by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXXII
DECK LYON'S PLAN OF BATTLE
Lieutenant Lyon soon ascertained that the force in the road includedthe two companies of the squadron. The cheers of those who were on theright of the column brought Major Lyon and Captain Woodbine to thefront; and as soon as they learned the cause of the cheering they rodeforward to meet the returning wanderers.
"I am glad to see you again, Dexter," said the major, as he extendedhis hand to his son.
"I am just as glad to see you, father," replied Deck, returning thehearty pressure of the hand.
Sergeant Fronklyn was greeted in the same manner, and heartily welcomedby the commander of the battalion. The staff-officer had halted acouple of rods behind the major, to permit the father and son to meetwithout being observed.
"You come back as from the grave, or a Confederate prison," said themajor, still holding the hand of his son, and betraying more emotionthan he was in the habit of manifesting.
"I have been neither in a grave nor a prison," answered the lieutenantvery cheerfully.
"We concluded that you had been either killed or captured; and I amrejoiced to see you again alive and apparently well."
"I am as well as I ever was in my life; but we must not stop to talknow, father, for the services of your command are greatly needed inthis vicinity," said Deck.
"Where?" demanded the major, releasing his son's hand, and beckoning tothe staff-officer, who immediately rode to the spot.
"I am very glad to see you again, Lieutenant Lyon," said CaptainWoodbine, grasping the hand of the young officer. "We feared that youwere a prisoner, or that something worse had happened to you."
"But Dexter tells me that my force is needed here, Captain Woodbine,"interposed the major; "and we must hear his story at some other time.Where are we needed, my son?"
"On a hill a mile from here is the mansion of Colonel Hickman," repliedDeck, pointing in the direction of the house. "Part of a gang ofguerillas have been in possession of it all the morning, and threatenedto hang the owner if he did not give up his money."
"It is the old story," added the major.
"But we have shot all but one or two who were in the mansion; and therest of the gang, twenty-four of them the servants say, are nowapproaching the hill," continued Deck.
"Then we will not remain here another moment. I sent Knox and Sluder tothe top of the nearest hill to make an observation," said the major.
"They cannot see the ruffians, for there is another hill that concealsthem," Deck interposed. "I know the lay of the land here, and if youwill allow me to give advice which is not asked for I will do so."
"Certainly!" exclaimed the staff-officer, who was the superior of themajor. "State your plan at once, Lieutenant."
"By this time Captain Grundy, the leader of the gang, has joined hisforce. They are advancing by a private road from Millersville," Deckexplained. "Colonel Hickman has two field-pieces behind a breastwork,and a few riflemen; and he is ready to give the ruffians a warmreception, though the enemy are four to his one. My advice is that thesecond company march towards the mansion, with Sergeant Fronklyn asguide, and halt under cover of the hill nearest to the private road.Let the first company march in the opposite direction, with me asguide, and halt behind another hill near the private road."
"Very good!" exclaimed the major. "That is all clear enough; and theplan is to put the enemy between the jaws of a vise."
"That is just what I said to Colonel Hickman when I explained the planto him," added Deck.
The major led the way up to the main body of the troopers. While thecommander was giving his orders to the two captains of the companies,the two sergeants returned from the hill, and reported that nothing wasto be seen in any direction, for the view was obstructed by otherhills. When Knox had made his report he happened to see Deck. He rushedupon him, grasped him in his arms, and lifted him from the ground asthough he had been a baby, hugging him in a transport of rapture, tothe great amusement of officers and soldiers.
"I was afeared you had gone where you couldn't hear the bugle-call,littl' un, and I bless the Lord with all my might that you ain't foodfor the worms or the crows," said the big Kentuckian fervently. "Yououghtn't to gone off without me; but I reckon"--
"That will do for now, Sergeant Knox!" shouted Captain Gordon. "We haveno time for long stories. Attention--company!"
As Deck rode to his place at the head of the second platoon, CaptainGordon and Lieutenant Belthorpe grasped his hand, and spoke a word ofwelcome to him. The men in the ranks greeted him with pleasant words.The first company countermarched; and as the captain came to theposition of the second lieutenant, he directed him to march at his sidein his capacity as guide. Fronklyn took a similar position at the sideof Captain Truman, and both companies moved as the guides directed.
"You have had a hard time of it, Deck," said Captain Gordon as theyleft the road and entered the field.
"Not very, Captain. Both Fronklyn and myself were knocked from ourhorses; and it would have been all up with me if the sergeant had notdragged me out of the _melee_. But I was only stunned by the flatside of a sabre, as Fronklyn was by a pistol-bullet," Deck explained.
"But you were within the breastworks of the enemy?"
"We were, forced in by the crowd of runaways from the battle-field. Weboth came to our senses, kept out of sight for a while, then tookpossession of a boat astern of a steamer, and floated down theCumberland to Robertsport, or a little farther, and got ashore. Ihaven't time to tell the whole story. Three sons of Colonel Hickmanwere with Captain Ripley's riflemen; and with them we met the colonel.We cleaned out the robbers from his mansion. I think we had better halthere, Captain Gordon, and do a little scouting."
