by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XII
THE YOUNG HERO OF THE BATTLE
The steed of the officer of the Texans was a diminutive animal, and was,perhaps, a mustang from Mexico, a tough little beast with nearly theendurance of a mule. Ceph, in the exercise through which his youngmaster put him when they were alone by themselves, had leaped quite ashigh as the backbone of the officer's steed; but it was under favorablecircumstances. In the furious conflict both the rider and the steed wereexcited in the highest degree.
Ceph had failed to leap over the back of the mustang, but he had broughthim to the ground, and the lieutenant upon him; for he could do nothingfor himself, and Deck made a vigorous use of his sabre the moment theenemy was under him, as his gallant charger sprang from the wreck he hadaccomplished, and dashed forward into the _melee_.
If Deck had won no prize for his sabre drill, it was only because nonewas offered. He was as quick as a flash in his movements, and had astrong arm. The Ranger nearest to his officer when the latter went downaimed a tremendous blow at the head of the young soldier, which wouldhave cleft it in twain if Deck had not parried it skilfully andpowerfully. In return, he inflicted the same kind of a blow upon hisassailant, whose horse carried him out of the affray when he ceased todirect him, and he fell to the ground at the side of the road.
The ringing voice of the Texan officer was no longer heard in thefurious strife, and the Rangers were fighting each on his ownresponsibility. Captain Truman had brought up his men, and they had madea tremendous onslaught. The ten men sent to the flank had done theirwhole duty, and Deck found not a single one of the enemy who was notengaged in a hand-to-hand encounter with a Ranger. The enemy weresurrounded, hemmed in, and discouraged by the fall of their braveleader. They were also outnumbered, and one of them was often engagedwith two of the Union cavalrymen.
The Texans had assuredly done all that could be done, and it was soonevident that they were only defending themselves till they could workout of the desperate _melee_. On the flanks, as they could detachthemselves from the struggling mass, they fled into the field on thesouth of the road. Such a conflict could last but a few moments, forthere was not breath enough in the human body to keep up such a strain.
An observer would have supposed that more than half on both sides hadbeen killed; yet very few had fallen to the ground, and fewer still hadcome out of it without wounds of greater or less magnitude. The Texansfought to free themselves from the embrace of the Unionists, as it were;and as soon as they had worked out of the confusion, they fled at thebest speed of their half-exhausted animals. Some one among them hadtaken in the lay of the country; and they all fled in one direction,which was towards the road by which they had come from their camp.
The battle was fought, and the Union cavalrymen remained in possessionof the field. Most of the men were at least spotted with gore, and someof them looked as though they had been at work in a slaughter-house.Dr. Farnwright had already begun his work at the side of the road. Threeof the company were silent and motionless, and the surgeon hadpronounced them dead. The wagons were sent for, including those of theGuards, and the few who were severely wounded were sent to the hospitalthe surgeon had established.
Deck had received no additional wound; and the bullet injury did nottrouble him much, for he could handle his reins with the left handnearly as well as ever. Artie had received three cuts upon his swordarm, but they happened to be all slight. In fact, the soldier who hadnot been damaged to some extent was hardly to be found. Only five menhad been killed, nine wounded seriously enough to disable them.
"You seem to be all right, Deck," said Captain Truman, when they met atthe camp.
"I am, Captain, and ready for another fight when you bring it along,"replied the young soldier, laughing, and putting a bold face on thesituation.
"Don't be too ambitious, my boy," replied the officer, shaking his head."You have been reckless to-day."
"But I have come out all right; and I don't think I was any morereckless than the rest of the fellows," added Deck.
"You have fought like a veteran; and I think we owe more to you for theresult of the action than to any other single individual, though all theboys behaved like heroes, and proved that they were the equals of eventhe Texan desperadoes."
"I don't think I did anything more than the rest of our fellows,"suggested Deck; and he was not in this matter indulging in mere bravado:he really believed he had done nothing except what came naturally to hishands, as others had done.
"Then I must differ in opinion from you; but while I commend your skilland bravery, I cannot wholly approve of the gymnastics in which youindulged at the beginning of the charge, for it was simplyrecklessness," said the captain very seriously. "It is your duty tofight courageously, my boy; but it is also a duty you owe to yourcountry, as well as to your father and all the members of your family,to save your life and limbs with honor if you can."
"Haven't I done so, Captain Truman?" asked Deck, with a very cheerfulsmile on his face. "I came out with hardly a wound after the bullet hitme in the arm at the beginning. I have nothing but half-a-dozenscratches to show for it."
"You were excited to the highest pitch in the affair, and you have notgot over it yet. When you do, you will feel your scratches more. But Ihope you will not be so reckless another time, my boy."
"I didn't know I was reckless. Lieutenant Gadbury fired our blood sothat I could hardly hold in; and I went in for all I was worth, and onlydid the best I knew how," replied Deck, trying to cool off his heatedblood.
"You didn't know you were reckless, my boy!" exclaimed the captain. "Youwere a volunteer in the second company, and you advanced ahead of thefirst rank with the lieutenant. That was a bold exposure; but what Iparticularly refer to as reckless was your attempt to leap your horseover that of the Texan leader."
