The Blue and The Gray—Afloat

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TAKEN BY THE ENEMY

WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES

ON THE BLOCKADE

STAND BY THE UNION

FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT

A VICTORIOUS UNION

The Blue and The Gray—On Land

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BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER

IN THE SADDLE

A LIEUTENANT AT EIGHTEEN (In Press)

(Other volumes in preparation)

Any Volume Sold Separately.

Lee and Shepard Publishers Boston

"Be you uns soldiers, mass'r?"

The Blue and Gray Army Series

IN THE SADDLE

BY

OLIVER OPTIC

AUTHOR OF "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES" "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD" FIRST

AND SECOND SERIES "THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES" "THE GREAT WESTERN

SERIES" "THE WOODVILLE STORIES" "THE ONWARD AND UPWARD

SERIES" "THE LAKE SHORE SERIES" "THE YACHT-CLUB SERIES"

"THE RIVERDALE STORIES" "THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES"

"THE BLUE AND GRAY NAVY SERIES" "A MISSING MILLION"

"A MILLIONAIRE AT SIXTEEN" "A YOUNG

KNIGHT-ERRANT" "STRANGE SIGHTS ABROAD"

"AMERICAN BOYS AFLOAT" "THE

YOUNG NAVIGATORS" ETC.

BOSTON

LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS

10 MILK STREET

1895

Copyright, 1895, by Lee and Shepard

All Rights Reserved

In the Saddle

TO MY FRIEND

WILLIAM R. BEATTY

MY COMPANION IN MANY VERY AGREEABLE ASSOCIATIONS

THIS VOLUME

IS CORDIALLY DEDICATED

PREFACE

"In The Saddle" is the second of the "Blue and Gray—On Land." In the first volume a New Hampshire family was transplanted to the southern part of one of the Border States just before the breaking out of the Great Rebellion, now happily an event of the somewhat distant past. An attempt is made in that book to describe the condition of the region in the progress of the story; and the material for it was diligently looked up in the records of those stormy times, in those of official character in the archives of the State in which the events transpired, as well as in "The Record of the Rebellion," Congressional Reports, and the multitude of histories, narratives, biographies, and miscellaneous works on the shelves of public and private libraries. The writer believes his material statements are correct, and that the pictures he has given of the disorderly condition of the State of Kentucky, especially in the southern portion, are not overdrawn.

The story of the Lyon family introduces two branches of it, both from the same Northern locality, though, unhappily, not of the same way of thinking on the great question of loyalty to the national government and Secession with the South. Plantation life and manners are presented to some extent, as one of the brothers comes into possession of a large estate and half a hundred slaves by the will of a Kentucky member of the Lyon family. The first volume of the series is devoted to the "bringing out" of the loyal element in the county where the plantation is located, in opposition to the more demonstrative secession or neutral sentiment. A Union meeting in a schoolhouse, disturbed by the "ruffians," as they had come to be called, in which the loyal citizens vigorously defend themselves, and expel the intruders, brings the affairs of the neighborhood to a crisis. The planter is attacked by a mob, and with the assistance of a few of his friends, and by arming a portion of his negroes, successfully encounters the disturbers of the peace. Following these stirring events, two companies of cavalry are enlisted by an authorized officer, carefully drilled, and put in readiness to take the field.

In the present volume this battalion enters upon active service. The same characters are presented in the uniform of cavalrymen, mounted on the fine equine stock of the plantation. Noah Lyon, the head of the family, obtains an actual military title, instead of the merely complimentary one given to him by his friends and neighbors. His two sons, Deck and Artie, appear in the front rank in the operations in which the squadron is engaged, though both of them enter the service as privates. The young men are of the loftiest moral character, actuated by the purest and most devoted patriotism. They are of good physique, in vigorous health, and do not seem to know the meaning of the word fear. If their individual exploits seem to any to be extravagant, they have been more than paralleled on the battle-field in hundreds of instances. Both of them are exceedingly fond of their steeds; and Deck, in the months devoted to drill, makes no insignificant figure as a horse-trainer. His steed, one of the blood stock of his deceased uncle, is so intelligent and so apt a scholar, that he enables his rider to achieve some rather wonderful feats in action. He is modest, and, when praised for his deeds, attributes them to "Ceph." This young soldier wins and obtains a promotion which will supply the title for the next volume.

In contrast with the progressive fortunes of the loyal brother and his two sons, the disloyal one, who had become, through the influence of his money rather than his ability, the leader of the "ruffians," is again introduced, with his two boys, who follow in the footsteps of their father till they become disgusted with their lot.

The operations of the loyal battalion of cavalry are confined to the protection of the bridges on the railroads, and to repressing "partisan" onslaughts and outrages upon towns and villages largely inhabited by citizens who are faithful to the national government. But the officers and privates are faithful where loyalty meant vastly more than in the North; and their zeal and earnestness in the discharge of their duty left a stirring record behind them wherever they went.

William T. Adams.

Dorchester, Dec. 12, 1894.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS.

IN THE SADDLE

CHAPTER I

COLLECTING A BILL BY FORCE OF ARMS

"Help! Help!"

This call for assistance came from a small house, poorly constructed by those who had little skill in the art of carpentry. It stood near the Spring Road, in a field of about ten acres of land, under cultivation, though the rank weeds among the useful plants indicated that it had been sorely neglected.

Those familiar with the locality would have recognized it as the abode of one of those small farmers found all over the country, who were struggling to improve their worldly condition on a very insufficient capital. The house was hardly finished, and the want of skill was apparent in its erection from sill to ridgepole.

Swinburne Pickford was the proprietor of the dwelling and land. He worked for farmers, planters, and mechanics, for any one who would give him employment, in addition to his labor in the cultivation of his land; and with the sum he had been able to save from his wages, he had bought the land, and started the small farm on his own account. He had a wife and two small children; and, as his time permitted, he had built the house with his own hands alone.

The section of the State of Kentucky in which this little place was located had been sorely disturbed by the conflicts and outrages of the two parties at the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, one struggling to drag the State out of the Union, and the other to prevent its secession. As in the other States of the South, the advocates of disunion were more violent and demonstrative than the loyal people, and after the bombardment of Fort Sumter appeared to be in the ascendant for this reason.

The entire South had been in a state of excitement from the inception of the presidential campaign which resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln, and the industries of this region suffered in consequence; and it looked as though Pickford's house would never be entirely finished. With the exception of the chimney, placed outside of the building, after the fashion of the South, he had done all the work himself. Titus Lyon, the mason of the village of Barcreek, had done this portion of the labor, and the bill for its erection was still unpaid.

Inside of the house two young men, the older about eighteen and the younger sixteen, both armed with muskets, had dragged the proprietor of the house to the floor. One of them had his foot on the chest of the fallen farmer, and the other was pointing his gun at him. Pickford had evidently endeavored to protect himself from the assault of his two assailants, who had got the better of him, and had only given up the battle when pinned to the floor by the foot of one of them.

"Will you pay the bill I have brought to you?" demanded Sandy Lyon, who was the principal aggressor in the assault. "Dr. Falkirk paid you over fifty dollars to-day, and you have got the money to pay the bill, which has been standing two years."

Swin Pickford made no reply to this statement; but just at that moment he heard the clippetty-clip of a galloping horse in the road in front of the house. With the foot of one of his assaulters on his chest, and the other with an old gun in his hand at his side, Pickford realized that nothing could be done but submit. Shooting in that locality and at that time was no uncommon occurrence; for there seemed to be no law in the land, and men generally settled their own grievances, or submitted to them.

"Help! Help!" shouted the victim of the present outrage, with all the strength of his lungs, which gave him voice enough to make him heard a quarter of a mile distant.

"Shut up your head!" savagely yelled Sandy Lyon, as he pressed his foot down with all his might by throwing all his weight upon the breast of the prostrate farmer.

The sound of the horse's feet in the road seemed to give the victim a new hope, and he tried to shout again. But Sandy flew at his throat like a wolf, and choked him into silence.

"Find a couple of ropes or cords, Orly, and we will tie his hands behind him!" called Sandy to his brother.

"'Help! Help!' shouted the victim."

The younger brother hastened to obey the order. Finding nothing of the description required, he rushed into the rear room of the house. The pressure of the assailant's hands upon his throat, and the hope of assistance from outside, stimulated the victim to further resistance, for the gun in the hands of Orly no longer threatened him. With a desperate struggle he threw Sandy over backwards, and sprang to his feet. His persecutor picked himself up, and was about to throw himself upon him again. Pickford, who was nearly exhausted by the struggle and the choking, rushed to the open door; and as he was about to pass out he encountered a young man in the uniform of a cavalryman, with a sabre dangling at his side, and a carbine slung on his back.

At the moment when the cry for help came from the house, the young man, mounted on a spirited horse, was riding along the Spring Road. He was a stout fellow, not more than eighteen years old, with a pleasant face, though a physiognomist would have observed upon it a look of determination, indicating that he could not be trifled with on a serious occasion. Neither the house nor the man who occupied it would have tempted the soldier to enter it for any other reason than the call that had just come from it.

The cavalryman reined in his steed, and halted him with his head to a post in front of the dwelling. Dismounting in haste, he threw the reins over the hitching-hook and hurried to the front door, just in time to encounter Pickford as he was rushing out. The victim of the outrage was gasping for breath, and presented a really pitiable aspect to the young soldier, to whom he was not a stranger, though they had met as enemies and not as friends.

"What's the trouble?" asked Deck Lyon, the cavalryman, as he encountered the owner of the miniature plantation.

"I have been set upon, and nearly killed by your cousins, Sandy and Orly Lyon, and one of them has nearly choked me to death," gasped Pickford.

"By my cousins!" exclaimed Deck Lyon, astonished at the reply of the victim.

"Yes; both on 'em," groaned Swin, as he was generally called.

"I supposed you had gone to the county town with the Home Guards," added Deck.

"No; I never 'listed, 'cause I have a family to take care on."

"Come in, and let me see what the trouble is," continued Deck, as he pushed Swin in ahead of him.

Sandy had been in the act of throwing himself upon his victim again, when he discovered his cousin in the person of the cavalryman. The sight of him caused the angry young man to fall back; and Deck entered the room just as Orly appeared at the rear door with a piece of bed-cord in his hand.

"Good-morning, Sandy," said Deck, as pleasantly as though nothing had called for his interference. "There seems to be some trouble here."

"Trouble enough," replied Sandy in a sulky tone.

"Swin Pickford calls for help as though you intended to murder him," continued Deck, as he looked from one to the other of the belligerents, and took in Orly with the cord at the same time. "You are all on the same side of the national fight, and you ought to be friends."

"We are not on the same side, for Pickford is a traitor," answered Sandy.

"I'm no traitor!" protested Swin. "But I should like to ask what you and Orly are, if I'm one. I was willing to join the Home Guards for home service; but when they started to go inter the Confederate army, I took off my name, for I didn't j'in for no sech work. But Sandy and Orly went off with the company, and then deserted and come home. What's the sense of them callin' me a traitor when I'm not one, and they be."

"If they deserted, they did a sensible thing," said Deck with a smile, as he glanced at his two cousins. "But I am not here to settle any such quarrel as this; for I don't care how much you ruffians fight among yourselves."

"The trouble here has nothing to do with politics or the Home Guards," replied Sandy.

"Nothing at all, Deck," added Orly.

"What is it all about, then?" inquired Deck. "I came in because a cry was heard from the house which made me think a murder was going on here."

"That's jest what was goin' on here!" exclaimed Pickford.

"Nothing of the sort," protested Sandy. "Not a word has been said here about the army or the Home Guards."

"But your father has marched his company farther south, to join General Buckner's army."

"That had nothing to do with our business here. Swin Pickford owes father twenty-seven dollars for building the chimney of this house, and he has owed it for about two years, and it is time the bill was paid."

"That's all so, Deck Lyon; I don't deny none on't," added Pickford, who had recovered his breath and his temper by this time. "But I hain't had the money to pay the bill. I'm an honest man, and I allus pay my debts when I ken. Times have been hard with me for the last two years. Folks has been all over inter politics, and I couldn't hardly git money enough to pay for the bread and butter of my wife and children; for there wasn't next to no work at all."

"That's a poor excuse in your case, Swin," added Sandy.

"I went to Cap'n Titus more'n a year ago, and talked to him about that debt," continued Pickford, without heeding the remark of Sandy. "He got heaps of money out of his brother's property, and I didn't s'pose he needed the money. I offered him five dollars, and told him I'd try to pay him five every month. But he didn't want me to do it that way, and told me I could pay it all to once, when I had the money. Then he wanted me to help him git up the company, and I did; I hoofed it all over the county for him, sometimes when I might have worked."

"But he has got money now!" Sandy broke in. "Dr. Falkirk paid him fifty dollars this morning at the grocery; for I saw him do it, and heard him say how much it was."

"I don't deny that, nuther," said the unfortunate debtor. "But I haven't got three dollars left of that money now. I paid Grunge the grocer nineteen dollars on't; for he knows I'm an honest man, and trusted me. Then I paid a man that's poorer'n I am for some work he done on my place, seven dollars and a half, and I had to pay my taxes or lose my farm."

"I saw Dr. Falkirk pay him that money, and Orly and I tramped all the way over here; for we have no horses at home now. He's got the money, and won't pay the bill. Mother wants the money very much," added Sandy.

"She hasn't got a dollar in the house," Orly put in, perhaps telling more than his brother wished to have revealed.

"Then you came over here to collect the bill at the muzzle of your gun," suggested Deck, who had seen the younger brother pick up his weapon, which had fallen on the floor.

"We meant to make him pay," said Sandy. "I believe he has the money, and I meant to search the house till I found it."

"You would have s'arched till the last gun fires, and you wouldn't found it then," protested the victim, as he took an old wallet from his pocket, which was found to contain about three dollars in silver. "That's all I've got in this world, and none in the next."

"I don't believe he has got any more money, Sandy," said Deck to his cousin, as he stepped up to him, and spoke to him in a low tone.

"I'm willin' to give him two dollars outen the little I got, though he abused me wus'n any man ever did in this world, and sha'n't in the next," interposed Pickford.

"I will take what I can get," replied Sandy, as he took the bill from his pocket.

The debtor paid him two dollars in silver; and if his mother, as Orly affirmed, had not a single dollar in the house, this small sum would be gladly received by her. Deck led the way out of the house, and his two cousins followed, just as Mrs. Pickford and her two small children came into the room. The sight of them was enough to assure the visitors of the poverty of the husband and father.

CHAPTER II

REVELATIONS OF A YOUNG GUARDSMAN

Dexter Lyon was very much perplexed by the situation of his uncle's family in Barcreek; for he owned his place, which had cost five thousand dollars, unencumbered; and about two years before he had received from the estate of his deceased brother twenty thousand dollars in cash and stocks.

"Of course the story that your mother had not a dollar in the house is a fiction, such as people who collect money, or don't want to pay it out, often tell," said the young cavalryman, as he went to the post where he had secured his horse.

"Fiction? What do you mean by that?" asked Sandy Lyon, the expression on whose face was very sad and discontented.

"You didn't mean that what you said was true?"

"What did I say that was not true?" inquired Sandy, looking at his cousin as though he was in doubt whether or not to conceal the correct answer to the question.

"Everybody in Barcreek knows that your father has gone to Bowling Green, and you said that your mother had not a dollar in the house," replied Deck, studying the expression on the face of his cousin. "You didn't mean that, did you?"

Sandy looked at his cousin, and each seemed to be considering the meaning of the other's looks. They were own cousins, and their homes were not more than a mile apart; but they had not met for three months. Politics, as the people of this locality generally called the two great questions of the day, Unionism and Secession, had created a great gulf between the two families. Judging from the threadbare and semi-miserable condition of the two sons of Captain Titus, times had gone hardly with the family.

"I did not say that mother had not a dollar in the house," said Sandy, after a long silence.

"Orly said so, and you did not contradict him; so it is all the same thing," added Deck.

"I did say so; and I said it because it was just as true as Breckinridge's long letter," said Orly earnestly.

"That is not saying much for the truth of it," answered Deck, with a smile on his handsome face; for he had the reputation of being a good-looking fellow, especially since he had donned his uniform.

"Well, it is true as that the sun shines in the sky," added Orly; and there was an expression of disgust on his face.

"But your father has plenty of money," suggested the young soldier.

"No, he hasn't," protested Orly.

"You are talking too fast, Orly," interposed Sandy reproachfully.

"We may as well let the cat out of the bag first as last, for she will scratch her way out very soon," replied Orly. "Mother will be glad enough to see that two dollars when Sandy offers it to her."

Just at that moment the blast of a bugle, or several of them, was heard in the direction of the Cross Roads, the way Deck was going when he was arrested by the cry for help from Pickford's house.

"What's that?" asked Sandy, as though he was glad to have the subject of the conversation changed, however it may have been with his more impulsive brother.

"It must be my company, or the squadron to which it belongs," replied Deck rather indifferently.

"How many companies have you, Deck?" asked Orly.

"Only two yet, hardly enough for a battalion."

"Where are they going now?"

"Probably they are out for drill; and I must fall in as soon as the companies come up," said Deck, as he mounted his horse and straightened himself up in the saddle, as though he wished to present a proper appearance before his cousins.

But the battalion or squadron was still at a considerable distance from him, and the young cavalryman could not help looking at the pinched faces of his cousins; for though they had ostensibly embraced the cause of Secession, he was full of sympathy for them. They looked as though they had been poorly fed, if not half-starved; and when the time had come for them to have new suits of clothes, they had not obtained them. But if Captain Titus's family was without money, it could be only a temporary matter, for he could hardly have exhausted his twenty thousand dollars in stocks and cash, though it was well known that he had contributed five thousand dollars for the purchase of arms and ammunition to be used by his company of Home Guards, which had now moved south to join the Confederate army.

"As I said before, your father had plenty of money," continued Deck, though he was not disposed to be over-inquisitive.

"He had at one time," Sandy admitted; and it was plain from his manner that he was not willing to tell all he knew about his father's financial affairs.

"I don't understand how your mother should be so short of money, Sandy; but it is none of my business, and I won't ask any more questions," added the cavalryman, as he whirled his restive horse about. "I thought you and Orly went with the company to Bowling Green, Sandy."

"We did; but we came back again," replied the elder brother. But there appeared to be something to conceal in regard to their return.

"There wasn't any fun in soldiering without any pay, and without even half enough to eat, with nothing to wear," added the plain-spoken younger brother.

"You needn't tell all you know, Orly," interposed Sandy, with a frown at his brother.

"You needn't snap at me, Sandy; for I told you before I had had enough of this thing, and I shall never join the company again," returned Orly earnestly. "Do you suppose I can enlist in one of your companies, Deck?"

"Shut up, Orly!" exclaimed Sandy very sternly. "You don't know what you are talking about."

"I'll bet I know what I'm talking about, and my stomach knows too," retorted Orly.

"Don't make a fool of yourself! You don't mean to turn traitor to your father and the cause, Orly?" pleaded Sandy; but he appeared to be trying to keep up appearances.

"Hang the cause!" exclaimed Orly, as though he meant all he said. "My father got me into the scrape, and he will get enough of it before he is many months older."

"Use your reason and common-sense," counselled the elder brother.

"That's what we just haven't been using the last two years, and now I'm going to use my reason and common-sense on my own hook. If you like soldiering without pay or rations, Sandy, you can join the company again as soon as you like; but when you catch me there, you will find a Kentuckian without any eye-teeth," replied Orly, who was only two years younger than his brother, and was considered the brighter boy of the two; and his tones and his manner were vigorous enough to indicate that he meant all he said.

