by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VI
A VERY OBSTINATE PRISONER CAPTURED
Deck Lyon's horse had been one of his father's best stock, and he hadbeen selected by Levi Bedford, the overseer, for his use. He was a veryspirited animal, and not every young fellow of eighteen would have feltat home in a saddle placed on his back. As the ladies from the houserushed forward to intercept him, Ceph, which was his abbreviated name,was startled, reared, and faced the music, as he had been taught to do.
"I didn't mean to scare your horse, sir," said the elder of the ladies;"but for the love of Heaven, can't you do something for my husband?"demanded Mrs. Barkland, as she proved to be.
"Oh, save my father, if you can!" added the younger woman. "Oh, myfather! They are abusing him shamefully, and they have threatened tohang him."
"That is the business in which I am engaged; and, if you will excuseme, I will attend to it," replied Deck, as he gave Ceph the signal to goahead again with his legs.
"Do save him!" repeated the old lady, who wanted to talk some more aboutthe matter.
But the young cavalryman waited to hear no more; and his horse went offat a dead run, the other two following him as rapidly as their steedswould permit, and he was several rods ahead of them. In a couple ofminutes he had reached a point which commanded a view of the placechosen for the spectacle. The actors had evidently preferred to be at adistance from the mansion, where the women could not interfere withthem, the better to carry their point with the owner of the plantation.
They had the intended victim with a rope around his neck, and therecould be no doubt in regard to their purpose. One man had the other endof the line, and was climbing a tree with it, to pass it over a branch.Five men were on the ground, and their attention had already beenattracted by the approach of the horsemen from the direction of thehouse; and they did not appear to have observed the others, with Knox attheir head, for they had passed behind a thicket of young trees on aknoll.
"Halt!" shouted one of the five men in a voice loud enough to be heardhalf a mile. "If you come any nearer we will fire!"
"Fire away!" yelled Deck with all the force of his lungs.
But he reined in his steed; and Ceph obediently came to a full stop,while he unslung his carbine, his companions doing the same without anysuggestion from him. They came up to him, and ranged their horses at hisside. The carbines were ready for use in a moment, and all three of themwere aimed at the five men surrounding the planter. The actors in thetragedy very plainly did not like this demonstration; for they did notfire, though all of them had aimed at the intruders on this side ofthem. The distance was still considerable, and probably they had nogreat faith in the arms in their hands.
"Now we will go ahead, if you are ready, Fox and Owens," said Deck,though he had no authority whatever to direct their movements.
The speed and sagacity of Ceph appeared to have placed him in command ofthe little squad, for his horse always kept away ahead of every otherwhen he was permitted to do so. Deck was a brave fellow; he seemed tohave no idea of anything like fear when he was required to face anenemy; but his father, who thought his son was inclined to be reckless,had carefully instilled into his mind the necessity of prudence.
Knox had said that he intended to do most of the work on the presentoccasion; but just now it looked as though the whole of it had fallen onDeck's party. It was possible that he and his men had been entangled inthe bushes and young trees, or had come to some water they could noteasily pass. Deck led the way, and his companions kept close to him. Theman in the tree had passed the line over the branch, and thrown the enddown to the others.
"Halt where you are!" shouted the man who had spoken before; and thistime his voice gave Deck a thrill which caused him to stop his horse.
The two parties were not more than two hundred feet apart; and theleader believed the speaker was his uncle, Captain Titus Lyon. This gavehim much to think of besides the identity of the commander of theexpedition upon which the squadron had fallen. It was evident to himthat the first work of the cavalry squadron raised at Riverlawn was tobe fighting the Home Guards, or "ruffians" as they had hitherto beencalled.
Deck was annoyed and disconcerted at the discovery he had made, and itchecked his enthusiasm; for the quarrel with Uncle Titus, which heinsisted upon carrying to extremes, was in the family. The forces atRiverlawn had defeated and driven off him and his command three times,and it was an old story. He had hoped and expected that the campaignwould present the war in a new aspect.
It gave the young soldier his first lively impression of the results ofcivil war. He was not at all inclined to shoot his father's brother;though he was just as earnestly determined to do his whole duty to hiscountry, without regard to his relationship with any of the combatantson the other side. They were there by their own choice, and wereresponsible for the consequences.
With his carbine ready for instant use, Deck rode forward very slowly;and, more than at any time before, he wished Knox would arrive upon thescene of action. Captain Titus could now be clearly identified; and hehad evidently made up his mind to proceed with the business in hand, asonly three men had appeared so far to interfere with the operation. Hehad turned his attention from the intruders, and was talking to theunfortunate planter he had captured in a brutal manner, and shaking hisfist frequently in his face.
"Stand by the rope!" called he to the other men. "The fellow is asobstinate as a mule, and we must make an end of him."
"Aim at the men who are holding the rope," said Deck to his companions,and the three carbines were promptly pointed at them. "This thing hasgone far enough!" continued he, addressing the principal actor in thescene.
"Who are you?" demanded Captain Titus, stopping long enough in hisoperation to examine the intruders.
"I don't want to shoot you, but if you proceed any farther with thisbusiness we shall fire," replied Deck.
