In the Saddle

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XXVII

  AT THE CAMP-FIRE NEAR THE ROAD

  As Captain Gordon suggested, there was no enemy in the vicinity with theexception of the Texan Rangers, half buried in the mud. The approach ofcavalry from both directions, and in the darkness, was rather analarming announcement; and if the scouts had not been close by, he wouldhave ordered the long roll, and prepared for defence. The camp-fireswere blazing near the road, and a weird light was cast upon the scene.

  "Well, Beck, what is your news?" demanded the captain, as the scoutsaluted him.

  "A detachment of cavalry was coming up when I left the top of the hill,"replied the trooper.

  "What were they?" demanded the captain impatiently.

  "I don't know, Captain; we could not make them out in the darkness,"replied the scout; and he was the one who came from the south.

  "How many were there of them?"

  "We looked at them as they came down the hill, and Wilder and I reckonedthere were about fifty of them. They had a wagon train behind them."

  "Very well, Beck. What have you to say, Layder?" asked Captain Gordon,turning to the scout from the north.

  "My report is just about the same as Beck's; though the detachment comesfrom the other way. But they didn't have no baggage-train."

  "Did you make out how many there were, Layder?"

  "We made out about forty of 'em, Captain; we could not see very well,and there may have been more of 'em."

  "Return to your mates, and ascertain, if you can, who and what theyare," added Captain Gordon.

  Deck Lyon had something to say, but he did not feel like saying it. Hewas perfectly satisfied that there would be no fighting with theapproaching detachments. He had been reasoning over the situation, andhe had formed a decided opinion. He had heard the train on the railroad,both when it went down and when it returned about dark; but he knewnothing about the events which had transpired at the camp by the bridge.The only fact that bothered him was that the detachment from the southhad a baggage-train.

  "Well, Deck, what do you make of it?" asked Captain Gordon, as he haltedin front of the sentinel.

  "The two detachments are the second company of Riverlawn Cavalry,"replied Deck without any hesitation; for this was the decided opinion hehad reached.

  "What makes you think so, Deck?" asked the captain with a smile.

  "Except the Texans in the mud, there is no other cavalry in these parts.That's the first reason. The second is, that Major Lyon sent half thefirst company under Lieutenant Belthorpe up the railroad, and he canhave heard nothing from this force since; and he would naturally get alittle anxious about it. The third reason is, that he sent you and therest of the first company in pursuit of the Texans. If you have notsent any messenger to him, I shouldn't wonder if the major had worried alittle about you, Captain," said Deck.

  "I sent no messenger to him; I could not spare a single man, for I wasliable to meet the whole company of Texans," added the captain. "But Ithink you are right, and the same suggestions came to my mind."

  Half an hour later the same scouts returned to the camp, and reportedthat the captain and Deck were correct in their suppositions. In aquarter of an hour more the second company rode into the camp. MajorLyon was with the detachment from the south. The moment he saw Deck, heleaped from his horse as lightly as his son could have done it, andgrasped both of the hands of the sentinel.

  "I am glad to see you again. Dexter!" exclaimed the father. "I have hada deal of worry over your disappearance, and I was afraid I should haveto send bad news to your mother and your sister."

  "No use of worrying about me, father," replied Deck, still holding thehand of the major. "I have had considerable experience to-day, but Ihave worked through it all."

  "But what became of you?" asked the anxious father.

  "I was captured by the bridge-burners, and I was only sorry that I couldnot prevent them from setting the bridge afire. I suppose it was allburnt up, and your business here is all a failure."

  "Not at all, my son; the bridge was hardly damaged at all, and a trainhas been over it twice since they tried to burn it. But I will see youlater," added the major, as he pressed the hand of his son again.

  Captain Gordon was considerate enough to relieve the sentinel from duty,and he went with his father to the nearest camp-fire. The wagons weredriven into the field, and a few minutes later the headquarters tent waspitched. Stools were placed before the fire, and all the commissionedofficers of both companies were sent for. It looked like a council ofwar, though the object of the meeting was to receive the reports of theofficers. For the first time since the arrival of the squadron, the twocompanies were united.

  Captain Gordon, as the senior, was called upon first for his report; andhe recited it at length, ending with the skirmish at the cross-roadsnear the camp. Lieutenant Belthorpe described his wanderings with halfthe company, including his brief engagement with the Rangers.

  "I feel as though I should be mean if I failed to inform the officers ofthe squadron how much service Deck Lyon has rendered to me since I foundhim on the road," said Tom. "We are not on parade just now, and Isuppose I may say it."

  "Dry up, Tom!" exclaimed Deck, loud enough to be heard by the speaker,though hardly by the others.

  "Not just yet, Lieutenant," interposed the major. "I don't understandhow you happened to meet Dexter in the road; for the last he told me ofhimself was that he was taken prisoner by the enemy. I should like tohear his narrative first, for it may throw some light on other matters."

  Deck was admonished by his father to tell the whole story, without anyomissions; and he related his adventure from the time he had first seenBrown Kipps. He explained how he had been duped by that worthyTennesseean, and in what manner he had been tempted to shoot his fourcustodians through the back of the head.

  "I hope you didn't do it, Dexter," interposed his father, before he hadcome to the sequel of the affair.