"You are acting like a fool to talk like that before your cousin, who is an abolition soldier."

"Before my cousin! His father and himself have been sensible from the first; and I only wonder that Deck don't quote Scripture to us, and gently remind us that 'the way of transgressors is hard;' for he can't help seeing the truth of the proverb in both of us."

"I didn't know that things had become particularly hard with you," said Deck.

"Orly is as wild as a goat, Deck. Don't mind what he says," interposed Sandy.

"Or what Sandy says," interjected the younger of the two.

"Our company has not been mustered in yet, and of course we could not draw pay or rations," added Sandy, who felt called upon to defend his father and the "cause" from the implied censure of his brother. "Father spent all the ready money he had to pay for rations and tents, and some other things the Confederate government will furnish, and will pay him back for all he has expended. That is the reason why my mother is so short of money just now."

"That's all very good as far as it goes; but I don't believe the Confederate government has got any more money than the Bank of England; and it will be a long day before father gets his money back. We were nearly starved when we left the company."

"But we did not desert, as some folks say we did," added Sandy, who was in favor of putting the best foot forward. "Father sent us home when we spoke of leaving, and he gave us a sort of furlough, in so many words. If he could hear you talk, Orly, he would be ashamed of you."

"As I have been of him more than once," said the younger in a low tone, as though he did not feel fully justified in speaking in that manner of his father, who had a gross failing, which had recently been gaining upon him.

Sandy heard the remark; and he was disgusted, though he could not deny the justness of it. He had been ashamed of his father, but his inborn pride did not permit him to say so outside of the family. If he had been as plain-spoken as his brother, he might have informed Deck, who was the only listener to the conversation, that the furlough had grown out of a quarrel between Captain Titus and his older son.

The captain had always been what is known as a moderate drinker, but the habit had grown upon him after he went to Kentucky. Some of the Home Guard had been shot at while engaged in foraging among the farmers for food in the outskirts of the county-seat where the company was encamped, and it became a dangerous pursuit, as even the commander of the company would not authorize it; for in the status of the body it was nothing but plundering.

Sandy noticed that his father had his whiskey ration in increased proportions, and he knew that it cost money. He and Orly were not half fed, and the father lived on his favorite beverage. It provoked him to wrath, and in a fit of desperation he spoke out to him as plainly as Orly could have done it. The quarrel followed; and when Sandy declared that he and his brother would leave the company, he had driven them from his presence, and ordered them not to return. This was the furlough, "in so many words," as Sandy put it.

Perhaps the approach of the squadron of cavalry was a relief to Sandy Lyon, for it put an end to the conversation of a disagreeable nature to him. He realized the truth of nearly all that Orly had said in regard to the desperate situation of the Home Guard, and the family of its commander; but his pride was still superior to the groans of his stomach.

"Mother and the girls are going back to Derry as soon as she can get money enough to pay the bills," said Orly in a low voice.

"I am ashamed of you, Orly!" protested Sandy, who had heard the remark; for the bugle of the battalion had ceased its blast at that moment. "You have no business to tell family secrets like that."

"Confound your family secrets!" exclaimed his brother. "I don't want to quarrel with you, my brother, as father has done with Uncle Noah; but I am not in favor of starving to death for the benefit of the Southern Confederacy. You have too much family pride when it don't pay, Sandy. You said that our sister Mabel should not go out to work in the family of Dr. Falkirk, when mother said she might."

"Dr. Falkirk might have got a nigger woman to do his housework, instead of paying double wages to Mabel," replied Sandy.

"That is nothing to do with the question. Mabel's wages have been all we had to live on since we got home," returned Orly, letting out more of the secrets of the family without any compunction.

"I wish you would hold your tongue, Orly," added Sandy fretfully.

"I said what I did for a purpose; but I shall have to stop now, for the squadron is nearly here," replied Orly. "When can I see you again, Deck?"

"Almost any time when I am not at drill, or absent on an errand, as I have been to-day. You will find me at the camp or the house," replied Deck, as he rode forward to a point where he could fall into his position in his company.

"Why, there is Uncle Noah at the head of the column!" said Sandy, as the squadron came near enough for him to recognize the familiar face of his relative, even in the midst of his present unwonted surroundings. "He looks like an officer."

"He is what people have been calling him since he came to Kentucky, and is now actually Major Lyon," replied Deck, whom the boys had followed.

"But are you not an officer, Deck?" asked Orly.

"Not at all; Artie and I are high privates. They wanted to make us both sergeants; but after we had talked with father, we declined all positions," replied Deck, as he fell into his place.

It is time to give something of the history of the two families who had emigrated to Kentucky, the family secrets of one of which had been so freely revealed to Deck by the young Home Guardsman with Union aspirations.

CHAPTER III

SOMETHING ABOUT THE LYON FAMILIES

The town of Derry in New Hampshire had contributed fourteen persons to the population of Kentucky, all of them by the name of Lyon. Colonel Duncan Lyon had gone there as a young man, and had made 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 great trees scattered over it, though after the English fashion with none immediately in front of the large mansion, to his two brothers and the children of one deceased ten years before his death.

The elder of the two living brothers was Titus Lyon. He had removed to his new home eight years before, and he appeared to be the black sheep of the fourteen who had departed from their native 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 compared his worldly condition with that of his eldest brother, who had departed this life leaving a fortune behind him; or even of his other brother, who had always been a prosperous farmer.

Titus had been informed by Colonel Lyon that there was an opening for a mason in the village of Barcreek, near which he resided, though he had not advised him to remove to that locality, and 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 concealed from both of his brothers. He had a wife, who was an excellent woman, belonging to a very respectable family, and five children, three girls and two boys, the latter already introduced.

The mason did tolerably well at his trade in his new home for a few years, though it was not a business at which a fortune could be easily made 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 he had contracted the habit of drinking moderately when, as a young man, he had been a stage-driver, and it had grown upon him in his new home.

Titus had not become a sot, or even a very heavy drinker, before the death of his brother; but he regularly imbibed his whiskey, and to some extent his habit affected his manners and his morals. He had always appeared to be extremely devoted to the colonel, and even fawned upon him, during his residence in Barcreek; and he was always kindly treated and assisted financially when he needed help.

Colonel Lyon died suddenly at the age of fifty. He had never been married, and had no children to whom he could leave his property. About a year before his 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 a very respectable position in the town; he had been somewhat distinguished among his fellow-citizens, and had been the incumbent of several town officers.

Noah Lyon was forty years old at the time of his brother's death, with a good woman for a wife, who was in every sense a helpmate to her husband. They had two children of their own, a boy and a girl, 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, Artemas and Dorcas. He had not left property enough to pay his debts; but Noah promptly adopted the little ones, and for ten years he had cared for and supported them as though they had been his own.

Noah had suggested to Titus that he should take one of them to his home, while he received the other in his own family; but his brother pleaded the poor health of his 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 every respect as their own children, and no one could have asked a better home for them. They called their uncle and aunt by the endearing names of father and mother.

At the death of Colonel Lyon, the telegraphic message announcing the sad event had been immediately followed by a letter from Colonel Cosgrove, summoning Noah 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 everything connected with the place. Titus had set his heart upon the possession of the estate; for it would give him a generous support without manual labor.

He was one of those men who contrive to believe in and expect what they most desire. He had been his wealthy brother's neighbor for eight years, and knew something 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 other views; for he realized that Titus was not an entirely reliable person, was not much of a business man, and his drinking habit was continually growing upon him.

The eldest brother had, however, endeavored to make a fair division of his property among his nearest of kin. He had given some legacies to his personal friends, including his faithful overseer, who had served him for many years.

Then he had given Noah ten thousand dollars in consideration of the fact that he had supported the children of Cyrus for ten years. To him also he bequeathed twenty-five thousand 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 accompanied by an inventory of the entire property, indicating that the colonel had figured up his resources, and endeavored to make an equitable division among his legal heirs.

With the will also came into the possession of Noah two letters, one enclosing the other. The open one directed him not to sell any of the slaves on the plantation, and the other was not to be opened for five years. The sum 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 real one had been the giving of the plantation to Noah. In some of his moments, when he had rather overcharged himself with whiskey, he had furiously assailed his innocent brother for what the dead one had done in his will.

Noah was a mild and peaceful man under ordinary circumstances, and he did his best to preserve intact his fraternal relations with his angry and discontented brother. Some discussion had taken place between them, and Titus was as unreasonable as a mule. The subject rendered him furious, aided by the whiskey, and the difference on this matter became a decided rupture.

Colonel Lyon had sometimes been charged with over-indulgence to his negroes; and it was true that he had treated them as kindly as though they had been 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, had not been valued in the inventory of the deceased planter, and had not been mentioned in the document, any more than the horses, mules, and cows.

By this omission Titus believed that he had been cheated out of his share of about thirty thousand dollars. Noah exhibited the open letter of the colonel to him; but this only fanned his 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 the victim of a gross injustice, and he had little patience, or even toleration, with his mild-mannered brother, who had never spoken to the colonel about his will, or the colonel to him.

This family quarrel owed some of its bitterness, on the part of Titus, to other circumstances than the naked merits of the case, if there was a 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, and returned good for evil so far as he was permitted to do so. The political situation in Kentucky had complicated the relations of the brothers.

Titus had belonged to one party, while his brother was an earnest member of the other; though with a very wide difference of opinion, one had proved 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 Kentucky, where all was excitement and turmoil from the nomination of the candidates for the presidency. The agitation became that of Loyalty and Secession.

The governor had issued his proclamation in favor of the neutrality of the State, and Home Guards were organized to enforce it. But it never amounted to anything; for the majority were demonstrated to be 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 equip his men. He had expended a considerable portion of the money he had inherited in the purchase of arms and ammunition for his command, though he had never been able to supply his soldiers with uniforms.

He had sent to New York for an abundant supply of weapons and cartridges, including two brass field-pieces, over a hundred breech-loading rifles, and nearly as many revolvers of several sizes. He intended 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 loyal element exceeded in numbers the Secessionists; so that it was necessary for the commander of the Home Guards to take extraordinary precautions for the safety of the war material he had purchased.

With some difficulty he had moved the cases from the train at Dripping Spring, carted them to a point on Bar Creek, from which he had conveyed them to one of the numerous sink-hole caverns which abound in this part of the State. He had carefully disposed of them, with the aid of his two sons and some trusted neighbors, intending to give them out to his men in a few days.

An indiscretion on the part of his wife had given a hint of the existence of the arms at Riverlawn, which an exploration of Artie Lyon, the adopted son, had worked into tangible evidence 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 brother that he was regarded as an abolitionist, and that a mob, consisting mainly of the Home Guards, were agitating the question of burning his mansion and driving him out of the county.

When the loss of the arms was discovered, Titus became absolutely furious, and, either with or without sufficient evidence, accused Noah of stealing the property. A 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, as he had come to be called very generally as a title of respect, in accordance with a prevailing custom, in securing the arms was heartily approved by the assembly.

That very night the ruffians of the Home Guard, for such they were, which included most of the baser element of the locality, had made an attack on 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. But a few of his neighbors had rallied to his assistance, and his negroes were armed with the confiscated weapons, and the attack was an utter failure.

Colonel Belthorpe, who had been a soldier in his earlier years, commanded the defenders of the estate, and the mob marched to his plantation to wreak their vengeance upon him by the destruction of his property; but the same forces defeated them there, with many wounds, and the loss of a few lives.

At the Union meeting Major Lyon had proposed to raise a company of cavalry. He had offered to contribute a considerable number of horses for the service, and his neighbors had followed his example; and over 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 was followed later by several non-commissioned officers to assist in the drill. The ruffians had made an attempt to stop the enlistments at Riverlawn, where the camp was located; but they had been beaten off.

The recruiting had progressed very successfully; and instead of one company, two had been organized during the next three months. Major Lyon and his two sons had drilled and studied the military art in the most determined 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; and he had become competent for the position. This was the squadron which marched by the house of Swin Pickford while Deck was talking with the two sons of Titus about the strait of the captain's family in Barcreek village.

CHAPTER IV

THE DAY'S MARCH OF THE SQUADRON

It seemed to be almost a miracle that Noah Lyon had been transformed into a soldier; and those who had known him in the State of New Hampshire could hardly have recognized him. He had always been a dignified, peaceable, and quiet man—the very antipode of a fire-eater. At his former home he had been a justice of the peace, and was regarded as a person of eminent gravity.

His anger, if he was ever stirred by any such passion, was nothing more than indignation. But he was not a milk-and-water man; and, gentle as were his manners, he was an earnest man. He had never developed any military ambition in his earlier years, though he was sorry he had not done so when he found himself on the very border of the Rebellion. He was still of the military age, and was a hearty and vigorous man at forty-two, when he was called into the service.

He was an earnest and determined patriot; and nothing but the need of the nation could have induced him to put on a uniform, and drill laboriously for months in preparation for his new sphere. He belonged to the class who were said to make the best soldiers, because they went into the field as high-toned men, with whom a principle was at stake. Such soldiers had not been hurried into the camp by the excitement of the times, or by any motive but patriotic duty.

Sandy and Orly Lyon stood in front of Pickford's house, and observed the approaching column of cavalry; but the most of their attention was given to Uncle Noah. It was a very strange sight for them to see him in the uniform of a soldier, riding at the head of the squadron. These boys had drilled and marched with the Home Guards, and their father had military aspirations, though he was a little past the military age. They could not help contrasting the appearance of Major Lyon's command with that of Captain Lyon's.

Not all the Home Guards in the State were of the character of the ruffians forming the company which had marched to Bowling Green, and who had been the principal participants in the outrages and the ruffianism in the vicinity of Barcreek. Some of the companies were composed and officered by Union men, who did some of the first fighting in the State when the Confederates fortified Cumberland Gap in the eastern section. Such as these wheeled into the Union army, while those of the Secession stripe promptly joined the forces on the other side.

No doubt many of these Home Guards believed sincerely in the neutrality policy, which was advocated by some of the best men in the State; but it afforded thousands of ruffians the advantages of an organization for plunder and outrage. But its day had gone by. Major Lyon insisted from the beginning that it was a fraud; and, in spite of the action of the governor, Kentucky adhered to the Union. It cost something there to be true to the old flag, and the State deserves all honor for the struggle it made against the breaking up of the Union.

Major Lyon sat erect upon his horse, a valuable animal, which had been his favorite since his arrival. There was nothing like vanity in his expression, as might have been excusable at the head of such a fine body of men; but he looked as he always did, earnest and determined, his soldierly character resting more on his devotion to the cause than on any other motive. He wore a felt hat, ornamented with a black feather, which the mustering officer had prevailed upon him to adopt.

The squadron was composed of rather young men as a rule, and they were the sons of farmers and others engaged in business. They were fine-looking men, and they had been diligently drilled by the officers sent to Riverlawn for the purpose. Perhaps the commander was the only real planter enlisted; for most of them in the vicinity were past the age for active service, though they had done their duty in repressing outrages and keeping the peace.

Captain Gordon, who had been charged with the organization of the first company, was in command of it, while Captain Truman, a young lawyer, whose eloquent voice had been raised for the Union in the important meeting at the Big Bend schoolhouse, was in command of the second; but he had proved in the Riverlawn battle that he was a brave man, and would make a good soldier. Tom Belthorpe, who had taken part in the defence of Lyndhall and of Riverlawn, was first lieutenant of the first company; while Major Gadbury, whose military title was one of courtesy, held the corresponding rank in the second company.

It had required a great deal of persuasion to induce the proprietor of Riverlawn to accept the position of major. He was a man of character; and some of the planters in the neighborhood, especially Colonel Cosgrove and Colonel Belthorpe, convinced him that it was his duty to the cause to take the place. He had proved to them, in the engagements with the ruffians, that he had the material in his composition of which reliable commanders are made.

Deck Lyon had a tremendous reputation for courage and skill at Lyndhall; for he had rescued both of the daughters of its owner from the hands of the ruffians, who had captured them for the purpose of assisting in the recovery of the arms the major had secured. When it came to the matter of electing officers for the second company, Tom had advocated the choice of Deck as captain, though he was only eighteen years old, to the position.

Of course the young man was elated at the idea of being elevated to such a position before he had been tried in the service; but it did not seem to be quite right to him, and he went to his father for advice. The major promptly advised him to accept no position in the company. He was too young to be the commander of a company, which might be ordered on duty by itself. As his father pointed out to him the difficulties in his way, Deck went to the other extreme, and declined to take a place even as a non-commissioned officer. Artie Lyon liked the stand he had taken so well, that he followed his example, and both remained privates.

Deck and Artie did not forget the favorable mention of their names, and they electioneered very zealously for the choice of Tom Belthorpe as first lieutenant. In the case of the former, perhaps Deck was unconsciously influenced by the fact that he had a very pretty sister, who had manifested no little interest in him since he had attacked the ruffian who held her as a prisoner. In fact, Tom had two pretty sisters; but this fact affected Lieutenant Gadbury more than any other person.

When the squadron had advanced a short distance, Major Lyon wheeled his horse, and faced his command, who were marching as usual on the road by fours. He had learned his lesson well at the camp; for the squadron had been thoroughly drilled from the beginning, up to the point where the "school of the battalion" had been their practice.

"Battalion, halt!" he commanded, with a voice loud enough and clear enough to be heard far back of the place where the order was given.

Captain Gordon declared that he had not caught the major in a single error or slip since he had begun to exercise the squadron. The command was repeated by the subordinate officers, and the force came to a full halt. Deck had stopped by the side of the road, to await the coming up of his section, and his father called him as soon as he had halted the battalion.

The young man had been on a military errand for the major, rather than for his father, who insisted that his two sons should fare precisely the same as other soldiers of the companies. There was to be no favoritism on account of relationship. Deck could not report the result of his errand while the commander was marching at the head of his column, for the new companies had not reached the free-and-easy stage which came later.

Deck saluted the major as though they had never met before in their lives, and his father acknowledged it. Then the private reported the result of his mission.

"You have been making some stay at this house we are passing," continued Major Lyon, as he glanced back at the two boys who were still standing there.

"Found a fight going on in the house, and I went in on account of a call for help," replied Deck.

"But that is Pickford's house, and no ruffians would attack him," suggested the major. "Are these Titus's boys standing here?"

"They are. Uncle Titus has a bill against Pickford for twenty-seven dollars for building his chimney, and Sandy and Orly were trying to collect it by force of arms."

"I will hear more of that another time, Dexter," added Major Lyon, cutting short the story. "I declare, I hardly knew those boys!"

"They have had a hard time of it; but I must fall in," said Deck, as he began to turn his horse. "I suppose you are out for a drill, father."

"We are not; we are going on duty this time. General Buckner is somewhere in this vicinity, and evidently intends to occupy Bowling Green. Colonel Cosgrove came over to see me this morning. He says Captain Titus's company have got into the Confederate army at last, and have been supplied with arms of a poor quality, though not with uniforms."

"His men have been about half-starved while waiting, and that is the reason why Sandy and Orly came home," added the young soldier.

"Another time for that, Dexter. Are you all ready to march with your company?" asked the major.

"I have my sabre, carbine, and pistols; but I have no blanket, as I see the rest of the men have."

"You can be supplied from the wagon in the rear. But fall in," said the major, as he prepared to resume the march.

Deck galloped back to the section in which he belonged, where he had only to take his place at the side of Artie, though inside of him, for he was a trifle taller than his cousin. In the infantry, the tallest men are placed on the right, which is always the head of the column, while in the cavalry the tallest are placed in the middle.

