by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VI
A MISSING DOCUMENT OF IMPORTANCE
Major Dexter Lyon was on the lookout and saw the second flag of truce asquickly as any one. At the same time Carson Lee, still in the top of themagnolia, announced that "another rag" was "out for an airin'."
"You want ter go slow," he added. "They may be gittin' desperate an' upto some o' their mean tricks."
Promising to use all caution, Deck advanced to meet the new messenger.He proved to be a mild sort of a guerilla and was evidently extremelynervous.
"I came out to arrange terms with you," he said, in such a low voicethat Deck could hardly hear him.
"Are you ready to surrender?"
"We are--on certain terms."
"I gave your other messenger my terms. I haven't any others to make."
"The boys is divided as to wot to do. About half of 'em is willing togive themselves up unconditionally, the other half want to be treated asprisoners of war."
"I will not treat any as prisoners of war--I said that before," answeredDeck, firmly. "Are you willing to give yourself up unconditionally?"
"Yes."
"Then you had best do so without delay--and so had the others who thinkas you do. We will give you just ten minutes in which to make up yourminds," went on Deck, feeling he had the enemy, "on the run," anddetermined to make the best of his chances.
"So them reenforcements have arrived, eh?" said the messenger, and nowhis voice actually trembled. "Just hold on ten minutes, Major, and I'llbe back," and he almost ran for the house.
The man left the front door wide open, and Lee, from his superiorposition, announced that a lively confab was in progress within. In lessthan five minutes the messenger marched forth, followed by five of hiscomrades, all trailing their guns.
"Five on 'em goin' to give up," announced Lee, when a shot was firedfrom the mansion, and one of the guerillas was seen to throw up his armsand fall headlong. He had been shot through the neck, and expired almostinstantly. The others set out on a run for the magnolias, fearful thattheir former companions in arms would murder them likewise fordeserting. A dozen reports from both sides followed, but no furtherdamage was done.
As soon as the four guerillas reached Deck's command they were disarmed,and a guard of two slaves conducted them to a distance, keeping a closewatch upon them. Another negro was sent by a circuitous route to thefort, to tell the defenders there what had occurred.
Deck now felt certain that those remaining in the mansion would soonmake a dash for safety, satisfied that every moment's delay increasedtheir peril, and preferring to run the risk of being shot than thecertainty of being hung if captured. At the most there could not be overeight guerillas in a condition to fight, and the major felt assured hisforces could readily take care of them.
The dash came just after Deck's message had been delivered to Levi andArtie. Almost simultaneously all the lower doors of the mansion werethrown open and seven guerillas darted out, to scatter in as manydifferent directions, three going off toward the meadow behind thebarns, one in the neighborhood of the negroes' huts, and the otherstaking to the creek and the bridge over it. In less than two minuteseach ruffian was at least a hundred yards from the nearest of hiscompanions.
In this emergency there was but one thing to do, and that was to divideup the detachments at the magnolias and at the fort. This was done byDeck on one side and Artie on the other, and away went the major andFaraway, the slave, after the guerilla who was making for the bridge,while every other ruffian was being pursued in a similar fashion by theremaining Unionists.
It had grown darker rapidly, and it was with difficulty that the majorkept his man in sight, especially after the bushes near the bridge werereached. There was also a danger of a shot, but none came just then.
"He's gone!" suddenly burst out Faraway, when the bridge was less than ahundred feet away. "De earth hab swallowed him up!"
"He went under the bridge," answered Deck, halting. "Go slow, for he'llshoot us if he can."
After this the advance was made with great caution, until the youngcommander had gained the pile of stones upon which rested one end of thewooden structure. Here the great tree growing by the bridge bench cast adeep shade all around, and he had to strain his eyes to see at all.
Crack! It was the report of a pistol and it came from less than fiftyfeet away. As the report died away Deck was seen to throw up his armsand drop. At once an exultant chuckle proceeded from the guerilla'slips, and heedless of the negro, he darted out of his hiding-place andran for the creek road.
"Oh, Mars'r Deck!" cried Faraway, in dismay, when he started backdumfounded, for the young major had suddenly arisen to a kneelingposition, taken careful aim and fired. The bullet sped true to its mark,and the guerilla went down, shot through the right knee.
"Hang yer cursed Yankee trick!" he groaned, as Deck came up to him,totally uninjured from the shot aimed at him a minute previously. Lyingas he was, he attempted to fire again, but the major kicked the pistolfrom his grasp and Faraway pounced upon him and pinned him to theground.
"Any kind of a trick would be justifiable in capturing such a rascal asyou," said Deck, as he directed Faraway to disarm the prisoner. Thisdone, and making sure that the fellow could not walk away, they proppedhim up on the creek bridge and left him.
Returning to the vicinity of the mansion, Deck found that one otherguerilla had been captured by Artie and Clinker, and that white men andnegroes were scattered in all directions endeavoring to round up theremainder. The search for the fleeing ones was kept up until midnight,and two others were wounded and taken into custody.
All the prisoners were either marched or carried to Fort Bedford, andhere the wounded ones were cared for as tenderly as though they werefriends instead of enemies. The dead were laid out for burial, unlessthe bodies should be claimed by relatives or friends.
Deck had bound a silk handkerchief around his neck, which felt stiffwhere the bullet had scratched it. Artie had been hurt, too, but thewound was of small consequence. The Unionists received even greater carethan the guerillas.
It was exactly two o'clock in the morning when Deck came into themansion thoroughly worn out by what he had passed through. Mrs. Lyon hadordered Diana (not Dinah, if you please) to prepare the best mealRiverlawn could afford, and while the family and the other whites satdown in the dining room, the negroes made themselves comfortable in thespacious kitchen. In the meantime the prisoners at the fort were keptunder close guard and a messenger was despatched to notify the countyauthorities of what had taken place.
