A Lieutenant at Eighteen

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XXX

  THE SURRENDER OF CAPTAIN GRUNDY

  Deck Lyon reloaded his rifle without a moment's delay; then resuminghis kneeling posture, he gazed at the window again. The ruffian hadfallen forwards from the bed, and his companions had picked him up. Theobserver could see that he had not been killed. The other two laid himon the bed, and it was evident that he had been severely wounded. Theyexamined him, but of course the result could not be known to thelieutenant.

  While one of them was tying a handkerchief around the head of thewounded man, the other went to the window. A pane of glass had beenbroken, and this must have assured him that the ball had come fromoutside of the mansion. Then he proceeded to look about thesurroundings in search of the person who had fired the shot, confininghis gaze to the ground. If he had reasoned at all over the matter,which perhaps his education did not enable him to do, he might haverealized that the bullet did not come from the ground.

  The man had thrown the window wide open, and was making a veryscrutinizing examination of every part of the courtyard. He could seeplainly whatever was in front of the window; but this did not seem tosatisfy him. He thrust half his body out of the opening, looking bothsides of him, as though it had been possible to fire a rifle around acorner. The fellow was certainly stupid enough to be shot, and Deck didnot wait any longer to do his work.

  The ball struck him in the head as he was stretching his neck to theutmost to enlarge the extent of his vision to a point from which thefatal bullet could not possibly have come. If he could have imagined aline from the round hole in the pane of glass to the point where hiscomrade's head had been, it would have pointed directly to Deck'slocality when he discharged the rifle.

  "THE BALL STRUCK HIM IN THE HEAD." _Page 388._]

  The ruffian dropped from the window-sill to the ground with a heavythud, and did not move again. The ball had penetrated his brain, and hewas the victim of his unscientific observations. But the lieutenant didnot remove his gaze from the open window. It seemed very like slaughterto shoot down the enemy in this manner, and a twinge of consciencedisturbed him. But he reasoned that he had given the ruffians a chanceto surrender, which they had refused to accept. Then they were pirates,robbers, making war for gain against friend and foe alike.

  The third man in the room did not remain there any longer. He couldhardly have known what became of the one at the window, unless he hadheard the crack of a rifle, and failed to see him again. Under thesecircumstances it was not difficult for him to reason out the conclusionthat the chamber where he was must be a dangerous locality, and hesought a safer place.

  The lieutenant continued to watch the window, but no enemy appeared inthe room again. It had proved to be a chamber of death. He had hardlylost sight of the foe before he heard the crack of a rifle in thegrove. The two Hickmans there were riflemen, and Deck did not believeit would be possible for either of them to fire without killing orwounding his man; but he heard but one shot, and probably four of theland pirates were still living.

  Deck waited some time for the sound of another shot, but in vain. Hedid not believe another ruffian would enter the fatal room commanded byhis position, and he decided to seek a more promising place for hisoperations. Since the shot he had heard, he was confident that none ofthe enemy would show themselves at the windows. He descended to thecellar of the stable, and then, by the way he had come, reached thekitchen, and then the parlor, at the door of which the planter wasfortified.

  "Anything new, Colonel Hickman?" he asked.

  "Yes, indeed!" exclaimed the sentinel over the staircase. "What haveyou been doing outside? Something has happened."

  "I think we have reduced the enemy by three, and perhaps more," repliedthe young officer; and he proceeded to explain what he and hiscompanions had been doing.

  "You think you have knocked down three or more of the robbers?"

  "As many as that."

  "Then that explains it!"

  "Explains what?" asked Deck, as much puzzled by the exhilarated tonesof the planter as by his questions.

  "One of them hailed me some time ago, and wanted to see the one incommand. I told him the commander was not in the house, but wasconducting the fight outside. He asked me to send for him, but Irefused to do so. I did not intend to interrupt your operation; for Inever take another's command away from him," replied the colonel,indulging at the same time in a chuckle, to which he was somewhat givenwhen pleased.

  "Do you know what he wanted?"

  "I do; for he shouted down the stairs that he and the rest of themdesired to surrender."

  "Then we will let them do so," added Deck, who was not disposed tofight after the battle had been won.

  "What shall you do with them after they have surrendered, Lieutenant?"asked the planter, plainly much interested in the question.

  "I shall do nothing at all with them; I am not the judge or the civilpower of Russell County. We have beaten the enemy, and I have nothingfurther to do with the matter," answered Deck.

  The colonel decided not to ask any more questions, though thelieutenant suspected he intended to dispose of the prisoners as hethought best.

  "Up-stairs, there!" shouted the planter. "The commander is here now."

  "Ask him to come up here, and we will arrange things," returned theruffian with unblushing effrontery.

  "The commander will do nothing of the sort," replied the colonelindignantly. "Do you really believe that he would trust himself withsuch cutthroats as you are?"