  "I did not, father; for I feared the deed would haunt me to the last dayof my life, be it long or short," replied Deck. "It looked likecold-blooded murder to me."

  The assembled officers applauded him vigorously with their hands; andthe young soldier was glad to receive this testimonial of his officers,for to him it seemed to settle the moral question involved in hisaction.

  "I do not believe in carrying on the war upon peace principles; but I dobelieve that soldiers should not become assassins," added the major.

  The officers likewise applauded this sentiment of their commander.

  "We are ready to hear you now, Lieutenant Belthorpe, as I know howDexter came into your path. It is important to remember that thebridge-burners, with their wagon and supplies of combustibles,proceeded to the north by the hill road. Go on, Lieutenant."

  Tom Belthorpe described the action with half the Rangers underLieutenant Redway, and the interposition of Deck when he discovered theapproach of the other half of the Rangers. He had retreated ratheragainst his will by Deck's advice.

  "I think his advice was good, if he is my son," added the major.

  "No doubt of it; you would have been pinched between the two portions ofthe Confederate force, and outnumbered nearly two to one," added CaptainGordon.

  "I was quite satisfied in regard to the wisdom of the advice, badly aswe desired to fight out the action, as soon as I had a chance to thinkof it," continued Tom. "Then Deck did a very neat piece of spy-work,which enabled us to follow the enemy without being seen or heard. Thewhole of the Rangers had come together, and they outnumbered CaptainGordon's command. It was Deck's suggestion to strike across lots, andreach the by-road; but I did not follow it in full, and divided myforce, so that the Texans should not retreat by the way we came."

  "And when you came down the hill with hardly more than twenty men, theTexans took fright, and retreated up that by-road, where they werereceived by Sergeant Fronklyn," added Captain Gordon. "This caused themto seek a new avenue of escape; and they plunged into the quagmire,where they are now."

>   "What you say of Deck leads me to indorse his conduct in the action onthe east road this morning," said Captain Truman, who had said nothingbefore; and he proceeded to describe what the young man had done in thataffair.

  "Pleasant as it is to hear such excellent reports of the behavior of myson, I must add that his brother has behaved equally well, though he hasnot had the opportunity to distinguish himself except in doing hissimple duty," said the major. "But I have more important business thanthis, for I received new orders before I left the camp at the bridge. Iam required to assure the safe passage of trains on the railroad first;but it appears that the State has been invaded in the south-east, or isliable to further invasion in that direction.

  "The worst feature of this aspect of the situation is that hordes ofguerillas have been turned loose upon us; and even now they are engagedin their work of plundering and destroying the property of Union men,not to speak of the outrages committed upon the citizens. Theseguerillas, or some of them, take the name of 'Partisan Rangers.' Indianaand Ohio troops are moving in the direction mentioned; but the enemy arestill busy there. 'The Confederate cavalry,'" continued the commander,reading from a letter he had taken from his pocket, "'scoured thecountry in the vicinity of their camp, arrested prominent Union men, anddestroyed their property.' This is the situation for a hundred mileseast of us; and I am ordered to check these raids of the guerillas withall my available force.

  "I am ordered to move without any unnecessary delay, and I shall marchto-morrow morning. I expect a company of Union Home Guards here byto-morrow; and I shall be obliged to leave Captain Truman and half hiscompany; but as soon as he is relieved by the infantry company, he willrejoin the squadron."

  "We have been unable to make out that there is any Confederate force inthis vicinity, with the exception of the Rangers who are just nowstruggling with the mud in the bog meadow near us," said Captain Gordon.

  "How many of them are there?" asked the major.

  "I am sure I don't know," replied the captain.

  "I counted eighty-one of them, including Captain Dingfield; but some fewof them had escaped through the mud to the hill on the other side of thebog," said Deck, who was always doing some useful work when he found achance.

  "As many as that; perhaps half a company is not force enough to leavewith you, Captain Truman," suggested the major.

  "Quite enough, Major Lyon; for we should have to act mainly on thedefensive," replied the captain of the second company. "My men havefought the Texans once to-day; and though they are brave and daringfellows, they are not such terrible bugbears as they have beenrepresented to be. But infantry can guard the bridge better thancavalry."

  "The infantry will probably relieve you by to-morrow. If the Texans,with their bridge-burners, were out of the way, I need leave no force,"added the major.

  "But we can put them out of the way very easily," suggested CaptainGordon.

  "Do you mean to shoot them down as they stick in the mud there? We arenot murderers, Captain," replied the major sternly.

  "I meant nothing of the kind," returned the captain with a blush. "Icould have ordered my men to do that before it appeared that the actionwas finished."

  "Pardon me, Captain; I know you are not a murderer."

  "They are stuck fast there, eighty-one of them, according to Deck'sfigures; and we can make prisoners of them as they get out of the bog,as I think they will before morning, for they have hit upon an effectiveplan."

  "It would take one of our companies to capture them, and to dispose ofthem as prisoners, so that we should gain nothing," replied the major,vetoing the plan at once. "The Union Home Guards may be here early inthe morning, for they have had time enough to make the march."

  The meeting closed; and officers and privates were tired enough afterthe long day to wrap themselves in their blankets and sleep.