by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER V
TWO FLAGS OF TRUCE
The first battle, if such it might be called, had been fought and won.Four of the guerillas had been put out of the contest, one forever, andone had escaped to the mansion. The contest had been entirely one-sided,for the ruffians had not had time left to them in which to fire so muchas a single charge.
But though the present victory had been gained quickly and with ease,Deck knew that the work still cut out for himself and his command wouldprove much more difficult and dangerous. The guerillas in the mansionwould be on a close watch, and it would go hard with any one imprudentenough to advance within reasonable shooting distance.
By the time the major had gained the fort those intrusted with the workof making a demonstration had returned to the shelter of the stonewalls. No injury had been done, and Artie and the overseer had hadtheir hands full in keeping the slaves from rushing directly for themansion regardless of consequences, especially when it was noted thatfour men had gone down in the vicinity of the barn.
"Fifteen still left," mused Levi, when Deck had spoken. "We can go themone better, but--"
"It makes a big difference where the fifteen men are located," saidArtie. "Five might hold the mansion against us--if they were good shotsand wide-awake."
"If only I knew mother and the girls were safe, I would play them awaiting game," said Deck, taking a long breath. "They'll think we havesent for reenforcements and will want to make terms, sooner or later."
"We can send off for reenforcements!" cried Artie. "Clinker can rouseout every Unionist within two miles of here."
"He would not find many," answered Levi. "The majority are off to thewar."
"One thing, it will be dark soon," went on Deck. "We can move up prettyclose then, for there won't be much moonlight."
"But what of mother and the girls in the meantime?" questioned the youngcaptain.
"I don't believe they will dare harm them," said the overseer. "Theyknow that if they did, and were caught, every one of 'em would swing forit. Denny may try to get a bit sweet on Miss Dorcas, but I reckon shecan hold her own. Those guerillas--"
"Hark!" interrupted Deck. "Somebody is screaming for help! It isDorcas!"
He rushed to the door of the fort, followed by Levi and Artie. It wasDorcas, true enough. The girl had just come out on the mansion porch andwas trying to get away from a guerilla who held her.
"That is Gaffy Denny!" ejaculated the major, drawing his pistol oncemore. "Hi, you rascal, leave her alone!" and regardless of consequenceshe started across the meadow for the lawn fronting the porch.
"Deck, save me!" came in faint tones from Dorcas. "Oh, save me!"
"I will!" was the reply. And Deck increased his speed, bounding over themeadow trenches with an agility that would have done credit to atrained athlete. He had barely gained the lawn when Dorcas broke fromGaffy Denny's grasp and fled down the porch steps toward him. At thesame time Hope appeared, followed by Mrs. Lyon and several guerillas whohad been in the act of transferring the lady prisoners from one room ofthe mansion to the other.
The sight of his mother pursued by these ruffians excited Deck to thehighest degree, and without a thought of the danger he continued on hiscourse until within a hundred feet of the porch. Then he fired at GaffyDenny and saw the guerilla clap his left hand over his right shoulder,showing that he had been struck. Denny had scarcely made the movementwhen Levi Bedford fired and the temporary leader of the guerillaspitched headlong on the grass, not to rise again.
The fall of Denny caused the men behind him to pause, and as they stoodon the porch Artie opened on them and another fellow was slightlywounded. Then came half a dozen gun and pistol reports, and Deck felthimself hit across the left side of the neck. The bullet left nothingmore than an ugly scratch, from which the blood flowed freely.
But now the prisoners from the mansion had come up to their would-berescuers, and catching sight of the blood, Hope fainted in Artie's arms.Mrs. Lyon staggered toward Deck, while Levi caught Dorcas by the hand.
"My son, you are wounded," gasped the mother. "Oh, what shall we do?"
"It's not much, mother," answered Deck. "Come, give me your arm andwe'll get back to the fort," and catching hold of his parent he urgedher in the direction of the meadow. At the same time Artie caught upHope and followed, with Levi and Dorcas by his side.