"What does all this mean, Deck? Didn't I see Sandy and Orly Lyon by that house?" asked Artie.

"They are there, whether you saw them or not," replied Deck.

"Battalion, at ease, march!"

In the infantry, when the order for "route step!" is given, the men need not even keep step, and the formalities are relaxed in some other respects. In the cavalry, in which the horses take all the steps, the strain of precise position and movement is removed, and the soldiers may make the best of their journey. Artie wanted to know all about his two cousins he had seen at Pickford's, and Deck told him the whole story of what had occurred there.

"Is it possible that Uncle Titus's family are reduced to such a strait?" demanded Artie, his pity and sympathy apparent on his face.

"The boys say Aunt Meely and the girls are going back to Derry; and that looks as though the family were very hard up," replied Deck. "And Mabel has gone out to work in the family of Dr. Falkirk."

"I think Sandy and Orly must be in a desperate situation when they try to collect a bill with a gun."

"I have no doubt of it; though Sandy tried to put the best face on the matter, and said the part of the Confederate army that was to come to Bowling Green had not got there yet, and that they will be all right as soon as the company is mustered in. Orly speaks out loud, and tells all he knows about the condition of the family. He wants to join one of our companies."

"Orly Lyon!" exclaimed Artie. "Why, he was one of the loudest Secessionists in the village!"

"He has got enough of it, working without pay or rations," added Deck. "But where are we going, Artie?"

"I'm sure I don't know; why didn't you ask your father, if you want to know?"

"Ask my father! You know better than that, Artie; for you are aware that commanding officers don't tell what they are going to do till they get ready to do it," returned Deck.

"We are provided with ammunition and rations, and very likely we have come out to-day in order to get used to carrying them on a march," suggested Artie.

"Not at all; for father told me we were out on duty to-day, though he did not say what it was," replied Deck.

The march continued all day long, and it began to look as though it would extend into the night. About nine o'clock in the evening Major Lyon called a halt at a point where a railroad could be seen in the gloom of the night. The column had just crossed a bridge of considerable length over a creek, and the position of the railroad indicated that it must be bridged over the same stream.

While the commander and his officers were trying to make out the surroundings, half a dozen muskets were discharged from a covert of trees; but fortunately none of the cavalrymen appeared to be struck by the bullets. But it was evident that the time for action had come.

CHAPTER V

THE LEADER OF THE SCOUTING-PARTY

As the squadron came to a region where Major Lyon was no longer familiar with the country, scouts had been sent out ahead of the column to give information in regard to any possible enemy. Confederate troops had been reported from several different directions by those who had occasion to travel about the State. As indicated by some of their operations, their present policy was to destroy the railroad bridges, so as to prevent the government from forwarding troops by them.

General Buckner, or his forces, had destroyed one at Rolling Creek; but he was supposed to be falling back upon Bowling Green, as regiments from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois began to reach this part of the State. It was possible that the squadron might come in contact with some of these forces; and the men were very anxious to find them.

Sergeant Knox was at the head of the scouts. He was a man of forty-two, a tall, raw-boned Kentuckian, whose enterprise and love of adventure had led him into the region beyond the Mississippi, where he had been a regular soldier, a hunter, a trapper, and voyageur. For some reason he had become a strong friend of Deck Lyon, who was never tired of listening to his stories of the regions beyond the pale of civilization. He was a bluff, good-natured man with those who pleased his fancy; and, though he was not bitter or revengeful, he was capable of being a terrible enemy.

Firing at a target was part of the regular drill of the cavalrymen in camp, and Life Knox always put his ball inside of every other. His name was Eliphalet, and he sometimes laughed at his parents for giving him such a long name. Captain Gordon had had no little difficulty in inducing him to sign his name in full on the enlistment papers. He had abbreviated it to "Life," and declared that he had never signed anything but that to any document in all his life.

He was born and "raised" in Warren County, though he had wandered far from it at an early age, after the death of his father and mother. He had a brother who was a prosperous planter, and with him he had lived the last two years of his life. When he came to Riverlawn to enlist, he brought with him a long rifle, which was a load for an ordinary man to carry. He was told that he could make no use of it in the army; but he asked Deck to take care of it for him, and he put it in his room.

It was occasionally brought out when the soldiers were firing at a target, and Life produced the most surprising results with it. He was pretty sure to hit the bull's-eye with it every time; for he had been trained where his daily existence depended upon the accuracy of his aim. He could bring down a squirrel as far as he could see him; and he always insisted that the rifle had as much to do with the result as himself. His shooting was observed with interest by the officers and men; and he was called, not simply a good, but a remarkable, shot. He was a dead shot to any living thing at which he aimed.

Life Knox was a good-hearted man; but there was a sort of inborn aristocracy in him which would not permit him to associate intimately with all his comrades in the ranks, though he treated them well, and spoke pleasantly to them. Deck was always respectful to him, and Life had taken a decided fancy to him. When the tall Kentuckian was ordered upon the scout, he took care that Deck should be one of the party. They had ridden together all the afternoon, and Life had made the time seem short to the young man by relating all the details of a fight with a party of Indians.

As the darkness of the evening came on, Life ordered his men to keep a sharp lookout on all sides, and suspended his thrilling narratives that his own watchfulness might not be impaired. The scouts were passing through what appeared to be a plantation, though they could not yet see any buildings. Suddenly the light of a fire flashed up at a considerable distance to the right of the scouts in the road.

"A fire, Life!" shouted Deck, as he discovered the glare of the first flame that rose in the darkness.

"Hush, little one!" interposed Knox. "Don't tell the neighbors about it, for it might astonish them."

"I don't believe there are any neighbors very near us," replied Deck in a low tone. "But there is something going on in this vicinity."

"We won't tell 'em, whoever's at work round here, that we are coming. By the light of the fire I can see a mansion or farmhouse over yonder."

As he spoke, the report of the half-a-dozen muskets, more or less, that had attracted the attention of the main body of the squadron, was heard, though the scouts were half a mile distant. The building of the fire was possibly a signal for the discharge which had so soon followed it; but no other connection could be suggested between them.

"One man can always do better in lookin' inter things than a dozen," said Life, as he was trying to connect the fire and the firing in a reasonable manner. "Ride over towards that fire, Deck, and see what you can see."

"Be you uns soldiers, Mars'r?" asked a negro, coming out of a cornfield at the side of the road, where the stalks had concealed his coming.

"Of course we are, Cato," replied Deck, who was nearest to him.

"Who done tole you my name, Mars'r?" asked the negro, whose surprise seemed to have driven everything else out of his head.

"I guessed at it. But what do you want? I told you we were soldiers," added Deck. "Do you come from that house beyond the cornfield?"

"Yes, Mars'r; but if you uns is soldiers, which side was you on?" inquired Cato very cautiously.

"Not gone, Deck?" asked Knox, riding up to him.

"This contraband has just come out of the field, and belongs to the house we saw in the distance. I thought he could tell me better than I could see for myself what is going on here," replied Deck.

"You are right, Deck."

"But he wants to know which side we are on before he says anything," added Deck.

"Then he is a sensible nigger. Of course we uns belong on the Union side; and when you catch Life Knox on any other side, you'll catch a coon asleep," replied the sergeant, decidedly enough to satisfy any doubtful person. "What's gwine on at that fire, Minky?"

"Bress de Lod if you was Union sodgers! and my name is Cato!" exclaimed the visitor, earnestly enough for a camp-meeting. "Dey is a hull regiment of Sesh sodgers ober dar!" he added, pointing in the direction from which the report of the firing had come.

Without waiting for any further information, Knox called Lane, one of the scouts, and sent him back to report what the negro said to Major Lyon. He was directed to move slowly after he had gone the eighth of a mile; for the enemy were at some point on the right of the road, and he would get a shot if he disturbed them.

"What are the Sesh soldiers here for, Cato?" asked Knox, as soon as his messenger had gone.

"Gwine to burn de bridge ober dar," replied the man, pointing in the direction in which the structure had been made out in the gloom of the evening.

"Well, why don't they burn it, then?"

"Dey done got oder business at de mansion-house, sar."

"What other business have they got there?"

"I reckon de story's as long as Uncle Zeke's sarmints; but de fust thing is, dey's gwine to hang Mars'r Barkland to one ob dem trees, if he don't tell whar he hide his money," answered Cato, as he gave a hurried glance at the fire.

"How many men are there at the house, or near it, Cato?" asked Knox with deep interest.

"I done count six on 'em."

"Then we won't allow a Union man to be hung to a tree. Scouts, attention, march!" called the sergeant hurriedly.

With this order, Life dashed into the cornfield, closely followed by Deck and the others. The harvest had been gathered in the field, and there was nothing but the stalks that remained to obstruct the passage of the squad. The fire was at the edge of a grove, on ground slightly elevated, and not far in the rear of the mansion, which could now be distinctly seen. In approaching it, the cavalrymen came to a spot less elevated than the grove, where Knox halted to reconnoitre.

"There's a lot of the villains coming from the house!" exclaimed the sergeant, as he brought his horse to a full stop all at once.

"They have about finished hanging Union men in our county," said Deck, "and I don't believe they will hang this one here."

"You can bet your horse they won't," added Life. "They can't see us yet, and I think we had better fix things a little before we begin business."

"We obey orders, Sergeant. There's a knoll over on the right covered over with trees."

"I was looking at that; and we will move over there, and take a position behind it, where they can't see us," replied Knox, as he led the way through a hollow, which brought the party to it.

The mansion-house was on the highest ground in the vicinity, though it was not on a hill. The fire seemed to be plentifully supplied with wood; for it burned brightly, and shed its light on the road leading from the house to the grove. A group of men could be seen approaching the elevation where the fire burned. They moved very slowly, and appeared to have considerable trouble in making any progress at all. There was a prisoner in the midst of the party, and he was very unwilling to move in the direction indicated by his oppressors.

While they were observing the spectacle, Cato joined them, for he had followed the cavalrymen as rapidly as he could on foot. He evidently belonged on the plantation, and knew all about the nature of the affair in progress, though the sergeant was not disposed to listen to a story as "long as Uncle Zeke's sermons."

"Do you know what those villains are doing there, Cato?" he asked, when the negro had recovered his breath.

"Dey drag ole Mars'r Barkland ober to de tree, whar dey will hang him," answered Cato promptly.

"Then your master has plenty of money?"

"I dunno, Mars'r; he neber tole me notin' about dat."

"I s'pose not. Are the men who came to the mansion in uniform, Cato?"

"No, sar; no uniform but de rags dey wear. Cap'n Tites is out at bof elbows, and a nigger'd be 'shamed to wear sich a coat."

"Did you hear what they said when they came to the house?"

"Hear ebery word dey say, Mars'r, 'cause I waits on de table when dey done took supper."

"Then they had supper at the mansion?"

"Yes, sar; dey was all half-starbed, and dey eat more'n twenty men, and done drink whiskey enough to float a canal-boat."

"Did that captain you spoke of drink whiskey, Cato?" asked Deck.

"He done drink more as all de rest on 'em. Mars'r Barkland willin' to gib dem de supper and de whiskey, but he don't want to gib 'em any money. Cap'n Tites tell him he done got million money; but mars'r say he don't hab none. Den de cap'n say he hang 'im to a tree if he don't gib up de money."

"That will do, Cato; I think I understand the matter now," said Knox, as he changed his position so that he could get a better view of the scene of action. "They have got nearly to the tree. It is about time to make a move."

The sergeant questioned the negro in regard to the road which led to the rear of the house, and some other matters relating to the locality. Knox was a strategist in a small way, as he had been obliged to be in defending himself from Indians and wild beasts. In a moment he had his plan ready to put into operation.

"I count nine men there, taking in the planter," said he. "Cato says there is a whole regiment camped in here somewhar. I don't believe it, Deck; but we don't want to stir 'em up just yet. You will take Owens and Fox, and ride round to that road Cato tells about, and I will go in on this side. I'll do most of the job with my four; but I don't want 'em to git off to their main body. Major Lyon'll tend to them."

Deck started at once with his two followers, directed by Cato again; and the negro went himself with all the speed of his legs. He came to the road, which was simply a driveway over the plantation, and soon reached the house. He was galloping his steed; but when he came to the house he reined him in at the plaintive supplication of an elderly woman and a young lady, whose face he could not see in the gloom of the evening.

CHAPTER VI

A VERY OBSTINATE PRISONER CAPTURED

Deck Lyon's horse had been one of his father's best stock, and he had been selected by Levi Bedford, the overseer, for his use. He was a very spirited animal, and not every young fellow of eighteen would have felt at home in a saddle placed on his back. As the ladies from the house rushed forward to intercept him, Ceph, which was his abbreviated name, was startled, reared, and faced the music, as he had been taught to do.

"I didn't mean to scare your horse, sir," said the elder of the ladies; "but for the love of Heaven, can't you do something for my husband?" demanded Mrs. Barkland, as she proved to be.

"Oh, save my father, if you can!" added the younger woman. "Oh, my father! They are abusing him shamefully, and they have threatened to hang him."

"That is the business in which I am engaged; and, if you will excuse me, I will attend to it," replied Deck, as he gave Ceph the signal to go ahead again with his legs.

"Do save him!" repeated the old lady, who wanted to talk some more about the matter.

But the young cavalryman waited to hear no more; and his horse went off at a dead run, the other two following him as rapidly as their steeds would permit, and he was several rods ahead of them. In a couple of minutes he had reached a point which commanded a view of the place chosen for the spectacle. The actors had evidently preferred to be at a distance from the mansion, where the women could not interfere with them, the better to carry their point with the owner of the plantation.

They had the intended victim with a rope around his neck, and there could be no doubt in regard to their purpose. One man had the other end of the line, and was climbing a tree with it, to pass it over a branch. Five men were on the ground, and their attention had already been attracted by the approach of the horsemen from the direction of the house; and they did not appear to have observed the others, with Knox at their head, for they had passed behind a thicket of young trees on a knoll.

"Halt!" shouted one of the five men in a voice loud enough to be heard half a mile. "If you come any nearer we will fire!"

"Fire away!" yelled Deck with all the force of his lungs.

But he reined in his steed; and Ceph obediently came to a full stop, while he unslung his carbine, his companions doing the same without any suggestion from him. They came up to him, and ranged their horses at his side. The carbines were ready for use in a moment, and all three of them were aimed at the five men surrounding the planter. The actors in the tragedy very plainly did not like this demonstration; for they did not fire, though all of them had aimed at the intruders on this side of them. The distance was still considerable, and probably they had no great faith in the arms in their hands.

"Now we will go ahead, if you are ready, Fox and Owens," said Deck, though he had no authority whatever to direct their movements.

The speed and sagacity of Ceph appeared to have placed him in command of the little squad, for his horse always kept away ahead of every other when he was permitted to do so. Deck was a brave fellow; he seemed to have no idea of anything like fear when he was required to face an enemy; but his father, who thought his son was inclined to be reckless, had carefully instilled into his mind the necessity of prudence.

Knox had said that he intended to do most of the work on the present occasion; but just now it looked as though the whole of it had fallen on Deck's party. It was possible that he and his men had been entangled in the bushes and young trees, or had come to some water they could not easily pass. Deck led the way, and his companions kept close to him. The man in the tree had passed the line over the branch, and thrown the end down to the others.

"Halt where you are!" shouted the man who had spoken before; and this time his voice gave Deck a thrill which caused him to stop his horse.

The two parties were not more than two hundred feet apart; and the leader believed the speaker was his uncle, Captain Titus Lyon. This gave him much to think of besides the identity of the commander of the expedition upon which the squadron had fallen. It was evident to him that the first work of the cavalry squadron raised at Riverlawn was to be fighting the Home Guards, or "ruffians" as they had hitherto been called.

Deck was annoyed and disconcerted at the discovery he had made, and it checked his enthusiasm; for the quarrel with Uncle Titus, which he insisted upon carrying to extremes, was in the family. The forces at Riverlawn had defeated and driven off him and his command three times, and it was an old story. He had hoped and expected that the campaign would present the war in a new aspect.

It gave the young soldier his first lively impression of the results of civil war. He was not at all inclined to shoot his father's brother; though he was just as earnestly determined to do his whole duty to his country, without regard to his relationship with any of the combatants on the other side. They were there by their own choice, and were responsible for the consequences.

With his carbine ready for instant use, Deck rode forward very slowly; and, more than at any time before, he wished Knox would arrive upon the scene of action. Captain Titus could now be clearly identified; and he had evidently made up his mind to proceed with the business in hand, as only three men had appeared so far to interfere with the operation. He had turned his attention from the intruders, and was talking to the unfortunate planter he had captured in a brutal manner, and shaking his fist frequently in his face.

"Stand by the rope!" called he to the other men. "The fellow is as obstinate as a mule, and we must make an end of him."

"Aim at the men who are holding the rope," said Deck to his companions, and the three carbines were promptly pointed at them. "This thing has gone far enough!" continued he, addressing the principal actor in the scene.

"Who are you?" demanded Captain Titus, stopping long enough in his operation to examine the intruders.

"I don't want to shoot you, but if you proceed any farther with this business we shall fire," replied Deck.

Captain Titus was plainly astonished, if not confounded, when he recognized his nephew in the uniform of the cavalry. He did not like the looks of the three carbines pointed at his men. But Deck felt somewhat ashamed of the delay he had made in relieving the terrified planter from the extremity to which he had been reduced, and he decided to bring matters to a head at once. Starting his horse, he dashed to the rope, and seized it with one hand.

"Fire at him!" yelled Captain Titus furiously, to two of the ruffians with muskets in their hands.

One of them raised his weapon to aim at Deck, who instantly fired at him. He dropped his gun upon the ground, and grasped his right arm with the left hand. The other man then raised his musket; but both of the other horsemen fired at him at the same instant, and he dropped heavily on the sod.

The three cavalrymen reloaded their weapons, and were immediately ready for the next move. The three men at the rope seemed to be appalled at the fate of their associates, and released their hold upon it. A moment later they began to skulk off in the direction of the grove.

"Don't let them escape, Owens!" said Deck, to the one nearest to him.

Both of them darted off at a gallop, and headed them off, driving them back to the tree from which the rope was hanging. Again Deck seized the line, and urged his horse up to the place where the planter was standing. Reaching down from his seat in the saddle, he cut the cords that bound the prisoner, and then directed him to remove the rope from his neck.

"I owe my life to you, young man," said Mr. Barkland, panting with emotion and excitement.

"I suppose you are a Union man, sir?" added Deck.

"I am; and that is the reason why I am subjected to this outrage," replied the intended victim.

"What brought you here, Deck Lyon? Who sent you here to interfere with my business?" demanded Captain Titus, confronting his nephew with a savage frown.

"We shall not allow any such business as this," answered Deck, who was not at all inclined to parley with the captain of the late Home Guards, now in the service of the Confederacy. "You and those with you will consider yourselves as prisoners of war."

"Prisoners of war!" exclaimed Captain Titus. "I reckon we ain't nothin' of the sort. Do you mean to take six on us with only three?"

"We shall not take the trouble to count your numbers. Mr. Barkland, you can return to your house, for your wife and daughter are very anxious about you. I hope you have not been injured, sir."

"Only in my nerves," replied the planter, as he started for his mansion.

At this moment Knox and his three men dashed upon the scene, to the great astonishment of Captain Titus.

"Well, Deck, is the business finished?" asked the sergeant, as he reined up his steed. "We had to go about two miles to get here, and that is what made it so late."

