In the Saddle

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XXXIII

  CAPTAIN STINGER THE FIRE-EATER

  As soon as Dr. Farnwright reached the prostrate form of LieutenantGilder, he shook his head as he glanced at the major; for the advance ofthe platoon had left them in the rear. He examined his patient, who hadpassed beyond human aid. The ball had struck him in the chest, and haddoubtless penetrated his heart. His body was borne to the rear. MajorLyon was sad; but the loss of the noble young man did not affect him asit did the sergeant, for there was nothing revengeful in his nature.

  Knox was disposed to annihilate the rabble in front, of him; but he wasan obedient soldier, though he had ordered the discharge of pistolswithout orders; for the firing of the ruffians, and especially the fallof the gallant lieutenant, seemed to render any commands unnecessary.The major directed him to move his platoon forward, and he kept on theflank himself as he did so.

  Half-a-dozen of the enemy attempted to run by the troopers on the sideof the colonel's house, where Deck had passed the mob; and the sergeantordered a file of his men to arrest them. Only two of them had a musketin their hands, and one of them had a sword at his side. Major Lyonobserved the movement, and ordered the man with the side arm to bebrought to him. Most of the soldiers thought the commander was tootender of such a horde of ruffians; but he regarded it as little betterthan murder to shoot or cut down the enemy, now entirely in his power.

  The man wearing the sword appeared to be of a better class of citizensthan the majority of the freebooters. He wore a neat business suit, andwas rather small in stature. He held his head up with something likedignity in his bearing, and bestowed frequent glances upon hiscompanions in arms whom he had deserted. The five others were put underguard where they were captured, and informed that they would be shot ifthey attempted to escape. A couple of soldiers drove the one called forover to the commander.

  "Who and what are you?" demanded the major, without any savagery in hisvoice or manner.

  "I am Lieutenant Garbold; and I am second in command of the force infront of you," replied the prisoner civilly enough.

  "And you have deserted your companions in arms?" added the commander.

  "Yes, if you choose to call it by that name; but Captain Stinger andmyself disagreed, and I was not willing to stand there and be shot downby about three times our own number," replied Garbold.

  "Are you and the other man provided with commissions from any source?"

  "Not yet; but we claim to be in the service of the Confederate States ofAmerica, waiting for our commissions, and for our men to be mustered in.We belong to the regular service."

  "Hardly," added the major, with something as near like a sneer as hecould gather about his mouth. "You will excuse me if I regard you simplyas unorganized freebooters, land pirates. Your mission is to rob andoutrage the citizens of this village; and the ringleaders ought not toobject to being hung on the first convenient tree."

  "We don't rob nor injure any true citizens of Kentucky," replied Garboldrather sullenly. "As to hanging any of us, we are willing to die in thegood cause; and two Yankee officers will swing for every one of us youserve in that way."

  "That question can be settled later in the day, and our business is withthe present moment," added Major Lyon with becoming dignity. "Whocommands that rabble in front of us?"

  "Captain Jeruel Stinger."

  "Upon what did you disagree with him?"

  "To explain my own action, and not to gratify your curiosity, I willanswer the question," replied Garbold, who evidently intended to be as"gamy" as one who had run away from his command could be. "I was not infavor of standing there and allowing our men to be butchered afterresistance was useless. I said as much to Stinger, and I told him Ishould step out."

  "You were sensible," replied the major. "I am not disposed to sacrificeyour men if it can be avoided. Is Captain Stinger still of the samemind?"

  "I presume he is. He is an out-and-out fire-eater; and there is no morereason in him than there is in a mule."

  "The night is coming on, and we have no time to trifle with thequestion. If you will return to Captain Stinger with a squad of troopersunder a flag of truce, I"--

  "Me!" exclaimed Garbold. "Stinger would shoot me at sight. I will notgo. I had rather be hanged by the enemy than shot by my friends,"interposed Garbold.

  "Then the loss of any more of your men must rest on your shoulders, andnot on mine. Take him away," replied the commander.

  Major Lyon was still unwilling to charge upon the rabble; for they hadceased to fire their rusty firelocks. It was getting dark, and somethingmust be done. He called Deck, and gave him a mass of instructions, whichthe orderly took in without any repetitions, for Captain Gordon. ColonelCoffee volunteered to conduct the messenger though his grounds to a gatenear the position of the other portion of the company; and Deckdelivered his message. He was rather sorry he was not permitted toproceed as he had before; for he had abundant confidence in his abilityto take care of himself.

  The commander rode up a bank at the side of the road, where he could seeover the heads of the enemy as soon as his son returned to him. A momentlater he saw Captain Gordon deploy a line of skirmishers, which extendedentirely across the broad avenue, with another rank behind them. Bothadvanced in slow time, with none of the fury of a regular charge; but itwas soon evident that they "meant business."

  Captain Stinger seemed to be confused, and failed to understand the slowmovement of his foe, and gave no orders. At the same time, and in thesame manner, Sergeant Knox led his men forward; and the "fire-eater" incommand of the rabble could not help seeing that his command was to bepinched between the two approaching bodies of troopers. Life kepthimself well in advance of his skirmishers; and possibly he felt morelike a brigadier-general than ever before in his life. He watched theenemy with the eye of an eagle ready to swoop down upon his prey.

