THE EXPLOSION ON THE BRIDGE
The movement on the east road, where the fight of the morning with the
Texans had taken place, was occasioned by the simultaneous arrival of
the second company from behind the knoll, and the hasty return of the
pickets from the hill region. The former was there in accordance with
the order of which Artie was the bearer to Captain Truman; but the
latter event was the more important, inasmuch as it promised to reveal
the operations of the enemy, which had hitherto been concealed.
The sergeant in charge of the picket reported in hot haste to the
captain of the second company, by whom he had been sent out; and a
moment later Artie was flying down the hill to the major, with the
substance, in a short sentence, of the intelligence brought in. The
commander had noticed the rapid movement on the road, though Captain
Truman had come out of the field half a mile from the cross-roads. The
pickets came at a furious gallop; for the sergeant, though not admitted
to the counsels of the officers, was intelligent enough to understand
the importance of his report.
Major Lyon, though he had begun to be alarmed at the non-appearance of
Deck on the bridge, hastened back to the cross-roads, where Artie soon
rode up to him. The delay of the enemy on the south road was generally
understood to be caused by the non-arrival of an expected detachment
from the hills. The major knew what the report of the pickets would be
before it was brought to him; for his impression was that Life Knox was
correct in his interpretation of the intention of the enemy. The
disappearance of Deck confirmed his belief that operations had actually
commenced on the bridge.
"The pickets report that a detachment of about fifty has marched north
by the hill road!" shouted Artie, as soon as he came within speaking
distance of his father.
"Ride back; give Captain Truman my order to march his command to the
cross-roads!" added Major Lyon with more than usual energy, though he
was still as cool and self-possessed as he had been all day.
Artie wheeled his horse, and in a moment he was running Miss Dolly up
the slope at a breakneck speed.
"Captain Gordon!" called the major as he rode toward him.
The captain dashed up to him on the instant.
"Send Knox and his scouts to me!" added the commander.
The Kentuckian and the men he had selected for the service in which he
had been engaged were at hand; and Knox saluted the major, in readiness
for any duty upon which he might be sent.
"Ride to the bridge! Leave your horses below! Get up to the track with
all the haste you can make! Deck was stationed there to hoist the flag
at a signal from me, which I have made several times; but he does not
obey the order, and I begin to fear that something has happened to him,"
said the major in hurried tones.
"I'll find him if he is there!" exclaimed Knox, with an expression of
determination on his face.
"I think you will find a small force of the enemy near the bridge, Knox.
Don't fall into any trap; I will have at least half a company up there
in a few minutes."
"I will keep my eyes wide open, Major," replied the Kentuckian, as he
rode off towards the bridge.
"Captain Gordon, send Lieutenant Belthorpe with half your company to the
bridge. Just beyond the camp he will find a practicable road up the
embankment. He will be in abundant season to receive the force
approaching by the hill road."
The captain saluted his superior, and made no reply. It was evident
enough to the commander that Captain Dingfield had been on the alert,
and that he intended to destroy the bridge even in the face of, and
under the very eyes of, the Riverlawn Cavalry, of double his own
strength, though he might not be aware of its numbers. If Major Lyon did
not manifest his chagrin and annoyance at the present situation, he felt
it none the less.
He realized that Captain Dingfield had been amusing him all day with the
prospect of a fight, while he was carrying out his plan for destroying
the bridge. It was all plain enough to him now, and he wondered that he
had not placed a guard on the bridge early in the morning. It looked now
like a serious omission; but he hoped it was not too late to remedy the
defect in his plan. What had become of Deck was a mystery he could not
fathom.
After the hauling down of the flag, the major had been too fully
occupied elsewhere to think of the bridge, and he had not even glanced
at it till he made the signal. It had not occurred to him that the
structure could be in any danger while his squadron was in sight of it.
He watched the force of Lieutenant Belthorpe as they hurried by the road
to the point where they could ascend to the track, and he believed he
had done all that was necessary to save the bridge from destruction.
Captain Truman was approaching the cross-roads with his company, and the
attack of Captain Dingfield might be expected very soon. It was
necessary to make a new arrangement of the troops. The major had already
formed his plan, and he wheeled his horse to join Captain Gordon and
give his orders. At this moment an explosion rent the air, which made a
great deal of noise, though it had not the volume of an earthquake.
Major Lyon turned his head, expecting to see the bridge a wreck, with
the fragments of it flying in the air. He looked for Knox and his
companions, who had been ordered to climb upon the bridge without
waiting to ride around to the embankment. They had not yet mounted the
abutment, and were then securing their horses near the bank of the
creek. But the bridge was not a wreck, though some timbers and planks
had been elevated in the air; but most of the matter that was thrown up
appeared to be earth and stones.
But where was Deck? Even with the pressure of duty upon him, he could be
excused for thinking of his son, who had so strangely disappeared. He
watched the movements of Knox and his men. If they had been a couple of
minutes later they might have been hurled from the high structure by the
force of the explosion. But he was greatly relieved when he saw that
they were not harmed, or at least not disabled; for he saw the tall
Kentuckian running with all his might to the abutment, followed by
his five men. They were all there, and they began to climb up the wall.