Deck reported what had happened so far. The man who had dropped so heavily on the ground was not killed; but he was bleeding from a wound in the side of the head, and the ball had only stunned him. The other man, with a bullet through his arm, was worse off.

"This man who is in command of the company is my uncle, Captain Titus," said Deck in a low voice to the sergeant.

"What! Major Lyon's brother?" exclaimed Life. "I have heard all about him, and he is a pesky troublesome fellow."

"I don't want anything more to do with him, Life, and I wish you would dispose of him," added Deck.

"Do you want me to kill him? I can't do that; for"—

"Nothing of the sort!" interposed the nephew warmly. "Of course I don't want you to do anything of the sort."

"We have six prisoners of war, and we will march them down to the main body," added Knox.

The sergeant proceeded to form his prisoners in a single rank; but Captain Titus appeared to have brought all his obstinacy and unreasonableness with him, and he refused to take the place assigned to him.

"Where are you going?" demanded the prisoner, as though he still ruled the roost, as he had doubtless done in his company.

"None of your business where we are going," replied the sergeant. "If you don't take your place I shall put you into it."

"This thing won't last long, for my company will take a hand in the business in the morning, and a battalion of Texan cavalry will make it warm for you."

"We are not talking about your company or any Texan cavalry. Will you take your place in the line? That's the only question you have got to settle," returned Knox.

"I won't take any place!" replied the captain with a volley of oaths.

"Swear not at all, my man," continued Life, as he seized the rebellious prisoner by the back of his coat collar, lifted him clear of the ground, and then brought him down in the place assigned to him. "Stay there!"

"I won't stay there!" growled he, as he attempted to leave the spot.

But Knox seized hold of him again, lifted him up, and slapped him down across the pommel of his saddle, face down.

"Any way you like, my man; but you are going with this crowd. Forward, my men!" and he placed himself at the head of the squad, and started in the direction of the road, in spite of the struggles of the prisoner. But they had not reached the road where they had first seen Cato, when the head of a column appeared in the act of turning into the field, doubtless guided by Hart, the messenger who had been sent to report to the major in command.

Knox halted his little force, and threw his prisoner on the ground without any ceremony, ordering Owens to take charge of him. The column consisted of only the first company, the other having been sent to take another position. Captain Truman had been ordered to hold himself in readiness to cut off the retreat to the westward of the force which Lane had reported upon.

"What have you here?" asked Major Lyon, as he saw the six prisoners in front of Knox's scouts.

"Prisoners, Major; and I am sorry to say that your brother is one of them," replied the sergeant. "They were about to hang the planter, Mr. Barkland, who lives in the mansion yonder; but we saved him, and sent him home."

"My brother a prisoner!" exclaimed the major very sadly.

He gave the order to march, and the first company proceeded towards the planter's mansion.

CHAPTER VII

PREPARING FOR ACTIVE OPERATIONS

The discipline which Knox had administered to Captain Titus had taken some of the obstinacy out of him, and he was willing to march with the other prisoners. All of them had been engaged in the "Battle of Riverlawn," as it was called, when the mob had been driven away from the plantation. They were placed between a couple of ranks of troopers, and no further attention was given to them till the company halted, a short distance from the mansion.

It was the camp for the night; and the horses were picketed, the tents pitched, and a cordon of sentinels stationed around the whole. The prisoners were provided for as comfortably as the soldiers, and the major had an opportunity to inquire into the situation. He had reached the point to which he had been ordered. The region in the vicinity of the railroad bridge had been examined by a large body of scouts, and nothing like an enemy had been discovered. A trio of negroes had been seen, and they were always ready to tell all they knew to persons wearing the national uniform.

There was no military force near the bridge. After Knox had sent back a messenger with the information obtained from Cato, that "a whole regiment" was encamped at the right of the road, Major Lyon had sent a couple of trusty men to examine the locality. These soldiers had crept cautiously into the woods, and found the force indicated; but it consisted of only a single company, as they could see by the light of the camp-fires. They had no tents, and most of the men were lying about on the ground.

It was now evident that this was Captain Titus's company. They were encamped near the railroad; but there were no bridges of any consequence near them, and they had doubtless postponed the work of the expedition till the next morning. Though the major had never even heard the name of Mr. Barkland, the planter, his brother must have had some information in regard to him, or he would hardly have visited his mansion and attempted to extort money from him.

Major Lyon did not care to meet his brother, for his conduct had been explained to him, and he was in a bad frame of mind even for him; but he ordered Knox to bring another of the party engaged in the outrage to his tent. He had selected one who appeared to be a reasonable man, and his manner was quite different from that of the captain. The major had seen him before, but he knew nothing about him.

"Do you belong to the company encamped in the woods farther down the road?" asked the major.

"How do you know there is any company there?" demanded the fellow, who seemed to be somewhat surprised at the question.

"I ask questions, but I don't answer them," replied Major Lyon with a smile.

"That's jest my case," replied the Home Guardsman with a capacious grin. "I don't tell all I know every day 'n the week."

"You don't know so much that you couldn't tell it as often as that," added Captain Gordon, who was present at the interview, and thought the major was more pleasant than the occasion required.

"But I know sunthin' you want to know," chuckled the man.

"Not at all; I know all about your company," said the major.

"Then what did you ask me if I belonged to it for?"

"Knox, this man thinks he knows too much, and you may take him away," called the major to the sergeant, who stood at the door of the tent.

"Oh, I'm willin' t' answer you," grinned the fellow. "I belong to that company."

"What were you doing up here, then?"

"Cap'n Titus thought the man that lives on this plantation had more money 'n he could manage, and he was willin' to help him take care on't."

"In other words, you intended to rob him."

"I didn't intend nothin' o' the sort. I obey the orders of the cap'n. If you want to know anything more about it, you'll have to ask him."

"Is your company the only body of troops about here?" asked the major, to whom Knox had reported what Captain Titus said about "Texan cavalry."

"You'll have to ask the cap'n about that; for he didn't tell me all he know'd."

It was evident that the man knew nothing of any importance, and the sergeant was directed to send him back to his quarters. At the entrance to the tent a visitor was waiting, who proved to be Mr. Barkland, and he was promptly admitted. He expressed his obligations for the important service rendered to him, and commended the energy of the young man who had been foremost in saving him from the fatal rope.

"These ruffians must have known that you had your money concealed in the house," suggested the major.

"I haven't any great amount in the house," replied Mr. Barkland. "I have a bank account in Louisville, and I had some money in the bank at Munfordville; but there are so many marauding parties about in this section of the State, that I took out the little I had in the latter, and had it in the house."

"Hardly a safe place in these troublous times," added Major Lyon.

"Safer than that bank, I thought," said the planter, "I am a Union man before anything else just now; and I think some Secessionist connected with the bank spread the news about that I had withdrawn my money,—only about thirty-five hundred dollars,—and the captain of this Home Guard had heard it."

"That was unfortunate."

"It would have been for me if your company had not come along. About dark half a dozen of them came to the house, and wanted to get some supper, which I was willing to give them; for I never turn away any one who wants something to eat. The captain wanted whiskey, and I gave it to him; but it seemed to make him crazy, for he did not behave like a gentleman."

"That is apt to be the effect of whiskey," added the major, who was thinking of its results in the case of his brother.

"Then they told me I had money in the house, or the captain did; for none of the rest of them said anything. I replied that I had no money for them; and then the captain became abusive, and threatened me if I did not give it up," continued the planter. "As I said, I am a Union man, and I decided to let them hang me to a tree, as he threatened to do, rather than give up my money to a lot of traitors, who would use it to assist in pulling down the government I believe in. My wife and daughter begged me to give up the money; but I was firm to the end, and even when the rope was around my neck."

"Your fate would not have been an uncommon one with Union men, unhappily," added the major.

"Could I see the young man that was foremost in saving me? I wish to express my personal gratitude to him for the service; for he was a brave fellow, and managed the affair well, or he would have failed. The ruffians were six to three; but the young man hit in the right place every time."

"Who was he, Knox?" asked the major of the sergeant, who had listened to the narrative while standing at the entrance of the tent.

"It was Deck, Major," replied Knox, with a smile on his wiry face.

"Send for him."

Deck soon appeared in the tent; and the planter grasped his hand, pouring out his thanks for what he had done. He desired to take him to his mansion, that his wife and daughter might have an opportunity to express their obligations to him; but Deck declined to go.

"Now, Mr. Barkland, do you know of any other body of troops in this vicinity?" asked the major, changing the subject of the conversation.

"Nothing within my own knowledge, Major Lyon," replied the planter. "Captain Tites and his men"—

"Captain who?" interposed the major.

"Captain Tites; that is what the others called him, or, at least, the name sounded like that."

"Very well, Mr. Barkland, go on," replied the chief of the squadron.

"They did not speak out very plainly; but they alluded to a body of Texan Rangers, as they called them, as though they were somewhere in this vicinity," the planter proceeded.

"That captain spoke of them since we took him," said Knox.

"I was just coming up to headquarters to report some information obtained by Sergeant Decker at the road," interposed Deck. "He stopped a negro on horse-back, who was going for a doctor. He said there was a company of cavalry, or more of them, camped about three miles on the road to Greensburg. He knew nothing at all about them."

"It looks as though there was a considerable force in this vicinity," added the major.

"I have given you all the information in my power, Major Lyon, and I will return to my house. If I can be of any service to you, call upon me," said Mr. Barkland, as he took the hand of the commander.

He left the tent, and Deck soon followed him, leaving the major and Captain Gordon alone. On the table in the centre of the tent was a map, which these two officers had been consulting when the guardsman was brought in. On it the major had made several crosses with a red pencil, indicating the location of the railroad bridge, which was believed to be the objective point of Captain Titus's company, the camp of this force, the mansion of the planter; and now he made another at the supposed location of the cavalry camp of the enemy.

"There is a prospect of some fighting in this vicinity by to-morrow," said Captain Gordon, as he looked at the crosses on the map.

"Colonel Cosgrove rode over to Riverlawn yesterday to inform me that Captain Titus's company had left the day before, at an early hour in the morning, marching on the railroad. He had just obtained some news, which he considered reliable, to the effect that an order had come up for the destruction of the railroad bridges," added Major Lyon, as he put his pencil point on the road. "It was understood in Bowling Green that General Buell was about to send troops to the southward, and this is an attempt to break up the means of transportation by rail."

"If there are any Texan Rangers about here, they must have been sent from some other point," said Captain Gordon. "But we know where the enemy are, and that is half the battle under present circumstances. The cavalry and the infantry of the enemy are at least five miles apart."

"Captain Truman has the infantry where he can put his hands on them in the morning. His orders are to send Lieutenant Gadbury to the farther side of the railroad, with half his company, and station the other half behind this knoll, so that neither of them can be seen from the main road, and to have both forces in position before daylight in the morning. Neither force is to attack till the enemy begin operations upon the railroad."

"I wondered that you did not bag the whole of this company of Home Guards while they were in camp," added the captain.

"Under the name by which we know them, I am not quite sure of their status; and I prefer to have them make a beginning, which will prove them to be the enemies of the government," replied the major. "I gave Truman the most explicit orders, and I have no doubt he will do his whole duty. It is a part of my purpose to have the whole of Captain Titus's company captured."

The major put a good deal of stress on the name by which his brother had been called, for he evidently did not like to pronounce his real name.

"I think your plan of action will readily bring about such a result."

"I put a low estimate upon the fighting character of the enemy in front of Truman; but I have stood up before them, though I believe they are better armed now than when they attempted to capture Riverlawn and Lyndhall. Your company will be held in reserve for the Texans, if there prove to be any."

"I have no doubt, after all I have heard, that the information in regard to them is correct," added the captain. "It appears from their locality that they are likely to come to the railroad by the road which passes Mr. Barkland's mansion."

The major and the captain arranged a plan for the reception of the Rangers, and then stretched themselves on their camp-bed, to obtain a little sleep before the exciting events which were expected the next day. At about midnight the sentinel awoke them, saying that the planter desired to see the commander. He was admitted, and reported that two men had just been to his house to inquire for "Captain Tites." One of them, he said, was Lieutenant Lagger, in command of the company in the absence of the captain.

Major Lyon turned over and went to sleep again, satisfied that Buck Lagger would begin operations in the morning.

CHAPTER VIII

THE ACTION BY THE RAILROAD BRIDGE

It was hardly daylight the next morning when Major Lyon sprang from his camp-bed. The first thing he recalled was the visit to his tent in the night of Mr. Barkland. He thought it was rather strange that Captain Titus had not brought his lieutenant, as it now appeared that he was in reality, as he had been before only in appearance; for he was a ruffian of the rudest stripe.

Three months before he had attempted to shoot Levi Bedford, the major's faithful overseer, as he drove past his house; and he had been his brother's principal supporter in the attacks of the mob upon Riverlawn and Lyndhall. He was just the desperado for such work as that in which the commander of the Home Guards had engaged the evening before.

"Sentinel!" called the major to the guard at headquarters.

"Here, Major!" replied the soldier.

"Send for Dexter and Artemas Lyon. Have them report at headquarters mounted," added the major, as he proceeded to complete his simple toilet.

The "assembly" was not sounded that morning, lest the noise should be heard in some other camp; but all the men had been called verbally, and were getting ready for the business of the day. The troopers assigned to that duty were watering the horses at a brook which flowed through the plantation, and others were striking the tents. A number of pickets on foot had patrolled the roads for a mile from the camp, but there had been no alarm during the night. Deck and Artie promptly reported at the major's tent as they had been ordered to do.

"Good-morning, boys," said their father. "Do you know where the railroad bridge over the creek is?"

"I do," replied Deck.

"I have a message for Captain Truman. You will find his company in two divisions this morning, one on each side of the bridge, and both of them are in concealment by this time in the morning. The captain is behind the hill, just this side of the creek. Do you think you can find him?"

"I know I can," replied Deck.

"You must remember that he is keeping his men out of sight. My message is for him alone. He is not aware that Captain Titus and his companions at the mansion were captured last night. Whether the work will be carried on by his first lieutenant or not, I don't know. This officer is Buck Lagger; and I know that he will be glad to get the command of the company, even for a short time. I believe he will begin the destruction of the bridge early this morning; for, according to Levi Bedford, Buck believes he is a bigger man and an abler captain than his superior officer."

"I have no doubt if there is any mischief to be done, Buck will do it as soon as possible," added Deck.

"But if he fails to do so, tell Captain Truman to move over to the camp they occupied last night, and to keep his eye on the company. You will also inform him that there is a company of Texan cavalry in camp about three miles to the south-east of us, and they will probably be on the move this morning," continued Major Lyon.

"Texan cavalry!" exclaimed Deck.

"Music somewhere here to-day," added Artie with a smile.

"The first company will be between this enemy and the second company, and you will tell Captain Truman to give no attention to them. Now go as soon as possible," added the major; and the boys started on their mission.

The horses were in excellent condition, and the boys were pleased to have something to do that brought them out of the ranks for a time. The section of country which one could take in from the hill on which the mansion of the planter was located, included the railway and two common roads. South of the railroad, and extending in the same general direction, was the road by which the command had marched from Riverlawn.

The camp of the Home Guards was at the south of it, and half a mile from it; for it appeared to have been a part of the purpose of Captain Titus to conceal his force. The half-dozen shots which had been fired as the troopers passed came from a party of strollers, it afterwards appeared; and Buck Lagger, in charge of the camp, had not discovered the presence of the cavalry from Riverlawn.

At the point where Cato had been first seen, and who had given the information in regard to the outrage at the mansion, the road to the south branched off, or rather crossed the other at right angles. On this one was the mansion of Mr. Barkland, and about three miles farther south was the reported camp of the Texans. Deck had had no opportunity to study the panorama of the region as it might be seen in the daytime from the hill by the planter's house, for the darkness shut off his view.

The camp of the first company was on the south road, and the boys rode in the direction of the railroad bridge. The day was breaking in the east, but it was not light enough to see distinctly the prominent object in the vicinity. They could make out the hill where they expected to find Captain Truman, but not the one on the other side of the railroad.

"Hold on, Deck!" said Artie, when they came to the crossing of the roads. "I hear a noise off towards the west."

"It is the tramp of men's feet; but that is none of our affair," replied Deck.

"I have no doubt it is the Home Guards," added Artie.

"I know it is; didn't father say they were to come over here to do their work? We can report to Captain Truman that the enemy are approaching, and he will be glad to get the information."

Deck started his horse; but they had been directed to move with as little noise as possible, and they could not hurry. They took the cross-road, and the hill was on the right, and the railroad bridge on the left of it. Leaving the road, they struck into the field, and moved toward the station of the first half of the second company.

"Who comes there?" called a voice from the grove that surrounded the hill.

"Friends," replied Deck.

"Advance, friends, and give the countersign."

"Riverlawn," answered Deck, giving the word that had been selected the day before. "We have a message for Captain Truman from Major Lyon. Where is he?"

"Not far from here," replied Blenks, who was in charge of the picket line. "I will conduct you to him."

They found the captain seated on his horse, apart from his command, eating his breakfast from his haversack. The men were all mounted, and in readiness for immediate service, though they were standing at ease, some of them taking their morning meal.

"Good-morning, Deck," said Captain Truman, as he recognized his early visitors. "You left your bunk in good time this morning."

"We are the bearers of orders from Major Lyon," replied Deck, who was in the habit of doing most of the talking, though Artie had a tongue of his own; and he repeated all the orders and all the information with which they had been charged.

"Captain Titus a prisoner!" exclaimed the captain, when he had finished. "Then it remains to be proved whether or not Lieutenant Buck Lagger will execute the orders received by Captain Titus."

"We heard them down the road as we came along," said Artie.

"I have no doubt they will be at work within half an hour," added Deck. "But we must hurry back, for our company will move farther to the south, I think, judging from the message we brought to you."

"But you can't go now, for you will meet the Home Guards by the time you get to the south road. The ruffians would be glad to get a couple of prisoners like you and Artie; for then Buck Lagger could exchange you both for his captain."

"Such an arrangement would not suit Buck Lagger at all," replied Deck. "When Levi Bedford brought Buck to the fort at Riverlawn, after he attempted to kill him on the road, the villain did not speak very handsomely of his captain, but said he should soon be in command of the company himself."

"Be that as it may, you ought not to throw yourselves into the midst of these ruffians," the captain insisted. "If they don't capture you, they would take great pleasure in abusing you."

"Mounted as we are, I think we could take care of ourselves against the whole of them," answered Deck.

The soldiers of the squadron had an utter contempt for the fighting qualities of this company, and Deck and Artie shared it with the others. But the captain protested so earnestly against their exposing themselves to a needless peril, that they agreed to wait behind some bushes near the south road till the company had passed. They would gladly have learned something more in regard to the plan of the captain; but he was as reticent as military men usually are, and kept his own counsel. The messengers rode to the knoll covered with bushes which they had observed near the road when they entered the field.

"We shall have a chance to see something of this affair," said Deck, as he stopped his horse at a point where the bushes would conceal them from those passing in the road.

"Do you suppose the first company will remain where they are for any length of time?" asked Artie.

"Father didn't say anything about that; but I imagine he will put the company in a position to meet the Texans."

"There they come!" exclaimed Artie. "They are just turning into the south road. Buck Lagger looks big enough to be a brigadier-general."

"But they are straggling along as though they were going to a picnic," added Deck. "There are some of them half a mile in the rear."

