THE LIEUTENANT BAGS HIS GAME
The Riverlawn Cavalry had lost a number of its men, who had been killed
in the several actions in which it had been engaged, and a greater
number had been disabled by wounds; though both companies had been
recruited up to their full standard. The squadron was so popular that
more than twenty had applied to enlist after its ranks were full. Deck
had, therefore, his full quota, and two more.
"The other horse is for you, Mr. Milton," said the lieutenant, when he
was ready to move on to the mansion invested by the ruffians.
"Thank you, Lieutenant Lyon; I left my horse a mile beyond Mr.
Halliburn's, when I learned that the guerillas were going in that
direction," replied the guide. "I am satisfied, now that Grace is
safe."
"There is another band of guerillas or foragers in the direction of
Breedings; but the first platoon of our company has gone over to give
them a reception, and I don't believe any of them will get as far south
as the house to which Miss Morgan is going," Deck explained.
"I hope not, for I am very anxious about Grace," added the guide.
"She is a very attractive young lady," suggested Deck.
"Which makes her peril all the greater," replied her intended, for such
he was, as they entered a forest of black walnut. "We have tried to
persuade her to go to her uncle's house in Springfield, Ohio; but she
refuses to leave her guardian, who has been a father to her from her
childhood. I shall get my horse, if the ruffians have not stolen him,
and hasten to Colonel Halliburn's, as soon as you have disposed of
these villains."
"I shall try to bag the whole of them," said Deck. "But so many
prisoners would be a nuisance to me."
"There is a loyal Home Guard in Millersville, if the Confederates have
not scattered them; and they would take care of your prisoners,"
suggested the guide.
"Now, Mr. Milton,"--
"Call me Win, as everybody else does, and that will save time,"
interposed the young man.
"As you please, Win; the name is shorter, and perhaps you will
recognize it more readily because it is more familiar to you than one
with a handle to it. Now, I want to know something more about the
surroundings of Mr. Halliburn's mansion. I wonder that this gentleman
is not a colonel, like most people of any importance in this State."
"He was formerly a clergyman, and sometimes officiates now on an
emergency. That fact saved him from any military infliction. Then his
brother is a real colonel, and two of the same title would have made
confusion in talking about them," the guide explained.
The mud was so deep that no great speed could be made on the march, and
the guerillas were not likely to complete their mission for some hours,
for they seldom left a plundered house without requiring a meal to be
provided for them. Still, the lieutenant pushed on with all practicable
haste.
"How does the land lie about the house?" asked Deck.
"All the land cultivated on the plantation, which contains over a
thousand acres, is on the east side of the mansion. Most of the ground
on the west of it is in walnut; for in the dry season it is easily
hauled to the Cumberland River, and carried to a market during high
water. It is a profitable crop to the planter."
"Does the walnut grove reach as far as the mansion?"
"Very nearly. There is a small grove south of the house, and a wooded
hill to the north-east of it."
"Very well; I think I have got the idea of it," replied Deck, as he
relapsed into silence to study his plan.
Though he had a great deal of confidence in himself, he was fully
conscious of the responsibility which rested upon him. Probably if
Captain Gordon had suspected that the lieutenant at eighteen would
encounter an enemy, he would have come with the platoon himself, though
he had quite as much confidence in Deck as in Tom Belthorpe. But the
other division was reasonably sure to engage an enemy, and doubtless
this consideration had decided the question as to which he should
accompany.
"This wood extends around to the north side of the mansion, if I
understand the situation," said Deck, when he had arranged the attack
in his own mind.
"Precisely so," replied the guide.
"That is on our left; how is it on the right, Win?"
"You come out of the woods into a cornfield; beyond this is a low hill,
and beyond it is a grove, where the family walk in warm weather."
"How far are we from the mansion now?"
"Something more than a hundred rods."
"Platoon--halt!" said the lieutenant, suddenly whirling his horse about
as on a pivot. "Sergeant Knox!"
Life rode up to him, saluted, and waited for further orders.
"With fifteen men you will move to the left through the woods till you
come to the mansion now directly in front of us. Move without noise,
and halt your force as near the house as you can without being seen by
the enemy, who are too busy to notice anything just now. When the bugle
sounds the 'Advance,' you will march at a gallop to the east side of
the house. Do you understand me, Life?" said Deck, speaking very
clearly, but in a low tone.
"I'll bet I do; shall I repeat the orders?" replied the sergeant.
"It is not necessary."
Deck then directed Corporal Tilford, another non-commissioned officer,
to take twelve men and proceed to the right, through the cornfield,
concealing himself behind the hill mentioned by Win, and halt in the
grove. At the same signal, a second time given, the corporal was to
march his men in haste to the front of the mansion. The two detachments
went to the left and the right as directed, and the lieutenant
continued the march directly to his destination. The stable of the
plantation was the first building they saw, for the west side of the
mansion was concealed by a dozen lofty trees. If the ruffians were
still in the house, they appeared to have taken no precautions to guard
against a surprise: for there was no sentinel, and no person could be
seen near the mansion.