The overseer was the only man of the party who was not handicapped, forthe major did not dare let go of his mother for fear she would sinkdown. Levi turned quickly, and as the men on the porch prepared to fire,pulled trigger twice, wounding one additional guerilla.
But now came a volley from the mansion windows, and the overseer wasstruck in the arm. A second volley was about to follow, when a yellarose from the meadow and the slaves under Clinker came on, shooting aswell as they could on the run. The windows of the mansion, now wideopen, received considerable attention, and two guerillas were noted tofall back with yells of either fright or pain.
Deck got one more chance to fire, and then had to turn all of hisattention to his mother, who was so out of breath she could no longermove. "My brave boy, save yourself!" she gasped. "Save yourself! Andsave Hope and Dorcas!"
"I won't leave you, mother dear," he returned tenderly, and picked herup despite her protests. He was soon following Artie to the fort, withDorcas running by his side, while Levi remained behind to take commandof the slaves and cover the retreat. From around the back of the meadowcame those left by the major at the barn, thinking a regular attack onthe mansion had been made.
Mrs. Noah Lyon was no light load, and when Deck gained the shelter ofthe fort he was ready to drop with his burden. Finding the mostcomfortable seat the place afforded, he deposited his precious load uponit and fanned her with his soldier cap. Hope was just reviving and wassoon able to take care of herself.
"Oh, how thankful I am we have escaped from those ruffians!" criedDorcas, almost ready to cry in her excitement. Then she knelt down infront of her aunt--that aunt who had for years been a mother to her.Hope joined the group, and tears flowed down every feminine cheek.
"Keep watch here, Artie!" called out Deck, when he saw that all was wellfor the time being, and as the young captain nodded, the major leapedout into the open once more. The battle between those in the mansion andthose on the edge of the lawn was waxing hot, and he felt that he wasneeded.
A great load was lifted from his mind, now he knew his mother and thegirls were safe, and he felt that he could endure almost anything.Taking a short cut by leaping over a ditch some ten feet wide, he cameup in front of Carson Lee and the others from the barn. Lee had alreadybeen firing, at long range, and the man subject to fits declared he haddropped one guerilla stationed at an attic window.
"It is best that we divide our forces," said Deck. "Levi can take careof those under him. We will take the opposite side of the house. Thereare two magnolias over there--just the spot for such a sharpshooter asyou, Lee."
"Co-rect, lead on and I'll follow," answered Carson Lee, with a grin,for nothing pleased him more than to have his marksmanship praised. Soonthe entire party was making another detour, while Levi's men fell backgradually to a safe position in a dry trench near the centre of themeadow--a trench begun in the spring but never connected with the creek.
When the major's party reached the magnolias, Lee and another of thefarmers climbed into the branches, taking care, however, to keep themain trunks of the trees between themselves and the mansion. The otherscollected underneath, also, on the sheltered sides.
"Levi and the niggers have fallen back to a ditch in the meadow,"announced Lee, a minute later. "All the guerillas have gone into thehouse."
"An' there ain't a head to be seen at the winders," finished Dowleigh,the other man in the tree. "Reckon they have gone in fer a parley amongthemselves."
"We have them where the hair is good and long now," said Deck, smiling."Not one of them can leave the house without being seen."
"How about to-night, Major?" laug
hed Bowman.
"As soon as it gets dark we can draw closer, and throw a guardcompletely around the place. But I imagine we'll hear from them beforethat--now the ladies have escaped."
"How so?" asked Bowman, with interest.
"As long as they held the ladies they thought they could make terms whenthey pleased. Now, the case is different, and, in my opinion, they willtry to make terms before we have a chance to send for aid with which towipe them out, as the saying goes."
"Don't ye make no terms," burst in Carson Lee. "They don't deserve 'em."
"We'll see what they have to say, if they do come out," concluded themajor.
The best part of half an hour passed, and during that time everybodyplaced his weapon in proper fighting trim again. Lee took one shot at aface which appeared at a bedroom window and received a shot in return,but neither took effect. Evidently the guerillas were on the alert.