The mansion had been turned topsy-turvy, and a few articles ofbric-a-brac had been smashed, but otherwise the loss did not seem to beof much consequence outside of the fact that two dozen silver spoons anda gold butter dish were missing, also some wine and whiskey put down inthe cellar by Duncan Lyon and which the family of Noah had nevertouched.
"I do not mind the liquor, but I do mind the loss of my mother'sspoons," said Mrs. Noah. "However, I am glad matters are no worse."
"I was afraid they would break open father's safe," said Deck, referringto the strong box in the library, in which the colonel was wont to keephis cash and his private papers. "I was much relieved to see it stilllocked up."
While Deck had been speaking Levi came in, and now he turned to Mrs.Lyon. "That safe--I left it open for you," he cried hurriedly. "Didyou--"
"I left it open," gasped Mrs. Lyon, falling back in her chair. "I forgotall about it until just now--the guerillas scared me so when theymarched in. If they--"
"The safe is shut--but still--" began Deck, and arising hastily hehurried to the library, with Levi, Artie, and the women folks at hisheels. The door refused to budge and Levi worked the combination, a newdevice Noah Lyon had had put on the door just before leaving home forthe seat of war.
When the strong box came open a mass of private papers and account-booksfell out upon the carpeted floor, and it was easy to surmise that theguerillas had looted the safe of all that could b
e made valuable tothem. Levi declared three hundred dollars in gold gone, also two hundredin United States paper money, besides a small box of jewellery, the mostvaluable articles in which had been a diamond ring and a diamond studDuncan Lyon had worn during his life, and of which no disposition hadever been made.
"We are five hundred dollars out by this raid," said Artie, while Mrs.Lyon shook her head sadly. "We had better question the prisoners aboutthis."
He went off to do so, accompanied by Levi. While they were gone Deckproceeded to arrange the scattered books and papers and restore them totheir original resting places.
"Hullo!" he ejaculated, as he picked up an empty envelope. It wasmarked! "Not to be opened till five years from the date of my death.Duncan Lyon."
"The secret envelope uncle left to father!" cried out Hope. "Oh, Deck,where are the contents?"
"That is what I should like to know," responded her brother, kneelingdown with a hand lamp, the better to see. A large batch of papers weresorted with great care, but nothing which might have belonged in theenvelope was unearthed.
"This is worse than the loss of the money or the spoons," sobbed Mrs.Lyon, bursting into tears. "Your father has always been very careful ofthat secret communication, which he thought related to your UncleDuncan's slaves. I am sure he will be much put out when he finds thecontents of the envelope gone."
Mrs. Lyon's tears set the girls to crying, and it took some time forDeck to quiet the three. In the meanwhile he had all the female coloredhelp in the mansion search for the missing paper. These people broughthim a dozen or more sheets from out-of-the-way corners, but all provedvalueless, and at length Deck strode down to the fort.
The prisoners had been searched, but nothing had been found on them ofvalue. Each man was closely questioned, and the timid guerilla who hadcarried the second flag of truce that afternoon admitted that he hadseen a certain fellow known as Totterly at the safe and had seen theguerilla tear open an envelope, look over its contents and then cram apaper in his coat pocket. Totterly had also taken a chamois bag--the bagwhich contained the three hundred dollars in gold. Who had taken thepaper money was not known to the timid prisoner, nor did he knowanything about the spoons.
"I didn't want to jine them sodgers," he whined. "Gaffy Denny talked meinto it. Wish I had a-stayed on my dad's plantation in Logan County."
"Yes, you would have been much better off," answered Deck, briefly.
The discovery of the loss sustained put a damper on the supper, andseveral of Diana's best dishes were hardly touched. But nothing couldjust then be done, and after Mrs. Lyon and the girls had told how theyhad been surprised by Gaffy Denny and his men and locked up in thestoreroom off of the dining apartment, each of the party retired tocatch a few hours of sleep. It is safe to say the lady of the mansionand the girls hardly closed their eyes, but Deck and Artie were growingused to excitement and had slumbered in the very midst of a battlefield,and they rested soundly.
On the day following, several of the county authorities put intoappearance, and the prisoners were taken away to Bowling Green, some tothe prison, and the wounded ones to a hospital. A vigorous search wasinstituted for Totterly, but nothing was learned about him further thanthat he had confiscated a horse at a little settlement known asCulver's, and had been seen riding with all speed directly south for theTennessee State line.
Deck and Artie accompanied the prisoners to the county seat, and onreturning to Riverlawn in the afternoon an hour's call was made atLyndhall--a space of time all too short for the major, for KateBelthorpe wished to know all about the affair at the mansion, and he wasimpatient to ask her about herself. Artie, knowing a thing or two orimagining he did, very considerately drew Margie Belthorpe to listen towhat he might have to relate, so the affectionate pair were left alonepart of the time, something which Deck very much appreciated, and towhich pretty Kate did not at all object. The girl shuddered when he wasforced to admit that he had been scratched on the neck by a bullet, andflinging her arms about his shoulders begged him to be more prudent inthe future, and this he promised--for her sake, as he said in a whisper,and the compact was sealed with a kiss which if not exactly brotherly orsisterly was fully as affectionate.
"I suppose you proposed, didn't you?" said Artie, when he and Deck weregalloping home. "I gave you the best chance in the world."
"I--I--don't be foolish, Artie," returned the young major, and blushed."No," he went on, after a pause, "I didn't--but--I reckon it's allright--at least I hope it is;" and Artie clapped him on the backheartily and said he was positive it was all right, and they shookhands. After that the cousins were more brotherly than ever before.