"Platoon--halt!" said Deck, when he had led his men into the shelter of
the trees; but he spoke in a very low tone, for he was not more than
fifty feet from the mansion.
Taking the bugler and the guide with him, he crept carefully around the
principal building, halting at the corner. From this point he obtained
a full view of the ground in front. He counted twenty-two horses,
secured to a fence and in other places where it could be done. This he
concluded was the force of the enemy. He could hear very loud noises
and shouts within the mansion, and the sounds appeared to come from the
upper story of the building. It was evident that the marauders had
searched the lower part of the house, and were now engaged in going
through the upper portion.
"Was it known that Mr. Halliburn had a large sum of money in his
house?" asked Deck in a whisper of the guide.
"Probably it was; he kept it in several banks till recently. When he
withdrew the money from the banks, the officers of these institutions
were incensed against him; for his example would be followed by other
influential people, and the banks would be ruined," Win explained in
the same low tone.
"Stufton, go to the rear of the house, and send the first six men you
come to around to me. Tell them to make no noise," continued the
lieutenant, addressing the bugler.
He was not absent more than three minutes, and the men crept around the
house as though they had been engaged in a burglarious enterprise,
securing their sabres so that they did not rattle. Milton wondered what
the cavalryman in command intended to do, but he waited patiently for
the outcome. Ordering the men in a whisper to follow him, Deck stole
silently to the portico of the mansion on the east side, which was
precisely like one on the west.
The front door of the mansion was wide open. Deck stationed his six men
on the piazza, close to the building, and then passed into the hall
through the open passage. A door on each side opened into as many large
apartments. The one on the right was plainly the parlor. On a broad
sofa reclined a man with white hair and beard. He lay there, and did
not move any more than if the breath had left his body. In the room on
the left lay an elderly woman on another sofa, as motionless as the
other.
Heavy footsteps could be heard on the floors of the upper story, with
the sound of rough voices, from which proceeded a constant flow of
profanity. Deck stepped out of the hall to the piazza, and called the
men to him one at a time, and then stationed them in the hall
surrounding the staircase leading to the second story.
"If any one attempts to descend the stairs, warn him not to do so, and
shoot him if he disobeys," said Deck to each of the troopers, who had
his carbine in readiness for use.
"Are there any back stairs in the house, Win?" asked Deck in the usual
whisper.
"There are, by the dining-room in the rear," replied the guide, who
began to understand the method by which the lieutenant meant to
operate, but he said nothing.
Deck went to the west door of the mansion, opened it, and called three
more men, whom he instructed as he had the others, and stationed them
at the foot of the back stairs. Calling a corporal and a private, he
sent them to Life and Tilford, with an order to secure all horses, and
load their carbines, putting their revolvers in their belts. Then they
were to wait for the signal from the bugle.
"Now we will look into the two rooms, and see if the man and woman on
the sofas are dead," said Deck to the guide. "Come with me, Win, if you
please."
Milton had not entered the house before, and had not seen the persons
on the sofas. He followed the lieutenant into the room where the man
lay. Going nearer to him than before, he discovered that the gentleman
was strapped to the sofa so that he could not move.
"It is Mr. Halliburn!" was the whispered exclamation of Win.
"Hush! Don't speak, sir," said Deck, as he proceeded to remove the
straps which bound him, aided by the guide.
"Not a sound, sir!" continued the young officer. "You are safe, and so
is Miss Morgan, and also the treasure-chest. Not a word!"
Win assisted him to sit up on the sofa, and then went into the other
front room with Deck. The latter warned her as he had the man not to
speak, and then asked the guide who she was, while both of them began
at once to remove her bonds.
"Mrs. Halliburn," replied Win, who assisted her to rise as soon as she
was liberated.
"Now, Win, if you wish to go and find your horse, I can spare you,
though I should like very well to have you remain longer."
"I want to see this thing through," answered Milton. "I have seen you
pile up all the incidents of this affair, like those in a novel; and
now I want to see you pull out the pin in the last chapter, and let
everything down in a heap. I suppose Grace is safe with your men to
guard her."
"I will vouch for her safety. I am going to pull out the pin now,"
added Deck, as he beckoned the bugler to follow him to the front or
east piazza.
He ordered him to sound the "Advance," and the command was promptly
obeyed. The ringing notes of the startling call sounded clearly in the
silence of the retired locality, and it could have been heard at least
half a mile. Life Knox's force came first, and Deck directed the
sergeant to surround the house, and shoot down any guerilla that
attempted to escape. The bugle sounded the second call, and Corporal
Tilford and his dozen men appeared in front of the mansion. The
sergeant continued to station the men till all of them were in
position.
The marauders flocked to the windows, and found half a dozen carbines
pointed at each opening. It checked their enthusiasm at once. At the
staircase those who proposed to descend found as many pieces aimed at
them. It looked just then as though Lieutenant Lyon had bagged the
twenty-two guerillas in the upper story of the mansion.