Captain Titus was plainly astonished, if not confounded, when herecognized his nephew in the uniform of the cavalry. He did not like thelooks of the three carbines pointed at his men. But Deck felt somewhatashamed of the delay he had made in relieving the terrified planter fromthe extremity to which he had been reduced, and he decided to bringmatters to a head at once. Starting his horse, he dashed to the rope,and seized it with one hand.
"Fire at him!" yelled Captain Titus furiously, to two of the ruffianswith muskets in their hands.
One of them raised his weapon to aim at Deck, who instantly fired athim. He dropped his gun upon the ground, and grasped his right arm withthe left hand. The other man then raised his musket; but both of theother horsemen fired at him at the same instant, and he dropped heavilyon the sod.
The three cavalrymen reloaded their weapons, and were immediately readyfor the next move. The three men at the rope seemed to be appalled atthe fate of their associates, and released their hold upon it. A momentlater they began to skulk off in the direction of the grove.
"Don't let them escape, Owens!" said Deck, to the one nearest to him.
Both of them darted off at a gallop, and headed them off, driving themback to the tree from which the rope was hanging. Again Deck seized theline, and urged his horse up to the place where the planter wasstanding. Reaching down from his seat in the saddle, he cut the cordsthat bound the prisoner, and then directed him to remove the rope fromhis neck.
"I owe my life to you, young man," said Mr. Barkland, panting withemotion and excitement.
"I suppose you are a Union man, sir?" added Deck.
"I am; and that is the reason why I am subjected to this outrage,"replied the intended victim.
"What brought you here, Deck Lyon? Who sent you here to interfere withmy business?" demanded Captain Titus, confronting his nephew with asavage frown.
"We shall not allow any such business as this," answered Deck, who wasnot at all inclined to parley with the captain of the late Home Guards,now in the service of the Confederacy. "You and those with you willconsider yourselves as prisoners of war."
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p; "Prisoners of war!" exclaimed Captain Titus. "I reckon we ain't nothin'of the sort. Do you mean to take six on us with only three?"
"We shall not take the trouble to count your numbers. Mr. Barkland, youcan return to your house, for your wife and daughter are very anxiousabout you. I hope you have not been injured, sir."
"Only in my nerves," replied the planter, as he started for his mansion.
At this moment Knox and his three men dashed upon the scene, to thegreat astonishment of Captain Titus.
"Well, Deck, is the business finished?" asked the sergeant, as he reinedup his steed. "We had to go about two miles to get here, and that iswhat made it so late."
Deck reported what had happened so far. The man who had dropped soheavily on the ground was not killed; but he was bleeding from a woundin the side of the head, and the ball had only stunned him. The otherman, with a bullet through his arm, was worse off.
"This man who is in command of the company is my uncle, Captain Titus,"said Deck in a low voice to the sergeant.
"What! Major Lyon's brother?" exclaimed Life. "I have heard all abouthim, and he is a pesky troublesome fellow."
"I don't want anything more to do with him, Life, and I wish you woulddispose of him," added Deck.
"Do you want me to kill him? I can't do that; for"--
"Nothing of the sort!" interposed the nephew warmly. "Of course I don'twant you to do anything of the sort."
"We have six prisoners of war, and we will march them down to the mainbody," added Knox.
The sergeant proceeded to form his prisoners in a single rank; butCaptain Titus appeared to have brought all his obstinacy andunreasonableness with him, and he refused to take the place assigned tohim.
"Where are you going?" demanded the prisoner, as though he still ruledthe roost, as he had doubtless done in his company.
"None of your business where we are going," replied the sergeant. "Ifyou don't take your place I shall put you into it."
"This thing won't last long, for my company will take a hand in thebusiness in the morning, and a battalion of Texan cavalry will make itwarm for you."
"We are not talking about your company or any Texan cavalry. Will youtake your place in the line? That's the only question you have got tosettle," returned Knox.
"I won't take any place!" replied the captain with a volley of oaths.
"Swear not at all, my man," continued Life, as he seized the rebelliousprisoner by the back of his coat collar, lifted him clear of the ground,and then brought him down in the place assigned to him. "Stay there!"
"I won't stay there!" growled he, as he attempted to leave the spot.
But Knox seized hold of him again, lifted him up, and slapped him downacross the pommel of his saddle, face down.
"Any way you like, my man; but you are going with this crowd. Forward,my men!" and he placed himself at the head of the squad, and started inthe direction of the road, in spite of the struggles of the prisoner.But they had not reached the road where they had first seen Cato, whenthe head of a column appeared in the act of turning into the field,doubtless guided by Hart, the messenger who had been sent to report tothe major in command.
Knox halted his little force, and threw his prisoner on the groundwithout any ceremony, ordering Owens to take charge of him. The columnconsisted of only the first company, the other having been sent to takeanother position. Captain Truman had been ordered to hold himself inreadiness to cut off the retreat to the westward of the force which Lanehad reported upon.
"What have you here?" asked Major Lyon, as he saw the six prisoners infront of Knox's scouts.
"Prisoners, Major; and I am sorry to say that your brother is one ofthem," replied the sergeant. "They were about to hang the planter, Mr.Barkland, who lives in the mansion yonder; but we saved him, and senthim home."
"My brother a prisoner!" exclaimed the major very sadly.
He gave the order to march, and the first company proceeded towards theplanter's mansion.