Then the boys observed two wagons drawn by mules, and the stragglers appeared to be the guard for their protection. Buck Lagger led the compact portion of his command, who were armed with axes as well as muskets. The south road ran under the railroad bridge, and the Guard halted there. The lieutenant lost no time in beginning his work. A portion of the men went to work at the abutment, trying to remove some of the stones in the wall, evidently with the intention of blowing up the end of the structure when the wagons arrived with the powder.

About one-half of the men were sent to the platform of the bridge, climbing up the embankment a short distance beyond the wall. As soon as they reached the wooden portion of the bridge, they began to pull up the planks of the platform, and toss them over into the creek, a work which would not at all interfere with the usefulness of the structure for the passage of trains. These men were in so elevated a position that the boys could distinctly see their operations.

Then they heard the crack of a rifle, and one of the soldiers dropped from the bridge into the creek. This single effective shot was followed by a volley; and, though they could not be seen, it was clear that Lieutenant Gadbury had led his command to the front, and they had opened fire on the destroyers of the bridge. His men were good marksmen; for not a few of them were hunters, and they had had abundant practice at the camp.

"They can't stand much of that sort of thing," said Deck, much excited by what he saw.

"Not they; they are coming down from the bridge now," added Artie.

"Here come the rest of the company," exclaimed Deck, as Captain Truman, followed by his fifty men by fours, dashed through the field at full gallop. "I reckon I don't stay here any longer."

"But the baggage-train of the enemy has not come up yet," suggested Artie.

"But I want to see what is going on, and we can't see anything in the road from here, and that is where the fight is going to be," returned Deck, who was far more excited than his brother. "I suppose Lieutenant Gadbury is coming down to the bridge from the north, and now Captain Truman is approaching it from the south. They will have it out there."

Both divisions of the company halted at some distance from the enemy, and began to pour a murderous fire into them, crushed as they were between the upper and nether millstones. The plan of Major Lyon had been carried out to the letter. The Guards returned the fire with all the energy they could muster; but it was very soon evident that their weapons were doing little harm to the cavalry.

"This is little better than wholesale murder!" exclaimed Captain Truman; and he sent the second lieutenant, with half his men, into the field, with orders to charge the enemy in concert with him.

This charge was made; and the enemy were ridden down by the horsemen, till they cried out for quarter. Buck Lagger lay dead upon the ground, with not less than a dozen others, while half the rest of them were wounded. The victory was complete, and the cavalrymen were only sorry they had not met a foe worthy of their steel. Eight of them were wounded, two of them severely.

CHAPTER IX

AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE ENEMY'S SCOUTS

The baggage-train of the Guards had seen from a distance that the battle had begun, and they had halted in the road. They still blocked the way for Deck and Artie; but they could no longer remain as spectators to the exciting scene which had just transpired, and had ridden down to the field of action; but the fighting had ceased. The cavalrymen were picking up their wounded; and Dr. Farnwright, the surgeon of the battalion, was attending to their needs.

"Well, boys, this affair seems to be finished; and we made very short work of it," said Captain Truman, as they rode up to the spot where he was observing the labors of the men.

"We have seen the whole of it, and now we are ready to return to our company," replied Deck.

"The road is clear now, and there is nothing to prevent your return."

"The wagons of the enemy have halted in the road, and there seems to be half-a-dozen men or more in charge of them," said Deck.

"I will send a squad to bring them in," replied the captain, as he called a sergeant near him, and directed him to take ten men and perform this duty. "You will go with Sergeant Langford, boys, and I think you will be all right."

"Have you any message for the major, Captain?" asked Deck.

"You have seen the skirmish yourselves, and you can report it as it was. We were fired upon smartly for a time; but the muskets of the enemy were of all sorts and kinds, and most of them good for nothing. We have eight men wounded, two of them badly, and the rest slightly. Sergeant Langford has just reported to me that the enemy lost eight men killed, and fifteen wounded, some of them fatally. The rest of the command are prisoners."

Sergeant Langford appeared with his ten men, and the boys went with him on their return to their company. It was not yet sunrise, and the principal task of the morning had been accomplished; for the action had lasted hardly more than a quarter of an hour. Lieutenant Blenks was compelling the Guards to pick up and care for their own wounded, and to bury their dead. The men were sulky, and the cavalrymen were compelled to drive them to this duty.

"It was sharp work for a few minutes," said Langford to the boys, after he had called them to his side.

"It was; but the thing was very handsomely done," replied Deck. "I think these ruffians have had quite enough of it."

"They are as sulky as a bear that has lost her cubs. They were not willing to pick up their own dead and wounded, and wanted our boys to do it for them; but a few slaps with the flat of the sabres brought them to the point," added the sergeant. "I suppose the work in this quarter is done now."

"I think not. I doubt whether we have finished," replied Deck; but he said nothing about the Texan Rangers, for he did not feel at liberty to use the information he had obtained as a messenger.

The wagons of the enemy had halted where the men in charge of them could see what had happened at the bridge; but when the sergeant's squad approached them, they brought their muskets to their shoulders, as though they intended to defend their property.

"Unsling carbines!" called Langford to his men; and they promptly obeyed the order.

But the baggage guard did not fire; for some one among them seemed to have more sense than the others, and had interposed to prevent a useless sacrifice of life. A dispute followed among them, and the sergeant advanced upon them.

"No more jaw!" interposed Langford. "Start your mules, and go ahead!"

"Where are we going? We ain't no use over there now," said one of the men.

"You are no use anywhere! Start your teams!" added Langford, as he slapped the last speaker with the flat of his sabre. "Shove them along, boys!"

"We ain't goin' over there; we'll turn round and go back where we come from," added the spokesman of the party.

"Are you all idiots?" demanded Langford. "Your wagons are wanted over at the bridge, and that is where you are going."

The troopers soon started the teams with a vigorous use of the flat sides of their sabres. The guardsmen were disposed to resist; but they were vigorously pushed forward, and when a fellow hung back, he was gently pricked with the point of the sharp weapons.

"I believe a good part of these ruffians are idiots, as Langford suggested," said Deck, as he and Artie rode forward. "They don't seem to understand that they are taking part in the war."

"That's so," replied Artie, laughing. "If they find they cannot destroy the bridge, all they have to do is to go back where they came from, and call it square. But Langford has brought them to their senses."

A smart gallop of a few minutes brought the messengers in sight of the mansion-house of the plantation. The first company was not where they had left it in the early morning; but they soon discovered a couple of the men, who seemed to be patrolling the south road.

"Where is the company, Yowell?" asked Deck, when they came within speaking distance.

"Behind the mansion. We were sent down to look for you," replied the soldier. "Major Lyon was afraid something had happened to you."

"We are all right. Have you seen any of the enemy up this way?"

"Not a man of them. If you take this path it will bring you to the house, and you will find the major there."

The boys took the path indicated, and put their horses to their best speed. When they came to the house, they were greeted in the yard by the planter and his family, and the ladies poured forth their gratitude to Deck for the service he had rendered the evening before. But the young cavalryman could not stop to listen long to them.

"Where is Major Lyon?" he asked, looking about him.

"He is on the top of the house," replied Mr. Barkland.

"Come up here, both of you!" shouted the major from his elevated position.

Giving the reins of their bridles to the orderly, who was there with the commander's horse, Mr. Barkland showed them the way to a platform on the roof of the mansion, from which a full view of the surrounding country was obtained; only the railroad bridge was shut out by a hill.

"What makes you so late, boys?" asked the major, as they presented themselves before him.

"The baggage-train of the enemy stopped in the road, with half-a-dozen men in charge of it, so that we could not pass it without a fight," replied Deck.

"Has anything been done at the bridge?" asked the commander anxiously.

"Yes, sir; the battle has been fought and won, and the whole company of Home Guards are prisoners," replied Deck, giving the entire story all in a heap.

"That is good news, though I expected no other result. What was our loss?"

"None killed; eight wounded, two of them seriously, the others slightly. The enemy's loss is eight killed and fifteen wounded, some of them fatally," replied Deck, who had studied over the report of the fight he was to make; and then he proceeded to give the details of the affair.

This was in the beginning of the war, and before any battle of magnitude had been fought, so that the action at the railroad bridge seemed to be a considerable affair. The major listened with deep interest to all the particulars. Doubtless he was pleased with the report of the result; but he frequently raised the field-glass in his hands to his eyes as he listened, and it was evident that he was more concerned in regard to the approach of the enemy from the south.

He put several questions to the boys, which were answered by both of them, and fully informed himself in regard to the situation at the bridge, which was about three miles distant from the mansion.

"You will both return to the bridge; give my order to Captain Truman to leave a sufficient force on the ground to guard the prisoners, to dispose of the dead and wounded, and then to join me at this place with all the men that can be spared," said the major.

The boys saluted him, and hastened to obey the order. In a few minutes they were galloping over the road again. On their way down the stairs they met Captain Gordon on his way to the roof. He had been the recruiting officer sent by the commanding general of the department to organize the first company, and the major had used all his influence to elect him to the office he filled himself. He had declined the position, for he thought it better that the planter of Riverlawn should fill that place. He had an apartment at the major's mansion, and they had been on the most intimate terms from the beginning.

"I have posted Lieutenant Belthorpe behind the hill," said Captain Gordon, as he saluted his superior officer. "I have given him full instructions."

"I have just sent for Captain Truman and as many of the second company as can be spared," replied Major Lyon. "They have beaten Captain Titus's command, and captured the whole of them."

"Can you make out any movement of the enemy to the south of us, Major Lyon?" asked the captain.

"Nothing yet. Everything is in readiness, I suppose, to carry out our plan."

"Everything; and the men are in fine spirits."

"The only thing I fear is that the Rangers will take the other road to the bridge," suggested the major.

"But that would make the distance at least two miles farther," replied Captain Gordon. "Can it be possible that the commander of the Rangers has obtained information of our presence here, and of the result of the affair at the bridge?"

"I think not; and yet it is possible, for not many in command could be so neglectful of all reasonable precautions as Captain Titus was."

"If they come this way, we are all ready for them. I have scouts out to the eastward of our position, who will report to us the passage of any force by the east road, as they call it here," continued the captain. "The Texans are not early risers, or we should have seen them by this time. I will return to my company, and await further orders."

The boys understood the necessity of haste, and in less than fifteen minutes their foaming steeds brought them into the presence of Captain Truman, to whom they delivered their message. He had already reduced everything to a condition of order. The wounded had been removed to a deserted shanty, probably used by the railroad workmen, and the prisoners were surrounded by a guard of twenty men. All was quiet on the ground, and the captain was glad to receive the order brought by the messengers.

Lieutenant Blenks had already been placed in command of the camp, and the captain gave the order for Lieutenant Gadbury to have his men in marching order at once; and twenty men from the second platoon were added to their number. But Deck and Artie did not wait for this body to move, but started at once on their return; for they were anxious to be present in any engagement that might take place. They had little compassion for their horses, fond as they were of them, and dashed down the road at their best speed.

"Hi!" exclaimed Artie, as they reached the cross-road.

"What is it, Artie?" asked Deck, who was looking to the right.

"Don't you see? There are a couple of mounted men wearing the gray!" exclaimed Artie with energy.

"What are they?" asked Deck.

"What are they? It is as plain as a stone wall to a blind man after he has stumbled over it, that they are the Texans who are expected over here."

"Are there only two of them?" asked Deck facetiously. "Your head is level, Artie, and they are a couple of scouts who are feeling the way for a bigger body further back."

"One of the Texans tumbled from his horse."

Just at that moment a bullet whistled between the two boys; for the scouts could have no difficulty in making out the uniform of the two messengers. Both of them unslung their carbines; and, without considering what consequences might ensue, both of them fired, Artie delivering the first shot. One of the Texans tumbled from his horse, and Deck aimed at the other; but he was less fortunate in his discharge, for the remaining man still clung to his horse. Raising his carbine, he fired.

"I am hit," said Deck, as he held up his left arm.

The man who had delivered his fire wheeled his horse as soon as he had done so, and galloped back by the way he came.

CHAPTER X

THE BATTLE BEGUN AT THE CROSS-ROADS

Deck and Artie Lyon were not veterans in military service; but on several occasions during the preceding six months they had been within the reach of flying bullets. They had not become hardened to the whizzing, boring sound they make in their passage through the air, for they carried wounds and death in their train; but they had considered and talked about the chances of being hit, and fully realized the possible consequences.

"We are in the hands of the good Lord," Noah Lyon used to say; "and if it be his will that we suddenly pass the portals that divide the seen from the unseen, or that we languish for weeks or months upon the couch of pain, we can only submit to the divine will; and all we have to do is faithfully to discharge our duty to God and our country. God and our country! Let this be our watchword, boys; and with it on our tongues and in our hearts, we ought to fear no danger."

Some appear to be brave in mere bravado, and the pride of many gives them courage: but the bravest men are those who are earnestly devoted to the discharge of their duty; for principle generates courage when it is founded upon religious faith. It was in this firm reliance that the father had schooled his sons. He was a faithful apostle, and they were loving disciples.

"Where are you hit, Deck?" asked Artie, full of anxiety in regard to his brother, though he could see that he was not very severely wounded.

"Right in the arm, half-way between the wrist and the elbow," replied Deck with a smile; for the time had come for him to feel something of what had only been talked about before. "It won't amount to much, though it doesn't feel good."

"Let me see it, and I will fix it up as well as I can," added Artie, as he wheeled his horse till he was at the side of his companion.

The noble steeds stood as quietly as though they understood what had occurred, while Artie rolled up the sleeve of the jacket, and disclosed the wound. The fond and devoted mother had provided each of them with a bandage and a handful of lint, and she had even practised them in doing up a leg and an arm. Artie wiped away the blood, and then applied the lint, around which he wound the bandage, as he had been instructed.

"It is not a bad wound, as you say, Deck, and I hope you will never have a worse one," said Artie, as he pinned the end of the bandage.

"Thank you, Artie, and you are quite a surgeon," replied Deck, as he straightened out his arm. "That feels better, though it is still rather warm. But we have business on our hands, and we can't fool away any more time. What do you suppose the presence of those two fellows here means?"

"There is only one thing that it can mean," replied Artie, as he strained his vision to take in whatever might be seen in the direction from which the two scouts had come. "There must be a body of cavalrymen not far behind them."

"I don't understand this business," added Deck. "Let's ride up the slope, and then we can see the enemy if there is any there."

"It won't take both of us to do that. We know, if everybody in the company does not, that there is a company of Texan Rangers camped about three miles from Mr. Barkland's plantation. From their odd uniform we have a right to believe these two scouts belonged to that company. Very likely the captain of it is up to some mischief; and if a part of the force should come over here after Captain Truman has departed to join our first company, they could undo all that has been done, burn the bridge, and recapture all the prisoners."

"That's so!" exclaimed Deck, taking in the argument of his brother, and fully agreeing with it.

"As you are wounded, I will ride up the slope, and see what is to be seen, while you hurry back as fast as Ceph will take you to Captain Truman, and tell him all about it," suggested Artie.

"All right; go ahead!" returned Deck, as he wheeled his horse, while Artie galloped up the slope, which was quite gentle for half a mile.

When the latter reached the spot where the Texan had fallen, he saw that he was not dead, though the blood was oozing from a wound in his breast. His horse was quietly feeding on the bushes at the side of the road; but Artie could not stop to do anything for his wounded enemy, though his heart was big enough to do everything in his power. He rode on at the highest speed of Dolly, as he called her, though she had had another name before he made her acquaintance. He reached the top of the hill, if it could be called such, and the spot commanded a view of the country for several miles.

It was not a plain which opened to him, for the prospect was bounded by a range of hills several miles distant, the intervening space having a sort of rolling surface. The first object that attracted his attention was a horseman, riding at full gallop up a slope about a mile distant from him. He concluded that he was the scout whose companion had fallen from his horse when he fired his carbine. He must have stopped by the way, or ridden more slowly than at present, or he would have been out or sight in the time he had taken.

Artie had halted on the crown of the slope, for it was useless to go any farther. He could see the country for at least two miles; and it was not prudent for him to proceed alone. He sat upon his horse considering what he should do next. The only course left open to him was to return to the south road; but if an enemy was approaching by the east road, as the presence of the two scouts indicated, it was important that he should ascertain the fact.

He kept his eyes busily engaged in wandering along the whole horizon to the east and south of him. If Captain Truman's command were not wanted, it would be an error to detain them. On the other hand, the result of the morning's work would be all undone if the enemy should advance after the larger portion of the second company had been withdrawn. It was a perplexing question for a boy of eighteen to settle; and he realized the responsibility that had accidentally, as it were, fallen upon him.

If he was not at the cross-road when Deck returned from his visit to the camp at the bridge, Captain Truman would march his men up the slope, when they might be needed in the vicinity of the planter's house. He decided to compromise with the circumstances, and wait a reasonable time for some evidence of an advance on the part of the Texans. The two scouts had come from beyond the elevation where he stood; and unless they were simply messengers or spies, there must be a force behind them. As spies, they would not have appeared in full uniform.

When he had waited perhaps ten minutes, he discovered something moving over the top of one of the hills south-east of him. With the utmost eagerness he observed the spot. He could not make out anything that looked like a road. But presently the moving object became more definite to his gaze. He wished he had his father's field-glass; but all he could do was to watch and wait. In a few minutes more the moving object resolved itself into a body of mounted men. They were marching along the summit of an elevation, and he saw them begin the descent.

While still in sight the troop halted, and Artie concluded that the scout who had escaped had come up with them, and was making his report. But he could not leave yet; for it was important that he should report the strength of the enemy, as well as his actual presence in the vicinity. The young cavalryman had a full view of the valley into which the troop were descending; and as soon as they marched again he estimated, and even counted, the number of men.

The Texans did not compel him to wait a great while, for they resumed the march at full gallop. They had been moving at a very moderate gait when Artie first saw them. The report of the scout doubtless assured the officer in command that a force of Union cavalry was located near the bridge, and he was hurrying his men forward to meet it. Artie had seen enough to assure him of the approach of an enemy, and he started on his return to the cross-road. He had seen the whole of the force, and had estimated its number at forty-four men in the ranks; for he had counted eleven sections of four in each.

Dolly had had quite a rest while he was observing the approach of the enemy; and, as soon as he had obtained the facts, he was in a hurry. He urged his steed forward at her best speed. He reached the cross-road just as Deck appeared there; for the information he brought perplexed the captain not a little in regard to his duty under the changed circumstances, and he had been detained to answer a great many questions.

"Where is Captain Truman?" shouted Artie, as soon as he was within speaking distance of his brother.

"He will be here in a few minutes with his men," replied Deck, who had also remained, to have his wound properly dressed by the surgeon. "Have you seen the enemy, Artie?"

"I have; and they are within a mile and a half of here now," replied Artie. "They are advancing with all speed, and they will be here in a few minutes."

"Here is the captain," added Deck; and a minute later the troopers were halted.

"Here is Artie, Captain Truman; and he has big news for you," said Deck, who appeared to have forgotten that he was wounded.

"Your report, Artie," demanded the captain.

"The Texan Rangers—at least, that is what I suppose they are—will be here in ten or fifteen minutes, if they don't stop by the way."

"Is it a large force?" asked the captain, with some anxiety visible on his face.

"Forty-four men, as I estimated them, besides the officers."

"We outnumber them, then. But I am ordered to report at the planter's house," said the officer, who appeared to be musing upon the situation.

He was not an experienced officer; and his mind was charged with the idea that the soldier must obey his superior officer, though his intellect was broad enough, and he had read in his military books that one in command of a force must use judgment and discretion. This was what he was thinking of when he alluded to his orders, which he would not have done if the boys had not been the sons of the major, and he was on very intimate terms with them.