[Illustration: "Sling carbines! Charge them!"]
Something like a shout from the direction of the cross-roads attracted
the major's attention at this moment. Wheeling his horse again, he saw
the pickets rushing down the hill beyond which they had been observing
the enemy on their "funeral march." Their return could mean but one
thing, which was that Captain Dingfield's command were advancing.
Lieutenant Belthorpe was hurrying his force to the embankment; and if
there were any Rangers there, he would soon confront them. Knox and his
companions had reached the top of the bridge, and all of them were
busily engaged about something; but the observer could not tell what it
was, though the appearance of several small volumes of smoke indicated
that the Texans had started several fires on the wooden structure.
The head of the enemy's column had not yet appeared on the hill which
shut off the view of the planter's mansion, and there was time enough
for the major to make the dispositions of his force. Half of the first
company were left, and the whole of the second, except the twenty men
doing guard duty at the camp. The commander had in the neighborhood of
a hundred and twenty-five men on the spot; and with this force he could
soon annihilate the fifty troopers, more or less, who were marching to
the attack, or were supposed to be doing so.
"Captain Gordon, take what is left of the first company, and make a
detour to that hill on the right of the road. It is nothing more than a
knoll; and you will attack them on the flank as soon as Truman engages
them in the road," said the major.
"I was thinking of suggesting that as soon as you sent for Captain
Truman at the knoll on the other side of the road," replied the captain,
when he had ordered Gilder, his second lieutenant, to march the platoon
to the place indicated.
"I have no doubt that explosion was the signal for the advance of
Captain Dingfield," added the major, as he looked back at the bridge,
where the sergeant and his men were still at work.
"It looks so; and the Rangers must have had some men over near the
bridge who got up that attempt to blow it up. But it looks as though it
was a failure," replied Captain Gordon, as he rode off to join his
command.
Captain Truman, with about seventy-five troopers, was at the
cross-roads, waiting for orders. The major directed the head of the
company to place the troopers in the road and at the side of it, with
their carbines unslung. The commander had sent Artie for a sabre; and he
had taken possession of it, indicating that he did not intend to be an
idle spectator to the conflict if his personal service was needed.
"Can I take my place in the ranks where I belong, father?" asked Artie.
"No, my son; I may want you at any moment to carry an order," replied
Major Lyon; and possibly he thought this might be the only son left to
him since the disappearance of Deck.
"There comes the head of the column!" exclaimed Captain Truman.
"Have your men all ready to fire, Captain," added the major. "But don't
be in a hurry to do so. I will give you the order."
It was no longer a funeral march on the part of the enemy, for they were
forcing their steeds to the utmost. The captain was in front of his
platoon, and that was all the men he had. He had lost one lieutenant at
the first action, and probably he had been compelled to send the second
with the detachment by the hill road.
"It looks as though they intended to begin with a charge," said Captain
Truman.
"Perhaps the captain will change his mind before he has gone much
farther," replied the major very quietly.
The soldiers acted as though they were very impatient. The major thought
the Texan captain was reckless, and was making use of fire-eating
tactics instead of cool military judgment. Possibly he expected to be
able to cut his way through the force in front of him, and join the one
he had sent to the bridge by the hills.
Probably Captain Dingfield had not a little of the contempt for Northern
soldiers which pervaded the ranks of the Confederate army at the
beginning of the war. He was a brave and impulsive man, and doubtless
believed that a vigorous charge would drive the Riverlawn Cavalry out of
his way, as he would brush away the flies that annoyed him when he read
his newspaper. The fact that one portion of his company had been soundly
whipped and driven from the field appeared to have no influence over
him.
"Now is your time, Captain Truman," said the major, who had waited till
the enemy were more than half-way down the hill. "Have your men take
good aim, and fire."
The captain gave his orders with a vim which indicated his impatience to
begin his work. The carbines were all discharged almost as one, and the
road was filled with the smoke of the volley; but the breeze was fresh
enough to drive it away in a moment. At least seventy-five balls had
been sent into the midst of the fifty men, and the troopers had been
trained to do good work with their carbines.
As the smoke cleared away, it was seen that a number of the Texans had
fallen from their horses, while others were reeling in their saddles. A
couple of minutes later another volley was heard at the right of the
road, and more of the cavalrymen went down. The major could not see the
command of Captain Gordon, but he had been prompt in the discharge of
the duty assigned to him.
"Sling carbines! charge them!" said the major.
The order was promptly obeyed, and the commander rode forward with the
captain of the second company. But in a minute more there was nothing
there to charge. What was left of the enemy suddenly wheeled their
horses and began a retreat in hot haste. If they had not done so not one
of them would have been left to contest the field in five minutes more.
The first company were just breaking out of the field when the second
came up, and Major Lyon ordered the captain of the second to halt.
Riding forward, he directed Captain Gordon to pursue the discomfited
troopers, and capture them if he could. The fight was ended practically;
and it had been little better than a slaughter, all owing to the
reckless course of Captain Dingfield.