have gone in fer a parley among
themselves."

"We have them where the hair is good and long now," said Deck, smiling.
"Not one of them can leave the house without being seen."

"How about to-night, Major?" laughed Bowman.

"As soon as it gets dark we can draw closer, and throw a guard
completely around the place. But I imagine we'll hear from them before
that--now the ladies have escaped."

"How so?" asked Bowman, with interest.

"As long as they held the ladies they thought they could make terms when
they pleased.