"But, if you obey your orders, the bridge will be destroyed, and the"—

"I don't intend to obey them; I am not quite blind, my boy," interposed Captain Truman, with a smile on his face. "Less than fifty men, you say, Artie. I made up my mind, from what Deck said, that if there was a force approaching from that direction, the enemy were divided, and were coming to the bridge by the two roads."

"There must be more than forty-four men in the whole company, besides the officers," added Artie.

"No doubt of it," replied the captain, looking about him.

Then he called for Lieutenant Gadbury, and sent him, with thirty men, back to the field where they had been concealed to await the attack of the Home Guards on the bridge. Then he ordered the rest of the men, about forty in number, to unsling their carbines, and formed them across the south road. In a somewhat longer time than Artie had predicted, the head of the enemy's column, arrived at the top of the hill, where they halted.

A couple of officers appeared in front of the troop, and seemed to be surveying the situation. They could see the railroad bridge, and that it had not been destroyed by another division of the Confederates. But they could not see the camp that had been established at the side of the structure, for it was on much lower ground. They could also see the cavalry of Captain Truman, stationed about six feet apart, so that they extended both ways on the crossing along the south road.

The Union cavalry doubtless looked like a small force to the officers who observed it. They had the reputation of being bold and brave men, and the order to attack was not long withheld. The officer in command led his men down the hill at full gallop, the men yelling like so many demons; for, at this early stage of the war, the troops of the enemy had acquired the notion that these hideous cries would intimidate their foes; but they did not in this instance.

"Now, my boys, this will be no fool's play!" shouted Captain Truman at the top of his lungs. "These troopers are not Home Guards; and there will be fighting, and no child's play. Stand up to it like men—like Kentuckians, and, above all, like Union men!"

The soldiers responded with a hearty cheer; and they kept it up till the enemy were within gunshot range, where they halted. They were formed across the road, but with only half-a-dozen men in a rank, so that they were still clustered in a rather solid mass. In this condition they delivered their first volley. One of the Union men dropped from his saddle, and only one. If others were wounded, they said nothing. The fire was promptly returned; but, so far as could be seen, with no greater effect than that of the Rangers.

The Union men, as ordered, continued to fire at will; and it was soon evident that their carbines were superior to those in the hands of the enemy, for they discharged at least twice as many shots. The report of the muskets had brought the force of Lieutenant Gadbury into the rear of the enemy, and both divisions of the company were pouring bullets into them.

CHAPTER XI

A DESPERATE CHARGE ON BOTH SIDES

The Texan Rangers were formed in a rather compact mass, while the Union line was considerably extended. Captain Truman had ideas of his own; and, though he was not a martinet, he was disposed to follow strictly the rules and precedents of military practice. His men could not very well fire into forty-five men huddled together in a small space without hitting some of them. On the other hand, the enemy might discharge a volley into his force, placed about six feet apart, with comparatively little effect.

He was surprised to observe how few of the Rangers fell from their horses at the first discharge of his men; but their practice immediately began to improve, and as soon as the detachment of Lieutenant Gadbury dashed into the road in the rear of the enemy, the fire became very destructive. Many of the enemy were killed and wounded, and it looked as though they would all be destroyed.

The Texans were brave men; they were impulsive and reckless, and they seemed to be perfectly satisfied that they could overcome the Union cavalry, and carry everything before them. In a few minutes it was evident to the captain of the second company that the officer of the enemy had made a fearful blunder, led into it by his impulsive ardor. He had conducted his men into the fight without sufficiently understanding the situation, and without taking the trouble to feel of the enemy beforehand. He had rushed blindly into the engagement with a feeling of contempt for his foe, and with the belief that the Texan cavalry could carry everything before them.

In a few minutes he had discovered his mistake, as he saw his men drop before the fire in the front and rear of his force. He had been beyond the crown of the elevation in the road when Captain Truman stationed his flanking party behind the knoll, where they could not be seen by the enemy. He had recklessly regarded the force in front of him as the entire strength of his foe.

The Rangers were between the upper and the nether millstone, as the Home Guards had been early in the morning; and it was only a question of time when they would all be shot down. In the village of Barcreek, Captain Truman had won a reputation as a chess-player among the better class of citizens who were fond of the game. He had reached the conclusion that warfare was to be conducted on similar principles, and he was on the lookout for an opportunity to "checkmate" his antagonist. He had fought the battle in the morning on the plan laid down for him by Major Lyon.

By dividing his detachment, and placing forty of them in front of the Texans, and spreading them out so that they appeared to be even a smaller force, he had tempted the attack in which the enemy were suffering so severely. It was not in the power or the nerve of any body of soldiers to stand up against such a deadly fire from their front and rear. They must either be shot down or surrender. It evidently had not occurred to the lieutenant in command of the Rangers to resort to the last expedient to save his men; but he was plainly making a movement to extricate them from the trap into which he had so inconsiderately led them.

"Attention, company!" shouted Captain Truman at the top of his lungs, as he interpreted the movement of the enemy. "Close order, march!"

The file closed up in a more compact mass. The command was given to sling their carbines, and to draw their sabres; and it was given none too soon, for the captain had correctly divined the intention of the lieutenant on the other side of attempting to cut his way through the force in front of him.

"Can you make out what Lieutenant Gadbury is doing, Deck?" asked the captain, who was rather near-sighted.

Deck and Artie had both remained near the captain; and they had not been idle or indifferent, but acted as volunteers in the second company.

"His men are slinging their carbines, as the enemy have done," replied Deck.

"We are going to have some hot work, my boy. If you are ready to return to the first company"—

"I am not ready to return, Captain Truman!" exclaimed Deck. "I think you need all the men you can have, and I shall add one to the number. I have not heard any firing to the south of us, and I don't believe the first company has been engaged yet."

"But I am somewhat concerned about our prisoners at the bridge. There are a hundred of them, or very nearly that number. They must have heard our firing, and Lieutenant Blenks may have his hands full. You can render better service by looking after this part of the field," added the captain.

"Of course I am ready to go wherever I can do the most good," replied Deck, who could not help wondering if the captain was not sending him out of the way because he was the major's son.

"You are wounded, and you can be spared better than some other man. Some of our poor fellows have bitten the dust. Ride over to the bridge; and, if Blenks is having no trouble with the prisoners, go over to the rear of the enemy, and direct Gadbury to follow up the charge of the Texans."

Deck saluted the captain, and dashed down the road towards the bridge with all the speed the willing Ceph could command. It was a few minutes that he required to reach the position of Lieutenant Blenks, who had heard the firing, and had drawn up his men for any duty that might be before them. No movement on the part of the prisoners was apparent to Deck, and they were surrounded by a guard, with their carbines in their hands; for the officer had ordered them to be on the lookout for any demonstration.

"I am sent by Captain Truman to ascertain the condition of the prisoners," said Deck, as he saluted the lieutenant.

"The prisoners are all right," replied the officer with a smile. "As soon as I heard heavy firing I strengthened the guards around them; for I thought they might want to take a hand in the fight over yonder. I had a talk with the second lieutenant of the Guards, now in command, and he told me that a company of Texan cavalry were to have connected with his force here."

"But the force we have engaged cannot be more than half the company; and all of them must have known that at least one of our companies was in this vicinity," added Deck.

"The lieutenant, whose name is Condor, tried to induce Lagger to wait till they had joined their forces before he meddled with the bridge; but he refused to do so."

"Buck Lagger desired to win his spurs while the captain of the Guards was absent. But you need no assistance here," added Deck, as he wheeled his horse.

"None at all; we could ride these fellows down in two minutes. But their arms are loaded into our baggage wagon, and they could do nothing if they tried," replied the officer.

The messenger galloped up the road and into the field by the side of the east road. It was not cultivated, though it had been years before, and was now overgrown in places by small trees and bushes. Behind these Deck made his way to a point abreast of the enemy. He was in time to hear the order to charge upon the Union cavalry at the foot of the hill. The lieutenant had evidently delayed this order for some time; for when his men ceased to fire, the Union troopers had followed their example, and prepared for the decisive event of the conflict. The messenger rode into the road and saluted the officer in command of the flanking party.

"Captain Truman's order is that you follow up the enemy in the rear as they charge down the hill," said Deck.

"I am all ready to do that," replied the officer, as he pointed to his men, who sat upon their horses with their drawn sabres in their hands.

They were not more than two hundred feet from the Texans, and Lieutenant Gadbury had already addressed some inspiring words to them. The other division could be plainly seen at the foot of the hill, and both parties were observing the enemy with the most intense interest. Judging from the impetuous and reckless conduct of the Rangers, the conclusion had been reached on both sides to charge the foe; for any other movement would be turning their backs to the enemy.

During the tacit suspension of the conflict, both combatants had improved the opportunity to care for their wounded. Two of the men only had been killed so far, but half a dozen of them had been wounded; for the Texans had given most of their attention to those at the foot of the hill. Of these six, four kept in their saddles, and refused to take the rear. The wounds were dressed as far as possible, and Dr. Farnwright was a busy man at his post on the cross-roads.

Suddenly the officer in command of the Texans appeared in the rear of his force, and made a furious gesture with his sword, pointing in the direction of Gadbury's men. This was not what was expected of the Rangers; and for the moment all the advantage was in favor of the enemy, so far as numbers were concerned.

"Fours, right about, march!" shouted the Confederate lieutenant. "Now charge with all the blood there is in you! Ride them down, and use your sabres like men!"

The order was promptly obeyed by the Texans, who appeared to be under excellent discipline; but they had hardly whirled around before the watchful eyes of Captain Truman discovered what they were doing, and his energetic shouts of orders could be heard by the force now in front of the Rangers. In another moment the main body of the company were spurring their steeds with all their might up the hill. Their sabres were in their hands, and they were using them in urging forward their horses. They came like a whirlwind, with the captain in advance; and there was not a man among them who would not have been ashamed to be a laggard under such leadership.

It was well known that there were two or more companies of cavalry from Texas in this part of the State, and they had excited an unwholesome dread among the citizens by their desperate bravery and their reported prowess. In the squadron of Riverlawn cavalry, as it was sometimes called, the troopers had talked about them a great deal, and an emulation had been created among them to measure sabres with them. They had the opportunity on this occasion, and the pride of every soldier had been roused to the highest pitch.

Though the flanking division of the company was now outnumbered for the moment, all the Union men looked upon the change of front in the enemy as something like the appearance of the white feather, and they were encouraged by this phase of the combat. Lieutenant Gadbury, as soon as he saw the change of front on the part of the Rangers, was disposed to take the bull by the horns.

"Open order, march!" he shouted. "Sergeant Lingall, march half the column into the field on the left, and strike them on that side."

With the twenty men left to him, he gave the order to move forward at a gallop, imitating the example of the Texan lieutenant in taking his place in advance. No mercy was shown to the poor horses, which were goaded with sabre and spurs to their highest speed. The two divisions were rushing upon each other with a fury that promised a tremendous shock when they came together. Deck had placed himself in the front rank, and added one to the number reduced by death and wounds.

He was not a full-grown man; but he was a stout fellow, and as brave as a lion, which he had proved on some former occasions. Ceph, his intelligent horse, fully seconded him. The rider selected the point where he was likely to hit. It looked to him just as though the two officers in command would meet each other, and have a pass with their sabres, for which they had exchanged their dress swords. But the Texan, before the onslaught came, had moved over nearer the left flank of his force, in order to obtain a better view of his men; but he had started to regain his former position just as the crash of the two bodies ensued. He was directly in front of Deck, when Captain Truman shouted to his men to stand up to the work before them, and not yield a hair while the breath of life was in them.

Ceph had been ridden a great deal by his master before he became his war-charger, and he had trained him to some tricks in which the other horses had not been drilled. One of these was to leap over a high bar. As the young cavalryman saw the lieutenant of the enemy directly in front of him, he drew his rein, as Ceph had been instructed; and the steed stood up on his hind-legs, Deck clinging with his wounded arm to his holsters.

The gallant charger understood that he was to leap over the object in front of him; but it was more than he could do, and he came down with his fore-legs over the neck of the smaller horse of the lieutenant. The horse went down, the rider upon him, and Deck gave a sharp thrust with his sabre at the same moment. The officer was disabled at least, and Deck dashed over him into the thickest of the fight.

CHAPTER XII

THE YOUNG HERO OF THE BATTLE

The steed of the officer of the Texans was a diminutive animal, and was, perhaps, a mustang from Mexico, a tough little beast with nearly the endurance of a mule. Ceph, in the exercise through which his young master put him when they were alone by themselves, had leaped quite as high as the backbone of the officer's steed; but it was under favorable circumstances. In the furious conflict both the rider and the steed were excited in the highest degree.

Ceph had failed to leap over the back of the mustang, but he had brought him to the ground, and the lieutenant upon him; for he could do nothing for himself, and Deck made a vigorous use of his sabre the moment the enemy was under him, as his gallant charger sprang from the wreck he had accomplished, and dashed forward into the mêlée.

If Deck had won no prize for his sabre drill, it was only because none was offered. He was as quick as a flash in his movements, and had a strong arm. The Ranger nearest to his officer when the latter went down aimed a tremendous blow at the head of the young soldier, which would have cleft it in twain if Deck had not parried it skilfully and powerfully. In return, he inflicted the same kind of a blow upon his assailant, whose horse carried him out of the affray when he ceased to direct him, and he fell to the ground at the side of the road.

The ringing voice of the Texan officer was no longer heard in the furious strife, and the Rangers were fighting each on his own responsibility. Captain Truman had brought up his men, and they had made a tremendous onslaught. The ten men sent to the flank had done their whole duty, and Deck found not a single one of the enemy who was not engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter with a Ranger. The enemy were surrounded, hemmed in, and discouraged by the fall of their brave leader. They were also outnumbered, and one of them was often engaged with two of the Union cavalrymen.

The Texans had assuredly done all that could be done, and it was soon evident that they were only defending themselves till they could work out of the desperate mêlée. On the flanks, as they could detach themselves from the struggling mass, they fled into the field on the south of the road. Such a conflict could last but a few moments, for there was not breath enough in the human body to keep up such a strain.

An observer would have supposed that more than half on both sides had been killed; yet very few had fallen to the ground, and fewer still had come out of it without wounds of greater or less magnitude. The Texans fought to free themselves from the embrace of the Unionists, as it were; and as soon as they had worked out of the confusion, they fled at the best speed of their half-exhausted animals. Some one among them had taken in the lay of the country; and they all fled in one direction, which was towards the road by which they had come from their camp.

The battle was fought, and the Union cavalrymen remained in possession of the field. Most of the men were at least spotted with gore, and some of them looked as though they had been at work in a slaughter-house. Dr. Farnwright had already begun his work at the side of the road. Three of the company were silent and motionless, and the surgeon had pronounced them dead. The wagons were sent for, including those of the Guards, and the few who were severely wounded were sent to the hospital the surgeon had established.

Deck had received no additional wound; and the bullet injury did not trouble him much, for he could handle his reins with the left hand nearly as well as ever. Artie had received three cuts upon his sword arm, but they happened to be all slight. In fact, the soldier who had not been damaged to some extent was hardly to be found. Only five men had been killed, nine wounded seriously enough to disable them.

"You seem to be all right, Deck," said Captain Truman, when they met at the camp.

"I am, Captain, and ready for another fight when you bring it along," replied the young soldier, laughing, and putting a bold face on the situation.

"Don't be too ambitious, my boy," replied the officer, shaking his head. "You have been reckless to-day."

"But I have come out all right; and I don't think I was any more reckless than the rest of the fellows," added Deck.

"You have fought like a veteran; and I think we owe more to you for the result of the action than to any other single individual, though all the boys behaved like heroes, and proved that they were the equals of even the Texan desperadoes."

"I don't think I did anything more than the rest of our fellows," suggested Deck; and he was not in this matter indulging in mere bravado: he really believed he had done nothing except what came naturally to his hands, as others had done.

"Then I must differ in opinion from you; but while I commend your skill and bravery, I cannot wholly approve of the gymnastics in which you indulged at the beginning of the charge, for it was simply recklessness," said the captain very seriously. "It is your duty to fight courageously, my boy; but it is also a duty you owe to your country, as well as to your father and all the members of your family, to save your life and limbs with honor if you can."

"Haven't I done so, Captain Truman?" asked Deck, with a very cheerful smile on his face. "I came out with hardly a wound after the bullet hit me in the arm at the beginning. I have nothing but half-a-dozen scratches to show for it."

"You were excited to the highest pitch in the affair, and you have not got over it yet. When you do, you will feel your scratches more. But I hope you will not be so reckless another time, my boy."

"I didn't know I was reckless. Lieutenant Gadbury fired our blood so that I could hardly hold in; and I went in for all I was worth, and only did the best I knew how," replied Deck, trying to cool off his heated blood.

"You didn't know you were reckless, my boy!" exclaimed the captain. "You were a volunteer in the second company, and you advanced ahead of the first rank with the lieutenant. That was a bold exposure; but what I particularly refer to as reckless was your attempt to leap your horse over that of the Texan leader."

"I did not intend to leap my horse over him; but I went for that officer. When I came up with him, and was going to use my sabre, Ceph thought I wanted him to leap over him, for he and I have practised together at that a great deal. He meant right; but I knew he couldn't clear the horse, small as he was, to say nothing of the rider. Ceph came down upon both of them, and I drove my weapon into the officer before he had a chance to stick me. That was the whole of it."

"If you were not trying to make your steed leap over the horse and rider, I will acquit you of recklessness in that particular."

This conversation occurred as they were moving back to the camp. The wounded on both sides were put into the wagons, the lieutenant in command of the Rangers among the others. He was badly wounded, and his chance of recovery was small. Those the doctor pronounced dead were placed by the side of the road, to be disposed of later.

"How are you now, Artie?" asked Deck, as he rode up to his brother at the camp, and looked at him with anxiety, to ascertain the extent of his injuries, though he looked as rosy and vigorous as usual.

"I'm all right, Deck, though I have a lot of scratches, and a cut on the sword arm which is beginning to make itself felt," replied his brother, quite as cheerfully as the other.

"I didn't see you till the affair was about over," added Deck. "But you were putting in the dry licks as though you felt that your time for work was very short."

"But I saw you just us soon as we started from the cross-roads, and I did not expect to see you come out of it alive, Deck," replied Artie; and he could not wholly conceal the admiration he felt for his brother since he saw him take his place in advance of his detachment, and vanquish the Texan lieutenant almost in the twinkling of an eye. "The captain said you were reckless at the time of it."

"He don't say so now."

"You tried to leap your horse over rider and steed."

"Ceph did that on his own hook; and I could not very well help following his lead, as I was on his back, though I had nearly slidden off when he mounted in the air. I am not badly damaged, and I am ready to return to the first company; I am only waiting for the captain to write a note to the major."

"I am all ready to go back, though I should like to have Dr. Farnwright dress the cut on my arm before I go," added Artie. "But he is too busy with the men who are worse off than I am, and I will let it go as it is. But here comes the captain with a paper in his hand. I suppose father will wonder what has become of us."

"He must have heard the firing in this direction. Perhaps he has been fully occupied himself, or he would have sent more men over this way."

No effort had been used to make prisoners of any of the Texans, for the captain had his hands full. He was satisfied that Major Lyon expected warm work where he was, for he would not have sent for the additional force otherwise. The rest of the company with which he had been engaged might be at no great distance from him, and doubtless this was the force the first company was expected to encounter.

