se than the loss of the money or the spoons," sobbed Mrs.
Lyon, bursting into tears. "Your father has always been very careful of
that secret communication, which he thought related to your Uncle
Duncan's slaves. I am sure he will be much put out when he finds the
contents of the envelope gone."

Mrs. Lyon's tears set the girls to crying, and it took some time for
Deck to quiet the three. In the meanwhile he had all the female colored
help in the mansion search for the missing paper. These people brought
him a dozen or more sheets from out-of-the-way corners, but all proved
valueless, and at length Deck strode down to the fort.

The prisoners had been searched, but nothing had been found on them of
value. Each man was closely questioned, and the timid guerilla who had
carried the second flag of truce that afternoon admitted that he had
seen a certain fellow known as Totterly at the safe and had seen the
guerilla tear open an envelope, look over its contents and then cram a
paper in his coat pocket. Totterly had also taken a chamois bag--the bag
which contained the three hundred dollars in gold. Who had taken the
paper money was not known to the timid prisoner, nor did he know
anything about the spoons.

"I didn't want to jine them sodgers," he whined. "Gaffy Denny talked me
into it. Wish I had a-stayed on my dad's plantation in Logan County."

"Yes, you would have been much better off," answered Deck, briefly.

The discovery of the loss sustained put a damper on the supper, and
several of Diana's best dishes were hardly touched. But nothing could
just then be done, and after Mrs. Lyon and the girls had told how they
had been surprised by Gaffy Denny and his men and locked up in the
storeroom off of the dining apartment, each of the party retired to
catch a few hours of sleep. It is safe to say the lady of the mansion
and the girls hardly closed their eyes, but Deck and Artie were growing
used to excitement and had slumbered in the very midst of a battlefield,
and they rested soundly.

On the day following, several of the county authorities put into
appearance, and the prisoners were taken away to Bowling Green, some to
the prison, and the wounded ones to a hospital. A vigorous search was
instituted for Totterly, but nothing was learned about him further than
that he had confiscated a horse at a little settlement known as
Culver's, and had been seen riding with all speed directly south for the
Tennessee State line.