In the Saddle

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE EXPLOSION ON THE BRIDGE

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

  The sergeant in charge of the picket reported in hot haste to thecaptain of the second company, by whom he had been sent out; and amoment later Artie was flying down the hill to the major, with thesubstance, in a short sentence, of the intelligence brought in. Thecommander had noticed the rapid movement on the road, though CaptainTruman had come out of the field half a mile from the cross-roads. Thepickets came at a furious gallop; for the sergeant, though not admittedto the counsels of the officers, was intelligent enough to understandthe importance of his report.

  Major Lyon, though he had begun to be alarmed at the non-appearance ofDeck on the bridge, hastened back to the cross-roads, where Artie soonrode up to him. The delay of the enemy on the south road was generallyunderstood to be caused by the non-arrival of an expected detachmentfrom the hills. The major knew what the report of the pickets would bebefore it was brought to him; for his impression was that Life Knox wascorrect in his interpretation of the intention of the enemy. Thedisappearance of Deck confirmed his belief that operations had actuallycommenced on the bridge.

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

  "Ride back; give Captain Truman my order to march his command to thecross-roads!" added Major Lyon with more than usual energy, though hewas 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 upthe 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 hehad been engaged were at hand; and Knox saluted the major, in readinessfor any duty upon which he might be sent.

  "Ride to the bridge! Leave your horses below! Get up to the track withall the haste you can make! Deck was stationed there to hoist the flagat a signal from me, which I have made several times; but he does notobey 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 ofdetermination 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 therein a few minutes."

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

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

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

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

  After the hauling down of the flag, the major had been too fullyoccupied elsewhere to think of the bridge, and he had not even glancedat it till he made the signal. It had not occurred to him that thestructure 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 roadto the point where they could ascend to the track, and he believed hehad done all that was necessary to save the bridge from destruction.

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

  Major Lyon turned his head, expecting to see the bridge a wreck, withthe fragments of it flying in the air. He looked for Knox and hiscompanions, who had been ordered to climb upon the bridge withoutwaiting to ride around to the embankment. They had not yet mounted theabutment, and were then securing their horses near the bank of thecreek. But the bridge was not a wreck, though some timbers and plankshad been elevated in the air; but most of the matter that was thrown upappeared to be earth and stones.

  But where was Deck? Even with the pressure of duty upon him, he could beexcused for thinking of his son, who had so strangely disappeared. Hewatched the movements of Knox and his men. If they had been a couple ofminutes later they might have been hurled from the high structure by theforce of the explosion. But he was greatly relieved when he saw thatthey were not harmed, or at least not disabled; for he saw the tallKentuckian running with all his might to the abutment, followed byhis 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 attractedthe major's attention at this moment. Wheeling his horse again, he sawthe pickets rushing down the hill beyond which they had been observingthe enemy on their "funeral march." Their return could mean but onething, which was that Captain Dingfield's command were advancing.

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

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

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

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

  "I have no doubt that explosion was the signal for the advance ofCaptain 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 thebridge who got up that attempt to blow it up. But it looks as though itwas a failure," replied Captain Gordon, as he rode off to join hiscommand.

  C
aptain Truman, with about seventy-five troopers, was at thecross-roads, waiting for orders. The major directed the head of thecompany to place the troopers in the road and at the side of it, withtheir carbines unslung. The commander had sent Artie for a sabre; and hehad taken possession of it, indicating that he did not intend to be anidle 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," repliedMajor Lyon; and possibly he thought this might be the only son left tohim 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'tbe 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 wereforcing their steeds to the utmost. The captain was in front of hisplatoon, and that was all the men he had. He had lost one lieutenant atthe first action, and probably he had been compelled to send the secondwith the detachment by the hill road.

  "It looks as though they intended to begin with a charge," said CaptainTruman.

  "Perhaps the captain will change his mind before he has gone muchfarther," replied the major very quietly.

  The soldiers acted as though they were very impatient. The major thoughtthe Texan captain was reckless, and was making use of fire-eatingtactics instead of cool military judgment. Possibly he expected to beable to cut his way through the force in front of him, and join the onehe had sent to the bridge by the hills.

  Probably Captain Dingfield had not a little of the contempt for Northernsoldiers which pervaded the ranks of the Confederate army at thebeginning of the war. He was a brave and impulsive man, and doubtlessbelieved that a vigorous charge would drive the Riverlawn Cavalry out ofhis way, as he would brush away the flies that annoyed him when he readhis newspaper. The fact that one portion of his company had been soundlywhipped and driven from the field appeared to have no influence overhim.

  "Now is your time, Captain Truman," said the major, who had waited tillthe enemy were more than half-way down the hill. "Have your men takegood aim, and fire."

  The captain gave his orders with a vim which indicated his impatience tobegin his work. The carbines were all discharged almost as one, and theroad was filled with the smoke of the volley; but the breeze was freshenough to drive it away in a moment. At least seventy-five balls hadbeen sent into the midst of the fifty men, and the troopers had beentrained to do good work with their carbines.

  As the smoke cleared away, it was seen that a number of the Texans hadfallen from their horses, while others were reeling in their saddles. Acouple of minutes later another volley was heard at the right of theroad, and more of the cavalrymen went down. The major could not see thecommand of Captain Gordon, but he had been prompt in the discharge ofthe duty assigned to him.

  "Sling carbines! charge them!" said the major.

  The order was promptly obeyed, and the commander rode forward with thecaptain of the second company. But in a minute more there was nothingthere to charge. What was left of the enemy suddenly wheeled theirhorses and began a retreat in hot haste. If they had not done so not oneof them would have been left to contest the field in five minutes more.

  The first company were just breaking out of the field when the secondcame up, and Major Lyon ordered the captain of the second to halt.Riding forward, he directed Captain Gordon to pursue the discomfitedtroopers, and capture them if he could. The fight was ended practically;and it had been little better than a slaughter, all owing to thereckless course of Captain Dingfield.