"Here is the letter, Deck, in which I have given a hasty statement of the action," said Captain Truman, as he handed him the paper, which could hardly be called a letter. "I believe we have met a portion of the enemy he expected to engage; and probably he is not in a hurry, for we have heard no firing at the south of us."

"We are all ready to go; but Artie has a wound in his arm which troubles him, and there is no surgeon with the first company," interposed Deck.

"Farnwright!" shouted the captain, as he saw that he had just finished his attention to one patient and was hastening to another.

The surgeon came promptly at his call, and proceeded to dress the arm of the wounded soldier without his dismounting from his horse.

"I wish I had no worse cases than that, my boy," said the doctor.

"I am sorry you have, sir," replied Artie.

"You will be all right in a few days, my young friend; and I learn that you have both fought like Trojans, though I believe Artie did not try to leap his horse over any Texan's head," added Dr. Farnwright, with a look of admiration at Deck, who appeared to have won the laurel of the day on the field.

"Neither did I, Doctor. If any one tried to do a big thing, it was Ceph," protested the hero.

"Ceph? Who is he?"

"My horse;" and Deck hastily gave his version of the daring deed, as it appeared to be to those who had observed it.

But the dressing of the wound was finished, and the young soldiers started on their return to the camp of the first company. The excitement of the morning had subsided, and they began to feel the wear and tear to which they had been subjected.

"We don't get such a morning's work as this every day in the week," said Artie as they crossed the east road.

"But I imagine we shall get some worse days than this has been," added Deck. "We haven't seen the end of this day yet, and we may be in another fight before noon. I suppose these Texan troopers have been sent over here to destroy the bridges on the railroad extending to Louisville."

"It isn't a great while since the Confederates were trying to keep the road open," added Artie.

"The situation has changed since that, and we are farther along into the war. Then they wanted to keep this road open, so that they could bring provisions down for the use of the armies of the enemy. Now they want to destroy them, to prevent the United States Government from sending troops for the invasion of the Southern States," replied Deck.

The conversation the rest of the way was in regard to the events of the day, filled up with surmises as to what the first company was doing. When they left Major Lyon he was on the top of the planter's house, surveying the surrounding country, wishing to obtain the first intelligence of the approach of the enemy. Both of the messengers wondered that he had not seen the coming of the detachment with whom the second company had engaged; but they concluded that the road they had taken led them beyond certain hills in that direction.

When the boys reached the mansion of Mr. Barkland, Major Lyon was still on the house, and shouted to them to join him at once.

CHAPTER XIII

THE PERPLEXING MOVEMENTS OF THE ENEMY

The commander of the squadron had not yet become familiar with the trials, doubts, and anxieties of military life in the midst of actual fighting; and though he was as calm and resolute as ever, he seemed to the boys to be greatly disturbed about something. Thus far all the fighting had been done by the second company; but before this time Major Lyon had confidently expected to be engaged with the cavalry which had encamped three miles from the mansion of the planter.

The reputation of the Texans had been spread over this portion of the State; and they were regarded as terrible soldiers, real fire-eaters, and he had by no means underrated them. He had made the most careful preparations to meet them, and had sent the two messengers to obtain a re-enforcement from the second company, which had successfully completed its work at the railroad bridge, and could spare a portion of their strength.

Deck handed his father the letter from Captain Truman as soon as he came into his presence. The major opened it without saying a word, for he expected it to give him the information he had been so anxiously awaiting. The firing to which he had listened, though it was so faint that he could hardly make it out, had assured him that something not laid down in his programme had been in progress. While he was reading the hurriedly written communication, Deck and Artie busied themselves in examining the region lying to the eastward of the mansion.

"The road by which the Texans came must be just beyond that hill, a couple of miles from us," said Artie, as they went as far as they could from the major. "I know I saw them come out from behind it; for I sat on my horse, on the highest ground I crossed, watching them for some time."

"There's father's map," added Deck, pointing to the sheet which lay on the railing that surrounded the platform; and then he went for it. "I wondered father did not see this force from his high perch on this house."

The young soldiers spread out the map, and examined it very closely. They readily found the planter's house, and then a road, nearly parallel to the east one, passing over several hills. The high ground, as they made out the locality with the aid of the map, was covered with forest, as marked and as they could see with their own eyes.

"They went behind that highest hill, and of course they could not be seen from the top of this house," said Deck, as he restored the map to the place where he had found it.

"I wonder he did not send more messengers down, to ascertain what had become of the force he sent for," added Artie in a low tone.

"He was expecting an engagement with the Texans all the time, and had prepared for it, so that he did not want to spare any of his men."

Major Lyon had finished the reading of the letter, which had evidently given him some trouble, for it was written on horse-back with a pencil. He had not heard the conversation of the sons, so deeply had he been absorbed in the perusal of the missive from the bridge.

"It appears that you have had a fight near the bridge," said he, as the boys approached him. "Both of you are very highly commended for your courage and steadiness, and I am glad to hear so good a report of you. And both of you have been wounded."

"Only some scratches, father," replied Deck. "I got one in the beginning of the action; but it has hardly troubled me at all, and I was able to do my duty through the whole of it.

"Deck was the hero of the day, and the whole company are talking about him down at the bridge," said Artie.

"But I did no more than my brother. I think we both did our duty, if saying that is not vanity; and we had better let it go at that," replied Deck.

"We will let the matter rest till another time, at least," added the major; "for I have something else to think of just now."

Major Lyon took his field-glass, and directed it to the south, as he had done all the forenoon, looking for the approach of the main body of the Texans. He scanned the region in detail, but nothing was to be discovered. Then he proceeded to question his messengers respecting the action, especially in regard to the manner in which it had been brought about.

"There is something concerning the situation here which I cannot understand," said he, with the same perplexed look he had worn since the arrival of the messengers. "I expected your return about two hours ago."

"We started to come back as long ago as that," replied Deck. "When we came to the cross-roads we discovered two mounted scouts on the east road approaching us. One of them fired, and I was wounded in the arm. We returned the fire, and Artie brought down one of them. The other went back the way they had come. I returned to the camp to notify Captain Truman, and Artie followed the retreating trooper."

Artie related his experience in looking for the Texans, and the result of his search. Between them both they gave the details of the fight.

"Captain Truman stated that his orders were to join you here; but it was plain enough to him that the camp at the bridge would be captured if he took his force away," said Deck.

"He did quite right; and the approach of the Texan detachment in that roundabout way put an entirely new phase on the situation," added the major, looking down at the roof of the building, while his brow was wrinkled by his active reflection. "We have been waiting since daylight for the coming of the enemy down this south road."

"Do they know the Riverlawn Cavalry is here, father?" asked Deck.

"Of course they know it; for it appears that they send out scouts a long way ahead, and they must have found out that we are here. I directed Captain Gordon to send scouts out till he discovered where the enemy were; and it is time we had a return from them."

"I have a return from my scouts," said Captain Gordon, springing to the roof out of the skylight at this moment.

"Where are the enemy now?" asked the major anxiously.

"They were breaking camp when my men left," replied the captain. "I sent six men, the most intelligent in the company, in charge of Sergeant Knox, who has performed his duty very faithfully."

"He always does. Have your six men returned?" asked Major Lyon.

"No, sir; Knox returned alone to report. He left Sergeant Sluder and the other four as pickets in the road a mile and a half from here, to report the approach of the enemy if they came this way."

"But if they were breaking camp, why have we not heard from them before this time?" demanded the major.

"Some of the troopers that escaped from the fight on the east road must have reached the camp by this time," interposed Deck. "Of course they have informed the captain of the company what happened over there."

"What fight?" asked the captain sharply, as he turned to Deck.

The captain had to be informed of what the major had already learned.

"This puts an entirely different complexion on the situation," said Captain Gordon, when he had heard something about the fight with the Texan cavalry. "That detachment of forty-five men were sent over to the bridge. Now, the question is, What were they sent for?"

"I have no doubt the Texan captain is aware of the presence of the Riverlawn squadron in this vicinity. He has found the road here picketed by our men. It looks to me as though this detachment was sent round by that back road to take us in the flank and rear when the main body came down upon us in front. They have been waiting all this time for them to get a position," said the major, with less anxiety on his face than before.

"But those who escaped from the fight have now given him full information that they were beaten off by our men," suggested Captain Gordon. "They were preparing for a move of some sort; for Knox left his horse in the road, and made his way through fields and groves, till he was in sight of their camp."

"Have you anything to advise, Captain Gordon?" asked Major Lyon.

"I think I should attack them where they are," he replied.

"I cannot agree with you, Captain," added the superior officer.

"But we are losing time whatever we do," said the captain.

"We will march immediately, and with all the haste we can, to the cross-roads. Give your orders to that effect without any delay. Send the prisoners first, with a proper guard," said Major Lyon very decidedly.

By this time Captain Gordon had acquired a great deal of respect for the judgment of the commander, even in military matters; for he had proved himself equal to the position in which he had been placed; and, mild as he was ordinarily, he had shown that he had a will of his own. But the captain proceeded to obey his orders without offering any objection, and the major had not time to explain his plans in detail.

"Captain Truman and his detachment are coming," said Deck, who had been using his father's field-glass for his amusement, while he listened to the conversation at his side.

"Mount your horse, Artie, and give him my order to return to the cross-roads!" added Major Lyon sharply.

Artie departed on the instant, and Deck remained on the roof. He could see from his lofty position all that took place in the vicinity. He saw the six prisoners, including his uncle, Captain Titus, marched down the slope with an escort of half-a-dozen troopers. The baggage-wagons followed them; and the company was formed in the road by fours. Captain Gordon had hurried the preparations to the best of his ability.

"The pickets are coming in, Dexter," said Major Lyon, as he returned the field-glass to the case slung at his side. "You can take your place in the ranks, my son. Whether the pickets have been sent for, or are driven in by the enemy, I don't know. We will see when we reach the ground."

The young man followed his father down the stairs. In the lower entry they met the family; and the planter expressed regret that they were about to leave the vicinity of his house.

"I have felt that I was protected from insult and depredation while your command was here, and I am sorry to have you go," said Mr. Barkland.

"I am afraid we should do you more harm than good if we remained," replied the major. "If we stayed here it might produce a fight, and that would imperil your family. I think the enemy will be too much in a hurry to stop to molest you if they march by this road, as they may or may not."

"I had hoped to see more of your son who rendered such a great service last night," said Mrs. Barkland.

"And I wanted to see him very much," said the daughter.

"They have no time to meet you at present."

"But what is the matter with your arm, Mr. Lyon?" asked Miss Barkland, when she discovered the extra bandage which the doctor had put on outside of his coat.

"I got a scratch; but it wasn't the cat that did it," replied Deck, laughing.

"Both of my boys have been slightly wounded to-day in the action down by the cross-roads; but they are still able to do their duty, and I thank God it was no worse," added Major Lyon, as he took the hand of the planter.

They all took the hand of Deck, and repeated their thanks to him. He followed his father out of the house, in front of which they met Knox.

"The enemy are moving down this road, Major Lyon," said the Kentuckian as he saluted.

"All right; give the captain my order to march at a gallop," replied the commander, as he mounted his own horse.

The column moved; and the major soon reached the head of it, where he took his place by the side of the captain.

"The enemy have started upon this road," said he. "Whether or not they have sent another detachment around by that back road can hardly be known till we find them there."

"The captain of the Texan Rangers does not seem to have any contempt for strategy, as was reported of him," replied Captain Gordon. "I have no doubt his scouts informed him that the Riverlawn Cavalry were in camp on the plantation."

"And I have no doubt now, from the way things have worked, that the detachment were sent round to take us in the flank. They don't seem to have made any connection with Captain Titus's company, and did not expect to find one of our companies at the bridge."

There was some confusion ahead, and the company were thrown back. The column had overtaken the prisoners and the baggage. The captain sent forward an order for both to take the side of the road. The major saw his brother drawn up with the others, and he shouted "Noah!" as he was passing; but the commander took no notice of him.

CHAPTER XIV

A LONG WAIT FOR THE ENEMY

The only feeling Major Lyon had in regard to his unfortunate brother was that of sorrow. If he had been disposed to do so, he could not leave his soldiers to converse with him, as Titus evidently desired; for he was hurrying the first company forward in order to unite his forces and secure a favorable position before the enemy in his rear could overtake him. Doubtless Titus desired to make a request of some kind; perhaps to be set at liberty, perhaps only to demand a ration of whiskey.

The captain was so imprudent that he was as likely as otherwise to reproach him, call him a thief, or something of that kind, as he had done before, in the presence of his command. He had been captured in the act of committing a dastardly outrage, as well as being in the military service of the enemy. He was willing to extend to him every reasonable privilege; but he was a prisoner of war, to take the mildest view of his condition, and the major was not a man who could be conveniently blind to an obvious duty.

The first company proceeded on its rapid march, and in a short time reached the cross-roads, where it was halted, with the head of the column near the camp at the railroad bridge. Captain Truman hastened to the major as soon as he halted, and the commander extended his hand to him.

"I commend you, Captain Truman, for the good work you have accomplished; and I thank you for the skill, courage, and devotion with which you have done your duty. But the enemy are in motion in this direction on the south road, and we have no time for anything but preparation for the immediate future. It is possible that a detachment of the enemy may approach by the east road."

"I have a picket stationed a mile up that road, and we shall have early notice of any force coming from that direction, Major Lyon," replied the captain of the second company, which had just been sent back by the order of which Artie had been the bearer.

"Very well. You have fought a severe fight, Captain; in what condition are your men?" inquired the commander.

"They are in excellent condition; for they have found that they are fully the equals of the Texans on fighting ground, and they are ready and anxious to meet the enemy again. We have buried our dead, and our wounded are doing well."

Major Lyon had carefully studied the face of the country for several miles in the vicinity of the planter's mansion, from his elevated position on the building, and had observed it for the present situation as he rode down from the plantation. He had confidently expected an attack while he was near the house of Mr. Barkland. He had arranged his plan to receive the assault; and Lieutenant Belthorpe, with one-third of the company, had been sent around through the grove to a position behind a knoll, which would effectually conceal him from the enemy till the time came for him to assail the Texans in the flank and rear.

Captain Gordon had heartily approved this plan, and they had force enough to carry it out successfully. Major Lyon regretted very much that the issue had not come in the manner he had anticipated. The plan of the captain of the Rangers had evidently failed because he had not heard from the detachment sent by the hill road, as the natives called it. He must have had some means of knowing where this flanking party were, or he would have moved sooner. Probably a swift rider was to have been sent back when the force reached the cross-roads; but they had not got so far as that. His first news must have been the defeat of this portion of his command.

"Captain Truman, have you noticed a considerable knoll on the left of the south road, just above the cross-roads?" asked the major.

"I have; and I thought of posting my reserve under Lieutenant Gadbury there; but I found it was too far off for the time at my command," replied the captain.

"Can it be reached without going by the south road?"

"Very easily; by riding through this field, where we were posted this morning, crossing the east road, and then through a valley, which will conceal the force till they reach the shelter of the knoll."

"How many men can you muster in your company?"

"About eighty, if you are to remain in this vicinity; for ten or fifteen will be a sufficient guard for the prisoners."

"Then you will march your available force to the point indicated. I see that you have hoisted the American flag on the railroad bridge," added the major.

"It is the camp flag, and I wanted it in the most sightly place I could find," replied the captain.

"It will answer a double purpose, then. Could you see it from behind the knoll?"

"Perfectly; we did not get the flag-pole elevated till half an hour ago."

"I shall send Deck to lower that flag, and remain by the staff till I give him the signal to hoist it again. Then you will march to the south road with all speed, and attack the enemy in the rear or on the flank."

"I understand you perfectly, Major Lyon, and your order shall be carried out to the letter," replied Captain Truman, as he saluted, and hurried to his company, which had been formed in the field by the side of the road.

"Dexter!" called the commander, when he had found his son in the ranks.

Both of the boys had been used as messengers during the morning, and this service had led them into the most dangerous positions; and both of them had fought like heroes as volunteers while their company was at the plantation.

Deck came out of his place in the ranks, saluted his father, and expected to be called upon for more messenger service, hoping it would lead him into the thickest of the action, as it had before.

"Do you see that flag on the railroad bridge, Dexter?" asked his father, pointing at the ensign.

"I do; and I take off my cap to it," replied Deck, suiting the action to the word.

"You will go to it and haul it down, my son."

"Haul down the American flag!" exclaimed Deck.

"As long as it is not for a surrender or the abandonment of the camp, you need have no scruples about it," replied the major, with a smile at the boy's objection. "You will obey the order, and you will remain at the staff. When you see me wave my handkerchief three times in the air, you may set your conscience at ease by hoisting the flag again."

The commander made the signal over his plumed hat, so that the messenger would be able to recognize it when it was given in the fight, if there should be one, of which he was not altogether sure after the disappointment of the morning.

"I shall see that signal from the bridge if it is made three miles off."

"Keep your eyes wide open after the engagement begins; for it is a signal, really an order from me, of the utmost importance, and the result of the action may depend upon it," added the major very impressively. "I have called upon you for this service because I know I can depend upon you, Dexter."

"Of course I shall do my duty and obey my orders to the best of my ability," replied Deck; but judging from the expression on his face he was not pleased with the mission assigned to him.

"You can go to the bridge at once; but you will not haul the flag down till I make the signal agreed upon to you," added Major Lyon.

"But, father, do you expect to fight this battle without me?" asked Deck, with a very cheerful smile on his face; and he would not have said as much as that to any other person, even as a joke.

"You have made yourself the hero of the day, and perhaps you ought to have a little rest," replied his father, quite as cheerfully as the son, for he took the question as it was intended.

"I don't exactly like the idea of squatting on that bridge, and looking on while there is any fighting going on," continued the young soldier.

"But the position to which I have assigned you is one of the most important on the field. I can trust you to be watchful, while another, interested in the action, might neglect his duty."

"I have nothing more to say, father," replied Deck, as he rode off in the direction of the bridge.

Major Lyon had made his dispositions and issued his orders before he spoke to his son. Captain Truman was galloping over the field towards the east road, with sixty men, which was the number finally designated for the service at the knoll. Captain Gordon had posted his men along the roads and the adjoining fields. The baggage-wagons and the prisoners had arrived from the plantations, and Captain Titus had an opportunity to rejoin his company; but the glory of his military life seemed to have passed away. He was treated the same as the rest of the prisoners, and no one took any notice of him. He was not in good odor even in his own company; for his men declared that he had deserted them the night before.

The enemy had not yet appeared; and even the pickets that had been posted a mile down the south road had not been driven in, which would be the first indication that hostilities were at hand. Those from the second company who were scouting the east road had not been heard from; and they had been ordered to proceed as far as a certain hill, where Artie had first seen the detachment sent that way.

Noon came, and the soldiers ate their dinner from their haversacks, and the horses took their oats from the grass. It was a very quiet time, and the Riverlawn battalion would have been glad to receive an order to march upon the enemy wherever they could be found. They were impatient for something to do, especially the first company, which had not yet seen any fighting.

Major Lyon improved his time as he took his lunch with Captain Truman, in listening to a fuller report of the action on the east road. The commander asked particularly in regard to the lieutenant who had fallen under the onslaught of Deck Lyon. He had been wounded in the chest by a ball, and he had gone down from a cut of the young soldier's sabre. He had been stunned by the blow, and left on the field. But he had been conveyed to the camp in the wagon with other wounded men, and the surgeon had dressed his wounds. He believed he would recover.

"I should like to see that man," said the major.