"I did not intend to leap my horse over him; but I went for thatofficer. When I came up with him, and was going to use my sabre, Cephthought I wanted him to leap over him, for he and I have practisedtogether at that a great deal. He meant right; but I knew he couldn'tclear the horse, small as he was, to say nothing of the rider. Ceph camedown upon both of them, and I drove my weapon into the officer before hehad a chance to stick me. That was the whole of it."
"If you were not trying to make your steed leap over the horse andrider, I will acquit you of recklessness in that particular."
This conversation occurred as they were moving back to the camp. Thewounded on both sides were put into the wagons, the lieutenant incommand of the Rangers among the others. He was badly wounded, and hischance of recovery was small. Those the doctor pronounced dead wereplaced by the side of the road, to be disposed of later.
"How are you now, Artie?" asked Deck, as he rode up to his brother atthe camp, and looked at him with anxiety, to ascertain the extent of hisinjuries, though he looked as rosy and vigorous as usual.
"I'm all right, Deck, though I have a lot of scratches, and a cut on thesword arm which is beginning to make itself felt," replied his brother,quite as cheerfully as the other.
"I didn't see you till the affair was about over," added Deck. "But youwere putting in the dry licks as though you felt that your time for workwas very short."
"But I saw you just us soon as we started from the cross-roads, and Idid not expect to see you come out of it alive, Deck," replied Artie;and he could not wholly conceal the admiration he felt for his brothersince he saw him take his place in advance of his detachment, andvanquish the Texan lieutenant almost in the twinkling of an eye. "Thecaptain said you were reckless at the time of it."
"He don't say so now."
"You tried to leap your horse over rider and steed."
"Ceph did that on his own hook; and I could not very well help followinghis lead, as I was on his back, though I had nearly slidden off when hemounted in the air. I am not badly damaged, and I am ready to return tothe first company; I am only waiting for the captain to write a note tothe major."
"I am all ready to go back, th
ough I should like to have Dr. Farnwrightdress the cut on my arm before I go," added Artie. "But he is too busywith the men who are worse off than I am, and I will let it go as it is.But here comes the captain with a paper in his hand. I suppose fatherwill wonder what has become of us."
"He must have heard the firing in this direction. Perhaps he has beenfully occupied himself, or he would have sent more men over this way."
No effort had been used to make prisoners of any of the Texans, for thecaptain had his hands full. He was satisfied that Major Lyon expectedwarm work where he was, for he would not have sent for the additionalforce otherwise. The rest of the company with which he had been engagedmight be at no great distance from him, and doubtless this was the forcethe first company was expected to encounter.
"Here is the letter, Deck, in which I have given a hasty statement ofthe action," said Captain Truman, as he handed him the paper, whichcould hardly be called a letter. "I believe we have met a portion of theenemy he expected to engage; and probably he is not in a hurry, for wehave heard no firing at the south of us."
"We are all ready to go; but Artie has a wound in his arm which troubleshim, and there is no surgeon with the first company," interposed Deck.
"Farnwright!" shouted the captain, as he saw that he had just finishedhis attention to one patient and was hastening to another.
The surgeon came promptly at his call, and proceeded to dress the arm ofthe wounded soldier without his dismounting from his horse.
"I wish I had no worse cases than that, my boy," said the doctor.
"I am sorry you have, sir," replied Artie.
"You will be all right in a few days, my young friend; and I learn thatyou have both fought like Trojans, though I believe Artie did not try toleap his horse over any Texan's head," added Dr. Farnwright, with a lookof admiration at Deck, who appeared to have won the laurel of the day onthe field.
"Neither did I, Doctor. If any one tried to do a big thing, it wasCeph," protested the hero.
"Ceph? Who is he?"
"My horse;" and Deck hastily gave his version of the daring deed, as itappeared to be to those who had observed it.
But the dressing of the wound was finished, and the young soldiersstarted on their return to the camp of the first company. The excitementof the morning had subsided, and they began to feel the wear and tear towhich they had been subjected.
"We don't get such a morning's work as this every day in the week," saidArtie as they crossed the east road.
"But I imagine we shall get some worse days than this has been," addedDeck. "We haven't seen the end of this day yet, and we may be in anotherfight before noon. I suppose these Texan troopers have been sent overhere to destroy the bridges on the railroad extending to Louisville."
"It isn't a great while since the Confederates were trying to keep theroad open," added Artie.
"The situation has changed since that, and we are farther along into thewar. Then they wanted to keep this road open, so that they could bringprovisions down for the use of the armies of the enemy. Now they want todestroy them, to prevent the United States Government from sendingtroops for the invasion of the Southern States," replied Deck.
The conversation the rest of the way was in regard to the events of theday, filled up with surmises as to what the first company was doing.When they left Major Lyon he was on the top of the planter's house,surveying the surrounding country, wishing to obtain the firstintelligence of the approach of the enemy. Both of the messengerswondered that he had not seen the coming of the detachment with whom thesecond company had engaged; but they concluded that the road they hadtaken led them beyond certain hills in that direction.
When the boys reached the mansion of Mr. Barkland, Major Lyon was stillon the house, and shouted to them to join him at once.