The suggestion was promptly adopted, and the company came to a haltjust at the foot of the first hill. Deck and Knox were sent to the topof the next hill on foot, both armed with carbines. There were treesand bushes on the summit, but not on the sides, of the elevation. Theytook a position in the shelter of this growth, but the guerillas werenot yet in sight. They must have halted for some time; and Deckconjectured that Captain Grundy must have joined them, and had takenthe time to tell his story.
"I see nothing of them yet, Life," said the lieutenant, after he hadsurveyed the country in all directions.
"Which way they comin', Deck?" asked the sergeant.
"You can see the road across the fields at the foot of this hill. Ithink the first company is in the right position where it is now," saidthe lieutenant. "The second company will halt under cover of the samehill. Neither of them can be seen from that road till the enemy haveadvanced half-way up the hill to the mansion."
"I thought the company was to move to the lower end of the hill, wherewe uns is," suggested Knox.
"That was my first view of it; but there is no need of going anyfarther. I did not suppose there was any chance to conceal the positionof the force where they could get at the enemy in good season. I havenot been over this ground; only seen it from the mansion hill. We areall right as we are. Now, Life, you will return to the company; tellCaptain Gordon to remain where he is till I give him a signal with myhandkerchief on this carbine."
As he spoke, the lieutenant proceeded to tie the white signal to theweapon.
"Then he will go at a gallop through the valley between these twohills, and fall upon the enemy in the rear, as the second companyattacks in front. Do you understand it?" continued Deck.
"I reckon I do; but am I to leave you here alone?" demanded thesergeant.
"Of course you are," replied the lieutenant with a laugh. "Do you thinkI can't take care of myself?"
"You didn't do it last night."
"I think I did, for here I am. Hold on a minute! I think we can arrangethis matter a little better. The second company will not know when tomake the attack."
"Are you gwine to lay out the whole battle, Deck?" asked Life.
"I am going to do what I can to make it a success, and to capture everyone of those r
uffians. If one of them escapes it shall not be myfault," replied the lieutenant in vigorous speech. "Ask Captain Gordonto rig a signal like this one, and send a messenger to Major Lyon, whohas gone with the second company, so that he will understand itsmeaning. When I wave my signal twice, it will be for the second companyto attack; when I wave it once it will be for the first company to fallon the enemy's rear. The major is not more than half a mile from thefirst company. Now go, Life, and don't let the grass grow under yourfeet."
"All right; but I reckon you are the commander-in-chief of thisbattalion, Deck."
The long-legged Kentuckian went down the hill with long strides; and inabout three minutes he saluted Captain Gordon, and delivered hismessage. Then he was ordered to mount his horse, and ride over todeliver the instructions to the major.
"That is an excellent plan of Lieutenant Lyon, and it will prevent anyconfusion," said the captain as the sergeant was mounting his horse.
In a few minutes more Knox came into the presence of Captain Woodbineand Major Lyon. He described the arrangement for the signals.
Sergeant Fronklyn and Bugler Stufton were stationed on a knoll wherethey could see the signal when it was given by Captain Gordon, and themusician was to sound the advance.
"These signals are a capital idea of your son, Major," said thestaff-officer in the hearing of Life Knox, as he was starting on hisreturn to his company.
Deck was left alone; but in spite of the solicitude of the Kentuckian,he did not regard himself as in any danger, for the guerillas were notlikely to explore the hills on their way to the mansion, where CaptainGrundy doubtless expected to make an easy victory over the forcedefending it. He was not aware that cannon were to figure in thecontest; and with his large force he could easily overcome the smallnumber behind the breastwork. He was confident that there was a largesum of money concealed in the mansion, or in its vicinity; and he wasfully determined to hang Colonel Hickman to one of his own trees if hedid not disclose the hiding-place of the treasure.
It was fully half an hour before Deck saw anything of the approachingguerillas. Four mounted men were the first indications of the advanceof the enemy. They seemed to be the pickets of the main body. They rodein couples, and did not trouble themselves to scout the hills on theirleft; for they could not have had any suspicion that there was a largeforce of cavalry anywhere near the mansion. The pickets moved on slowlytill they came to the beginning of the ascent of the hill, and therethey halted. They had nothing to report, and they awaited the coming ofthe force.
From his position behind the bushes and trees Deck could see themansion, and the road leading up to it. The pickets had hardly haltedbefore the main column came into view. They marched by fours, two inthe road, and two in the field, and in very irregular order. Thelieutenant observed them with intense interest, and counted them asthey advanced. Instead of twenty-four, as the negro scouts hadreported, there were thirty-eight of them. They had either beenre-enforced, or the scouts had not seen them all. They marched veryconfidently, and began the ascent of the hill.
When they had ascended about half the distance to the summit, one ofthe cannon pealed, and three men were seen to fall from their horses.The assailants had evidently not expected to encounter artillery, andthe result of the first discharge checked them. At this moment Decktwice waved the signal. A minute later the blast of the bugle was heardin the distance, followed immediately by the onslaught of CaptainTrueman's company.
Deck observed the impetuous charge. Captain Grundy appeared to haveordered his command to deploy to the right; but they had no time to doso, for the troopers dashed into them in front. The guerillas could nothold their ground for a moment against this fiery charge. They broke,and began to retreat by the way they had come. Deck waved his signalonce; and Captain Gordon's company dashed through the valley, andconfronted the ruffians in their hot retreat.