"I saw him walking about the shanty hospital not long ago. I spoke with him, and he is a very gentlemanly fellow. You can send for him if you wish, Major. But it is time for me to join my company, as I sent the men in charge of Lieutenant Gadbury; for I had to give some orders in regard to the prisoners."

"I will not send for him; but I will ride down to the hospital, which is only a few rods from the cross-roads. Captain Gordon, I wish to have some one near me to carry my orders, if need be," said the commander, as Captain Truman rode off.

"Your orderly?" asked the captain.

"I prefer Artie Lyon; I have already sent Dexter on duty upon the bridge. I am going down to the hospital; send me notice at once if any movement is apparent."

Artie was sent to him at once; but Deck had told him where he was going, and he hoped he would not be sent to join him. He followed his father to the hospital, where Dr. Farnwright received him. He asked for the Texan lieutenant; and the surgeon pointed him out, seated on a log at the side of the road.

"This is Major Lyon, commanding the squadron," said the doctor, introducing him.

The officer rose from his seat, and saluted the major very politely.

"This gentleman is Lieutenant Makepeace, of the Texan Rangers," added the surgeon.

"That does not sound like a Southern name," replied Major Lyon, and he took the hand of the wounded officer.

"I am a Northern man; but my home has been in Texas for seven years, though I came from a New England State."

"I regret to see you on the wrong side in this war, though I am sorry that you have been wounded."

"I don't know exactly how I came in this service; but I was very near being elected to the captaincy of this company, though I am not a Texan."

"Who is the commander of the company?"

"Captain Dingfield."

"There comes the picket down the hill!" exclaimed Artie, who had discovered half-a-dozen men running their horses down the descent.

"Then I must leave you; but I shall see you again," added the major, as he dashed up the road at full speed.

CHAPTER XV

THE AMERICAN FLAG ON THE BRIDGE

As Major Lyon rode out from the hospital he encountered Sergeant Sluder pressing his horse to the best of his speed; but it was hardly necessary for him to deliver the message of which he was the bearer, for there was movement enough among the men to assure him that the enemy were approaching, even if Artie had not seen the return of the pickets.

The major waved his handkerchief three times above his plumed hat, and the American flag came down at once on the bridge. Deck had not fallen asleep at his post, though he found the situation very monotonous. The sergeant reached the commander, and delivered a message from Captain Gordon. The major had never been in a regular battle, only in the affairs with the ruffians at Riverlawn and Lyndhall.

In fact, there had been nothing in the present campaign which could properly be called a battle. The second company had done all the fighting so far. At the bridge a few shots had demoralized the Home Guards; and though the action in the road had been severe, it was hardly more than a skirmish. But the commander had proved before that he had abundance of courage, though he had engaged in less actual fighting than his two sons.

Major Lyon reached the position of Captain Gordon just as the pickets came in, headed by Life Knox. The men were all in position, and those of the first company were eager for the conflict; for they had done nothing, and rather envied their companions in the second company, who had fought and won a victory against a portion of the enemy. They were very much excited, and it would have suited them better if their captain had led them in a charge at once against the Texans; for the most trying position of the ordinary soldier is when he is in the presence of the enemy, and is permitted to do nothing but wait; and they had been doing that all day.

"You have been driven in, Knox," said Captain Gordon, as the sergeant saluted him.

"Not exactly driven in, Captain," replied the Kentuckian with a cheerful smile, as though events were not moving half fast enough for him. "The Texicans are marching as though they were going to a funeral, and they don't seem to be in no hurry to git here."

"But you came down the slope as though you were not going to a funeral," added the captain.

"Where are the enemy now, Knox?" asked the major.

"They are about half-way betwixt here and the mansion-house of the planter. I didn't hurry up to tell you they were coming, but to let you know that I had seen a force over on the road in the hills. I thought I saw something moving; and I climbed to the top of the tallest tree I could find, on the highest ground 'twixt here and the planter's house."

"What did you see?" demanded the major.

"I got a look through a small notch between two hills, and I saw some cavalry pass along; but I reckon I saw only the tail end on 'em, for they was out o' sight in two seconds, and I couldn't find nothin' more on 'em. I knew then why the company wasn't in no hurry."

"Then, I suppose we are in no hurry," added the major. "I see that Captain Dingfield intends to carry out his plan as he laid it out for this forenoon."

"Who?" asked the captain.

"Captain Dingfield, who commands the Texans; I learned his name from the lieutenant who was wounded. I hardly supposed he would send another flanking party by that road," replied Major Lyon, "This news calls for some change in our plans."

"I reckon that captain on the south road hain't got over fifty men with him, if he has that," continued the sergeant.

"How could you estimate the number, Knox," asked the captain.

"When I am sent out scouting, I generally find out all I can," replied the sergeant, who looked as though he felt that the correctness of his information had been questioned.

"We know you do, Knox; and we only want to know your means of arriving at a conclusion, in order to judge of the accuracy of your report," the captain explained.

"I looked them over when I climbed the tree," continued the scout with energy. "The force was just coming round a bend in the road down a hill, and I counted in fours up to forty. I don't know how many scouts they had out ahead, but I added ten to what I had counted."

"I have no doubt you are quite correct, Sergeant," added the captain. "I did not doubt your statement in the first place, and I was only curious to know how you were able to make up your estimate."

"I saw that six of you came down the hill together; have you left no pickets in front of the company?" inquired the major.

"The captain gave me nine men to scout the region over there, and six of 'em have come in, for I thought they might be wanted," answered Knox.

"You knew that we had nearly two hundred men at this point," suggested the major, who realized that the sergeant had something in his mind to which he was slow to give utterance.

"If this is a council of war, Major Lyon, I ain't in it, and I've told all I know," replied Knox. "I have reported that the Texicans is divided into two bodies, one on 'em comin' down the south road slower'n cold molasses runs, and the other's movin' over the hill road; and I reckon they ain't goin' to no funeral over yonder."

"In other words, you think the two divisions of the enemy intend to attack at the same time," added the major.

"What be they goin' over that way for if that ain't what they mean?" asked the Kentuckian in answer to the question. "But I don't feel sartin that they mean to come down here by the east road."

"What else can they do?" inquired the major, much interested in drawing out the sergeant.

"I don't reckon I'd better say anything more. I obey orders, but I don't give none," answered Knox, who was evidently afraid of thrusting himself into the counsels of his superiors. "Captain Dingbat"—

"Dingfield," interposed the captain with a smile.

"Captain Dingfield sent them men over here to knock down and burn that bridge; and I reckon he's go'n' to do it if he can."

"And I am sent here to prevent him from doing it; and I shall do so if I can. You may speak out loud, Knox, just what you wish to say," said the major rather impatiently.

"If you look at that map you had on the housetop, you will see that the hill road crosses the east road, just as this south one does here. Ain't that so, Artie? You have been over there, they say," said the sergeant, appealing to the major's aid.

"It does; I was up there some time this morning; but I don't know where it leads to," replied Artie.

"It stands to reason that it crosses this railroad somewhere within five miles of this cross-road. That's the way the Texicans are coming down here to destroy the bridge. I've said my say, and I hain't got nothin' more to say," added Knox, wheeling his horse out of the circle that surrounded the commander.

"Artie, do you know where Captain Truman is posted with his command?" asked the major in rather hurried tones.

"I do not," replied the aid, as he had now practically become, though the position was not regular for a private.

The commander pointed out the knoll behind which the captain's force had been sent.

"Follow the east road till you can see behind that hill. Captain Truman is there, and you can readily find him," continued Major Lyon. "Give him my order to move his command out to the east road, and there await further orders."

Artie's steed was well rested after his several forenoon jaunts, and he went up the slope of the road like the wind. Sergeant Knox had retired from the immediate presence of the superior officers, afraid that he was getting to be too forward for his rank. He believed that the force moving by the hill road had been ordered to the railroad. While the major was not disposed to accept his view in full, he intended to be prepared for a movement of the kind suggested by the Kentuckian.

"What do you think of the idea advanced by Knox, Captain Gordon?" asked the commander.

"Of course it is possible that he has correctly divined the intention of the enemy," replied the captain. "But it would not be wise to ignore the enemy in front of us."

"I have no intention of doing so; for I have ordered Truman to the east road, in readiness to act to the north of us, while we give our attention to the enemy in front of us. We have men enough to annihilate this force, if it is no larger than Knox states."

"I believe he is entirely correct in his figures; and I am inclined to have considerable confidence in his theory of Captain Dingfield's plan."

"Probably we have double the force of the enemy in this vicinity; and it would be a crying shame if the bridge were destroyed because we were outmanœuvred," said the major, with more than usual vigor in his speech. "There is the structure within a quarter of a mile of us, and I wonder if they intend to destroy it under our very eyes. But where are the Texans in front of us? Even at a funeral march they ought to be near enough by this time to send in our pickets."

"It begins to look as though they were amusing us while they were making arrangements to burn the bridge elsewhere," replied Captain Gordon, quite as anxious about the situation as his superior. "Artie has made quick work of his orders, for Captain Truman is half-way to the road, just coming out from behind the hill."

Major Lyon thought of Deck on the bridge in this connection, and looked in that direction. The signal for Captain Truman's command to move into the rear of the force advancing by the south road would not be needed. If he deemed it advisable, he could send part of the first company to a point near the road he had already selected. He rode to a place where the ground was a little higher than where the conference had taken place, and there made the signal above his plume upon which he had agreed with Deck and the captain of the second company. He repeated it till he had made it three times; and he could not help thinking what a relief it would be to his son to be permitted to leave this solitary post.

"A cheer for the American flag, which will be hoisted on the railroad again in a moment!" shouted Major Lyon to the soldiers near him; and the word was passed along through the column.

The cavalrymen were always ready to cheer the flag; and in a few moments the eyes of the entire company were fixed upon the flagstaff on the bridge. The major watched it with as much interest as any one present; and he was ready to join in the cheer, and to lead it off. He waited patiently for a couple of minutes, and then he wondered if his son had gone to sleep at his solitary vigil; for the flag did not mount to the proud position it had held before it was lowered.

Major Lyon waited full five minutes, but no flag appeared. He could not understand it after the careful charge he had given Deck in regard to the importance of the position to which he had been assigned. It was fortunate that the plan of receiving the assault had been changed; for Captain Truman's command would have remained behind the hill, and out of sight of the conflict, if there had been one, while his men were needed in the road.

As the hoisting of the flag was no longer needed as a signal, the major was not inclined to say anything about his son's failure to do his duty; for all his men might be needed at any moment to repel an attack on the south road, and another on the east road. But he was very indignant, as well as very much grieved, at Deck's neglect of duty; for it did not occur to him that there could be any excuse for or justification of the boy's conduct.

Major Lyon used his field-glass diligently for some time, while he was waiting for the appearance of the first company's pickets, as he had not thought to do at first. With this aid he examined the top of the bridge very closely; but he could see nothing of the absent soldier. It did not enter his mind that anything could have happened to the young man, for the bridge was a high one, and in sight of all in the ranks, and in the camp on the shore of the creek; though the stream was large enough to be called a river in any Northern State.

Close by the flagstaff, over the abutment of the bridge, was a high fence extending a short distance. Some thought it had been built where the snow was troublesome in winter; others, that it was the side of a shanty which had stood there, and only the roof and ends had been removed. If Deck was not behind this fence, he was not on the bridge, was the conclusion of his father. But a movement on the east road called his attention away from the subject.

CHAPTER XVI

THE EXPLOSION ON THE BRIDGE

The movement on the east road, where the fight of the morning with the Texans had taken place, was occasioned by the simultaneous arrival of the second company from behind the knoll, and the hasty return of the pickets from the hill region. The former was there in accordance with the order of which Artie was the bearer to Captain Truman; but the latter event was the more important, inasmuch as it promised to reveal the operations of the enemy, which had hitherto been concealed.

The sergeant in charge of the picket reported in hot haste to the captain of the second company, by whom he had been sent out; and a moment later Artie was flying down the hill to the major, with the substance, in a short sentence, of the intelligence brought in. The commander had noticed the rapid movement on the road, though Captain Truman had come out of the field half a mile from the cross-roads. The pickets came at a furious gallop; for the sergeant, though not admitted to the counsels of the officers, was intelligent enough to understand the importance of his report.

Major Lyon, though he had begun to be alarmed at the non-appearance of Deck on the bridge, hastened back to the cross-roads, where Artie soon rode up to him. The delay of the enemy on the south road was generally understood to be caused by the non-arrival of an expected detachment from the hills. The major knew what the report of the pickets would be before it was brought to him; for his impression was that Life Knox was correct in his interpretation of the intention of the enemy. The disappearance of Deck confirmed his belief that operations had actually commenced on the bridge.

"The pickets report that a detachment of about fifty has marched north by the hill road!" shouted Artie, as soon as he came within speaking distance of his father.

"Ride back; give Captain Truman my order to march his command to the cross-roads!" added Major Lyon with more than usual energy, though he was still as cool and self-possessed as he had been all day.

Artie wheeled his horse, and in a moment he was running Miss Dolly up the slope at a breakneck speed.

"Captain Gordon!" called the major as he rode toward him.

The captain dashed up to him on the instant.

"Send Knox and his scouts to me!" added the commander.

The Kentuckian and the men he had selected for the service in which he had been engaged were at hand; and Knox saluted the major, in readiness for any duty upon which he might be sent.

"Ride to the bridge! Leave your horses below! Get up to the track with all the haste you can make! Deck was stationed there to hoist the flag at a signal from me, which I have made several times; but he does not obey the order, and I begin to fear that something has happened to him," said the major in hurried tones.

"I'll find him if he is there!" exclaimed Knox, with an expression of determination on his face.

"I think you will find a small force of the enemy near the bridge, Knox. Don't fall into any trap; I will have at least half a company up there in a few minutes."

"I will keep my eyes wide open, Major," replied the Kentuckian, as he rode off towards the bridge.

"Captain Gordon, send Lieutenant Belthorpe with half your company to the bridge. Just beyond the camp he will find a practicable road up the embankment. He will be in abundant season to receive the force approaching by the hill road."

The captain saluted his superior, and made no reply. It was evident enough to the commander that Captain Dingfield had been on the alert, and that he intended to destroy the bridge even in the face of, and under the very eyes of, the Riverlawn Cavalry, of double his own strength, though he might not be aware of its numbers. If Major Lyon did not manifest his chagrin and annoyance at the present situation, he felt it none the less.

He realized that Captain Dingfield had been amusing him all day with the prospect of a fight, while he was carrying out his plan for destroying the bridge. It was all plain enough to him now, and he wondered that he had not placed a guard on the bridge early in the morning. It looked now like a serious omission; but he hoped it was not too late to remedy the defect in his plan. What had become of Deck was a mystery he could not fathom.

After the hauling down of the flag, the major had been too fully occupied elsewhere to think of the bridge, and he had not even glanced at it till he made the signal. It had not occurred to him that the structure could be in any danger while his squadron was in sight of it. He watched the force of Lieutenant Belthorpe as they hurried by the road to the point where they could ascend to the track, and he believed he had done all that was necessary to save the bridge from destruction.

Captain Truman was approaching the cross-roads with his company, and the attack of Captain Dingfield might be expected very soon. It was necessary to make a new arrangement of the troops. The major had already formed his plan, and he wheeled his horse to join Captain Gordon and give his orders. At this moment an explosion rent the air, which made a great deal of noise, though it had not the volume of an earthquake.

Major Lyon turned his head, expecting to see the bridge a wreck, with the fragments of it flying in the air. He looked for Knox and his companions, who had been ordered to climb upon the bridge without waiting to ride around to the embankment. They had not yet mounted the abutment, and were then securing their horses near the bank of the creek. But the bridge was not a wreck, though some timbers and planks had been elevated in the air; but most of the matter that was thrown up appeared to be earth and stones.

But where was Deck? Even with the pressure of duty upon him, he could be excused for thinking of his son, who had so strangely disappeared. He watched the movements of Knox and his men. If they had been a couple of minutes later they might have been hurled from the high structure by the force of the explosion. But he was greatly relieved when he saw that they were not harmed, or at least not disabled; for he saw the tall Kentuckian running with all his might to the abutment, followed by his five men. They were all there, and they began to climb up the wall.

"Sling carbines! Charge them!"

Something like a shout from the direction of the cross-roads attracted the major's attention at this moment. Wheeling his horse again, he saw the pickets rushing down the hill beyond which they had been observing the enemy on their "funeral march." Their return could mean but one thing, which was that Captain Dingfield's command were advancing.

Lieutenant Belthorpe was hurrying his force to the embankment; and if there were any Rangers there, he would soon confront them. Knox and his companions had reached the top of the bridge, and all of them were busily engaged about something; but the observer could not tell what it was, though the appearance of several small volumes of smoke indicated that the Texans had started several fires on the wooden structure.

The head of the enemy's column had not yet appeared on the hill which shut off the view of the planter's mansion, and there was time enough for the major to make the dispositions of his force. Half of the first company were left, and the whole of the second, except the twenty men doing guard duty at the camp. The commander had in the neighborhood of a hundred and twenty-five men on the spot; and with this force he could soon annihilate the fifty troopers, more or less, who were marching to the attack, or were supposed to be doing so.

"Captain Gordon, take what is left of the first company, and make a detour to that hill on the right of the road. It is nothing more than a knoll; and you will attack them on the flank as soon as Truman engages them in the road," said the major.

"I was thinking of suggesting that as soon as you sent for Captain Truman at the knoll on the other side of the road," replied the captain, when he had ordered Gilder, his second lieutenant, to march the platoon to the place indicated.

"I have no doubt that explosion was the signal for the advance of Captain Dingfield," added the major, as he looked back at the bridge, where the sergeant and his men were still at work.

"It looks so; and the Rangers must have had some men over near the bridge who got up that attempt to blow it up. But it looks as though it was a failure," replied Captain Gordon, as he rode off to join his command.

Captain Truman, with about seventy-five troopers, was at the cross-roads, waiting for orders. The major directed the head of the company to place the troopers in the road and at the side of it, with their carbines unslung. The commander had sent Artie for a sabre; and he had taken possession of it, indicating that he did not intend to be an idle spectator to the conflict if his personal service was needed.

"Can I take my place in the ranks where I belong, father?" asked Artie.

"No, my son; I may want you at any moment to carry an order," replied Major Lyon; and possibly he thought this might be the only son left to him since the disappearance of Deck.

"There comes the head of the column!" exclaimed Captain Truman.

"Have your men all ready to fire, Captain," added the major. "But don't be in a hurry to do so. I will give you the order."

It was no longer a funeral march on the part of the enemy, for they were forcing their steeds to the utmost. The captain was in front of his platoon, and that was all the men he had. He had lost one lieutenant at the first action, and probably he had been compelled to send the second with the detachment by the hill road.

"It looks as though they intended to begin with a charge," said Captain Truman.

"Perhaps the captain will change his mind before he has gone much farther," replied the major very quietly.

The soldiers acted as though they were very impatient. The major thought the Texan captain was reckless, and was making use of fire-eating tactics instead of cool military judgment. Possibly he expected to be able to cut his way through the force in front of him, and join the one he had sent to the bridge by the hills.

Probably Captain Dingfield had not a little of the contempt for Northern soldiers which pervaded the ranks of the Confederate army at the beginning of the war. He was a brave and impulsive man, and doubtless believed that a vigorous charge would drive the Riverlawn Cavalry out of his way, as he would brush away the flies that annoyed him when he read his newspaper. The fact that one portion of his company had been soundly whipped and driven from the field appeared to have no influence over him.