In the Saddle

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XI

  A DESPERATE CHARGE ON BOTH SIDES

  The Texan Rangers were formed in a rather compact mass, while the Unionline was considerably extended. Captain Truman had ideas of his own;and, though he was not a martinet, he was disposed to follow strictlythe rules and precedents of military practice. His men could not verywell fire into forty-five men huddled together in a small space withouthitting some of them. On the other hand, the enemy might discharge avolley into his force, placed about six feet apart, with comparativelylittle effect.

  He was surprised to observe how few of the Rangers fell from theirhorses at the first discharge of his men; but their practice immediatelybegan to improve, and as soon as the detachment of Lieutenant Gadburydashed into the road in the rear of the enemy, the fire became verydestructive. Many of the enemy were killed and wounded, and it lookedas though they would all be destroyed.

  The Texans were brave men; they were impulsive and reckless, and theyseemed to be perfectly satisfied that they could overcome the Unioncavalry, and carry everything before them. In a few minutes it wasevident to the captain of the second company that the officer of theenemy had made a fearful blunder, led into it by his impulsive ardor. Hehad conducted his men into the fight without sufficiently understandingthe situation, and without taking the trouble to feel of the enemybeforehand. He had rushed blindly into the engagement with a feeling ofcontempt for his foe, and with the belief that the Texan cavalry couldcarry everything before them.

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

  The Rangers were between the upper and the nether millstone, as theHome Guards had been early in the morning; and it was only a question oftime when they would all be shot down. In the village of Barcreek,Captain Truman had won a reputation as a chess-player among the betterclass of citizens who were fond of the game. He had reached theconclusion that warfare was to be conducted on similar principles, andhe 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 byMajor Lyon.

  By dividing his detachment, and placing forty of them in front of theTexans, and spreading them out so that they appeared to be even asmaller force, he had tempted the attack in which the enemy weresuffering so severely. It was not in the power or the nerve of any bodyof soldiers to stand up against such a deadly fire from their front andrear. They must either be shot down or surrender. It evidently had notoccurred to the lieutenant in command of the Rangers to resort to thelast expedient to save his men; but he was plainly making a movement toextricate them from the trap into which he had so inconsiderately ledthem.

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

  The file closed up in a more compact mass. The command was given tosling their carbines, and to draw their sabres; and it was given nonetoo soon, for the captain had correctly divined the intention of thelieutenant on the other side of attempting to cut his way through theforce in front of him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  "You are wounded, and you can be spared better than some other man. Someof 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 rearof the enemy, and direct Gadbury to follow up the charge of the Texans."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  The messenger galloped up the road and into the field by the side of theeast road. It was not cultivated, though it had been years before, andwas now overgrown in places by small trees and bushes. Behind these Deckmade his way to a point abreast of the enemy. He was in time to hear theorder to charge upon the Union cavalry at the foot of the hill. Thelieutenant had evidently delayed this order for some time; for when hismen ceased to fire, the Union troopers had followed their example, andprepared for the decisive event of the conflict. The messenger rode intothe 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 asthey charge down the hill," said Deck.

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

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

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

  Suddenly the officer in command of the Texans appeared in the rear ofhis force, and made a furious gesture with his sword, pointing in thedirection of Gadbury's men. This was not what was expected of theRangers; 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. "Nowcharge with all the blood there is in you! Ride them down, and use yoursabres like men!"

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

  It was well known that there were two or more companies of cavalry fromTexas in this part of the State, and they had excited an unwholesomedread among the citizens by their desperate bravery and their reportedprowess. In the squadron of Riverlawn cavalry, as it was sometimescalled, the troopers had talked about them a great deal, and anemulation had been created among them to measure sabres with them. Theyhad the opportunity on this occasion, and the pride of every soldier hadbeen roused to the highest pitch.

  Though the flanking division of the company was now outnumbered for themoment, all the Union men looked upon the change of front in the enemyas something like the appearance of the white feather, and they wereencouraged by this phase of the combat. Lieutenant Gadbury, as soon ashe saw the change of front on the part of the Rangers, was disposed totake the bull by the horns.

  "Open order, march!" he shouted. "Sergeant Lingall, march half thecolumn 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 agallop, imitating the example of the Texan lieutenant in taking hisplace in advance. No mercy was shown to the poor horses, which weregoaded with sabre and spurs to their highest speed. The two divisionswere rushing upon each other with a fury that promised a tremendousshock when they came together. Deck had placed himself in the frontrank, 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 asa lion, which he had proved on some former occasions. Ceph, hisintelligent horse, fully seconded him. The rider selected the pointwhere he was likely to hit. It looked to him just as though the twoofficers in command would meet each other, and have a pass with theirsabres, for which they had exchanged their dress swords. But the Texan,before the onslaught came, had moved over nearer the left flank of hisforce, in order to obtain a better view of his men; but he had startedto regain his former position just as the crash of the two bodiesensued. He was directly in front of Deck, when Captain Truman shouted tohis men to stand up to the work before them, and not yield a hair whilethe breath of life was in them.

  Ceph had been ridden a great deal by his master before he became hiswar-charger, and he had trained him to some tricks in which the otherhorses 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 infront of him, he drew his rein, as Ceph had been instructed; and thesteed stood up on his hind-legs, Deck clinging with his wounded arm tohis holsters.

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