  "We will agree not to hurt him, though he has used us very unfairly,"said the spokesman. "He has tried to murder all of us!"

  "You deserve to be hung; and it would be too merciful to shoot you!"roared the colonel, his wrath getting the better of him.

  "Do Union men hang their prisoners?" demanded the ruffian bitterly.

  "Prisoners!" exclaimed the planter contemptuously. "You are suchprisoners as they shut up in the penitentiary, or hang in the publicsquare."

  "Can I see the commander?" asked the spokesman, quite gently by thistime.

  "I will see him if he comes down into the parlor," said Deck. "I shallmake prisoners of them; but I wish to stipulate that neither SergeantFronklyn nor myself shall have anything to do with punishing them,either by hanging or shooting after they have surrendered."

  "The commander will see you down-stairs; but I will shoot any otherthat attempts to put his foot on the first stair," shouted ColonelHickman.

  "I will come down," replied the spokesman; and he came to the head ofthe staircase with a gun in his hand.

  "Halt!" cried the planter. "Leave all your arms up-stairs! Have you anypistols about you?"

  He passed his musket to one of the others, and did the same with acouple of pistols when the colonel mentioned them. Having complied withthe order, he came down the stairs. He was directed to the parlor inwhich the lieutenant was waiting for him.

  "Are you the commander here?" he inquired.

  "I am. May I ask what you are?" demanded Deck, without rising from thearmchair in which he was seated.

  "I am called Captain Grundy."

  "Not Mrs. Grundy?"

  "Captain Grundy," replied the ruffian, with something of dignity in hislooks and manner.

  "Have you a captain's commission?"

  "Not yet."

  "In what service are you?"

  "In the service of the Confederate States of America."

  "In what regiment?"

  "In no regiment; in a company organized by my government."

  "A company of Partisan Rangers?"

  "But in the service of my country."

  "Are you a Kentuckian?"

  "I am."

  "And your service is to roam over your native State, killing, robbing,plundering your fellow-citizens; a highwayman, a thief, and amurderer," continued the lieutenant very severely. "This is the secondtime you have visited this mansion for plunder; but you don't come outof it so well as you expected," said Deck with a sneer, evident in histones as
well as his looks.

  "Where is the rest of your company, Captain Grundy?"

  "On duty in another county."

  "But you expect the balance of your command here some time to-day?"

  "There will soon be a time when the treatment we have received herewill be returned with compound interest," said Grundy with a savage andrevengeful look on his ill-favored countenance.

  "You wished to see me; what is your business?" demanded the lieutenant.

  "I am ready to surrender. You and your gang have murdered nearly all mymen here in cold blood. I can do nothing more, and I must yield,"replied Grundy.

  "Are you a lawyer, Captain?"

  "I am not; I am a horse-dealer."

  "I should think you might be!" sneered Deck. "Do you think it is rightto ride over the State, robbing your fellow-citizens, threatening tohang a planter to a tree for refusing to give up his money?"

  "In the service of my country, yes! Kentucky belongs to theConfederacy; and those who fight to keep the State in the explodedUnion are traitors, and should be treated as enemies of the State andthe Confederacy."

  "Suppose I should visit your house, demand your money, and hang you ifyou did not give it up? Would that be all right?"

  "That is another matter," growled Grundy.

  "Precisely; the same boot don't fit both feet," returned Deck.

  "I am your prisoner; but you need not thorn me with your Union logic."

  At this moment the lieutenant heard the voice of Davis Hickman in thehall, talking to his father. He called him into the parlor, andrequested him to bring a quantity of cord or straps to him; and he wentfor them.

  "What do you want of cords and straps?" asked Grundy.

  "To bind my prisoner."

  "Do you mean to hang me?"

  "I do not; I leave that job to the regular hangman. He will perform itin due time, I have no doubt," replied Deck, as Davis brought in thecords.

  "I don't mean to be tied up like a wildcat," said the captain doggedly.

  "Then you do not surrender; and if you wish to do so, you may goup-stairs again."

  "I surrender; but I will not be bound like a nigger!" exclaimed CaptainGrundy, as he sprang away from the lieutenant, and ran into the backroom.

  "What's the matter now, Phil?" demanded the colonel, as the mulatto ofthis name rushed into the hall, panting more from excitement thanphysical exertion, for his horse was at the door.

  Both Deck and Davis pursued the captain; but they were taken off theirguard, and neither of them succeeded in getting hold of the ruffian. Hefled to a window which some one had left open, leaped out, and rantowards the front of the mansion. Davis fired his rifle at him; butbeing "on the wing," he failed to bring him down. Deck, believing thatthe fight was finished, had left his rifle in the parlor.

  "The Lord save us, Mars'r Cun'l!" shouted Phil, as he broke into thehall. "The ruffians, more'n twenty of 'em, is coming up the road onhossback, at full gallop!"

  It looked like another fight against great odds.