"I told you so!" Deck felt like saying, when the side door of themansion opened and a man waved a white towel toward them. But the majorremained silent, and the man advanced cautiously to the edge of theveranda. Then the young commander waved his handkerchief in return, andmarched up the lawn to interview the ruffian with the flag of truce.
The fellow was an ugly looking customer, over six feet tall, thin, andwith a face horribly pox-marked. He came swaggering up to within fiveyards of Deck and halted.
"Say, don't yer think this game has been played long enough?" he gruntedrather than asked.
"Entirely too long," answered Deck, briefly. He had not yet forgottenthe manner in which he had been addressed at the barn.
"We-uns is ready ter make terms if yer don't ask the earth," continuedthe tall guerilla, swinging his lanky arms into a fold. "Wot do yer sayto it?"
"I think you had better make terms."
"Oh, we ain't so terribully skeered, Major. But makin' terms might suitbetter all around, thet's all."
"Well, what do you propose?"
"This. You-uns let us withdraw on our hosses to the road an' give ushalf a mile start, an' we-uns will leave everything in the house jest aswe found it."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then we'll burn the hull shebang to the ground and take wot comesarfterward," exclaimed the guerilla, vehemently, and added an expressionI would not care to transcribe to these pages.
"Do you know what will come?"
"A fight most likely," and the guerilla shrugged his bony shoulders.
"Yes, and a heavy one, if our reenforcements arrive in time. And ascommander here I'll promise you that if you harm the house or itscontents in the least, every man captured shall be hung to yonder treesas an incendiary and thief."
"Ye can't do thet--not to Confed'rit sodgers, Major."
"I don't recognize you as Confederates. You are simply outlaws."
"'Tain't so; we--" The guerilla paused and began to think of theinstructions which had been given him. "Wot kind o' terms air youcalkerlatin' ter make, Major?" he asked, in a milder tone.
"I want all in the house to surrender, and if you do I'll simply handyou over to the county authorities and they can do with you as theythink best. But each of you must swear to leave Riverlawn alone in thefuture."
"The boys won't agree on thet--I know they won't."
"They can do as they please; you have my terms," returned Deck, curtly.
"Yer won't treat us as simple prisoners o' war?"
"No; for such you are not. Neither your captain nor your lieutenantholds a commission signed by the Confederate authorities."
The guerilla paused as if to say more. Then tossing his shaggy head hewalked back to the mansion, while Deck joined his command at themagnolias.
"Bowman, you can do a big thing for me if you will," he said, callingthe farmer aside, and he explained a little ruse which had just poppedinto his head. The scheme made Bowman laugh heartily, and he at oncedeparted to carry it out, taking one of the negroes with him.
It was just growing dusk when the farmer reached the vicinity of thecreek bridge. Calling on Woolly, the negro, to march by his side, hequickly crossed the roadway, in plain sight of the mansion. He passedfrom one thicket to another, and as soon as he was out of sight turnedback and went through the same performance again. This he repeated ascore of times, sometimes going alone and again with Woolly. Thisaccomplished, he told the negro to move down the creek and show himselfat half a dozen different places just as quickly as the act could beperformed, he at the same time doing as much in the opposite direction.Sometimes the pair showed themselves with their coats, sometimeswithout, and they knocked their head coverings into all sorts of shapes.
The ruse succeeded admirably, for even Levi, at the fort, was led tobelieve a dozen or more armed men had just arrived, and he was for awhile considerably worried, thinking they might possibly bereenforcements for the enemy. Bowman's appearance opposite Fort Bedfordcleared up the matter, and the farmer came over to give the overseer theparticulars, thereby risking a shot which, fortunately, proved harmless.
"It certainly ought to bring them to terms," said Levi. "I'll wager theywill be out with another flag in less than a quarter of an hour."
Had a bet been made the overseer would have won by five minutes, forexactly ten minutes later another flag of truce was shown, and a secondmessenger sallied forth to make terms with Major Deck.