  Captain Stinger evidently realized that if his men fired in eitherdirection, the troopers would charge upon them, and it would be but thework of a minute or two to slaughter the whole of them. He was seen tomake a gesture to a man who was preparing to fire without orders, andthe ruffian refrained from doing so. He plainly knew not what to do,since there was nothing he could do. But when the front rank of Knox waswithin twenty feet of him, with the sergeant ahead of it, he seemed tobe unable to "hold in" any longer, and unslung the rifle at his back.

  Knox saw that he was to be the first victim of the irate fire-eater; andhe jammed his heels into the flanks of his spirited steed, the animalmaking a long spring, which brought him up with the front line of theenemy. Still pressing the steed forward, he upset two or three men, andbrought up, when the horse could go no farther, alongside the captain.

  The doughty sergeant did not wait to trifle with any weapons, but,leaning over, he seized the captain by the collar of his coat, draggedhim from his horse, and placed him across his holsters. Bending over hisvictim, he held him in his place by the pressure of his body, while hewheeled his horse, and made his way out of the crowd.

  "Take 'em that way!" he shouted to the men.

  But there was hardly one of them who had the physical strength toaccomplish such a feat, though they soon grappled with the guerillas,and dragged them out of the _melee_. The men on the other side of theenemy resorted to the same sort of tactics, which was not laid down inthe regular manual for the instruction of the cavalry.

  Captain Stinger was not a model Kentuckian physically any more than hislieutenant; if he had been, Knox could hardly have handled him soconveniently. The pressure of the sergeant's chest upon his backbone hada tendency to tame him; but he was trying to get at some weaponconcealed upon his person. Knox had his pockets under command, and tooktwo revolvers from them, which he thrust into his breast. He had hissabre dangling by the tassel knot at his right wrist, while he held thereins with his left hand. His right was at liberty to seize the pistols.

  He hurried his horse to the place where the guards had the six prisonersin charge. There he hurled his victim to the gr
ound, and ordered the mento look out for him, and not let him escape, if they had to put a bulletthrough him. The sentinels were all mounted; and, as the last prisonerhad been disarmed, there was no danger that he would run away.

  Knox returned to his command; but, as he expressed it, "the fun had allgone out of the guerillas," and it was hardly necessary to drag out anymore of them, for they were all as tame as sick kittens. The men hadsecured about a dozen of them, taking them to the guard-house, as theycalled the locality of the captives. The major had followed up themovement, and he could not refrain from laughing at the novel tactics ofthe first sergeant.

  He directed Knox to fall back with his men, and sent Deck to the captainto drive the remaining freebooters before him. The ruffians moved beforethem at the order of the officer. They were halted in the middle of thesquare, and there disarmed, those who had not thrown away their weapons.While the commander was observing this ceremony, a trooper rode up, andsaluted him.

  "A message from Captain Truman," said the cavalryman as he did so.

  "What is it?" demanded the major, fearful that the second company hadbeen attacked by a superior force, and needed a re-enforcement.

  "A messenger came from a place called Plain Hill, saying that a band ofmounted men was approaching the village, and they feared the place wouldbe plundered," replied the messenger. "Captain Truman has just marchedfor the place, leaving only a guard at the camp."

  "All right; his action is approved, and I hope he will get there inseason to capture the enemy, as we have done here," replied Major Lyon,as he looked about him for Colonel Coffee and Mr. Elbroon. "Where is thecolonel, Dexter?"

  "He is looking over the prisoners as they bring them in," replied Deck.

  The major rode over to him. Most of the prisoners were tame andsubmissive; but the fire-eater and his lieutenant were figuratively atswords' points: and it was fortunate for one or both of them that theyhad been disarmed, for the former had pitched into the latter with hisfists, and the guards had been obliged to pull them apart.

  "That Captain Stinger wanted to be sent to Congress before the war; butthe people wouldn't do it. He is a politician, and a mischievous cur,"said the colonel, when he saw the major at his side.

  "Put him in irons, or tie his arms behind him, Styles," said thecommander, addressing the sergeant of the guard, "if he don't behavehimself. I have a message from the camp, Colonel Coffee," continued he,turning to the magnate of Greeltop. "Where is Plain Hill, sir?"

  "Five miles to the south of us, Major; a village about the size ofGreeltop. Any news from there?" inquired the colonel with decidedinterest.

  "Captain Truman, of our second company, whom I left at the camp, has hada message from the place, to the effect that a band of guerillas wereapproaching the place; and he marched at once with all his company but acamp-guard."

  "Good!" exclaimed the magnate.

  "Heaven be praised!" added the reverend gentleman with a gun in hishand. "It is a mercy that your company was at hand."

  "Good! I say," almost shouted Captain Stinger. "Heaven be praised thatVinegold is getting there! Our prayers will all go the same way!"

  The fire-eater was near enough to hear what the major said.

  "I only hope he will burn every house in the place," added the captain."There is not such another nest of traitors in Kentucky, unless Greeltopis the other."

  "Who is Vinegold, Captain Stinger?" asked the commander.

  "Major Vinegold is a man after my own heart," answered the prisoner.

  "If he is your friend, you will be likely to see him before morning,"added the major, as he turned away.

  The prisoners were placed in the centre of the united company, andmarched to the camp just as the darkness was beginning to gather on thelandscape. All the people in Greeltop were in the roads, and greeted thesoldiers with applause and cheers as they marched by them. The officersand most of the privates were loaded with bouquets on the way.

  Several times the magnate, who returned to the camp with the troopers,began to tell the commander something about Plain Hill; but the cheershe was obliged to acknowledge prevented him from giving attention, andthe subject was delayed to another time.