THE ENEMY'S BATTLE WITH THE MUD
The sound of the volley did not come from the top of the hill, and
Captain Gordon would not have been so simple as to waste the powder and
balls in the carbines of his men at an impracticable distance from the
object of his attack. Lieutenant Belthorpe must have seen his force as
soon as he reached the top of the hill; and no doubt he had hurried to
join in the attack at the right moment, so that it could be made in the
front and rear at the same time.
But plans do not always work precisely as they are arranged beforehand.
Deck turned his steed as soon as he heard the volley, and hastened back
to notify the sergeant; but Fronklyn had heard the discharge, and
marched on the instant. For a non-commissioned officer, he was decidedly
a man of parts, though he had not been in a fight till that day.
"Hurry up, Sergeant! I think we shall have warm work over on the hill
road as soon as we can reach it. They are firing lively now on both
hills," said Deck, as he took his place by the side of the officer.
"We are all ready for it; and the men were as mad as a bull in a swarm
of hornets as the recall was sounded back there a while ago, when they
were licking the enemy out of his boots," replied Fronklyn.
"They are likely to get enough of it now," added Deck, as they galloped
forward at the best speed they could get out of the horses.
But the firing suddenly ceased, and there was a noise ahead other than
the sounds of battle, which attracted the attention of Deck and the
sergeant. It was the clang of sabres and the rattle of accoutrements,
and the sounds came from a less distance than to the hill road.
"What does this mean?" asked Deck, as he reined in his horse. "Halt your
men here!" he added, as he obtained a full view ahead.
Fronklyn promptly accepted the suggestion, and gave the order; but he
did not understand the reason for making it. The cross-road extended
through the wild region over which the detachment had passed farther up
the hill. In this part of it the surface was more irregular than above;
on the left was a meadow, through which flowed the brook that crossed
the main road. Just ahead of the force the road wound through a narrow
pass, between lofty pinnacles of rock.
From a point in the road Deck had obtained a glance across the meadow at
the cross-road near the main highway. There he saw the Rangers
retreating vigorously, and coming directly towards him. He could not
quite understand this change in the programme, as laid down by
Lieutenant Belthorpe and himself. But it did not take him long to
explain the situation to his own satisfaction, whether correctly or not.
Captain Gordon's men had made the attack with a volley from the
carbines. As soon as Tom Belthorpe heard the report, he dashed down the
hill to have a finger in the pie; for his men were eager for the affray.
Captain Dingfield had seen them coming, and probably mistook the force
for a much larger one, and ordered a retreat by the cross-road.
Doubtless he had chosen to await the attack of Captain Gordon in this
locality on account of this convenient outlet. The enemy had not waited
for a charge, and neither of the detachments from the two hills had
reached the brook.
Deck hurriedly stated the situation to Sergeant Fronklyn. Then he
pointed out the narrow pass in the road, which would conceal the men for
a few moments. He advised him to advance to it, and then fall upon the
head of the column as it entered the narrow passage. The officer gave
the order to advance, and with it a few ringing words of encouragement.
Fronklyn placed himself at the head of his men, with Deck near him, and
they dashed into the pass at a breakneck speed. The enemy had not yet
reached the narrow defile.
The troopers had their carbines all ready for use, and the sergeant
halted them at a point where they could see the Rangers as they
approached. At the right moment he gave the command to fire, and the
report was the first intimation to Captain Dingfield that an enemy was
in front of him. As soon as the Union soldiers had discharged their
pieces, they were ordered to sling their carbines, and draw their
sabres.
"To the charge! March!" shouted Fronklyn.
The volley had been a surprise to the Rangers, and they were evidently
staggered as some of their saddles were emptied. Captain Dingfield was
not at the front of his company; for the danger was supposed to be in
the rear, and he was as brave a man as ever sat on a horse. Of course he
could form no idea of the strength of the force in front of him, and he
must have realized that he had fallen into a trap. If he had not been
prudent before, he was so now, for the bugler immediately sounded the
recall.
Sergeant Fronklyn did not wait to see what Captain Dingfield would do,
or where he would retreat. He led his men forward, and they charged
furiously upon what had been the right of the column. The Rangers
defended themselves with vigor and determination for a few minutes, and
the accounts of three of them were closed for this world. The next thing
that Deck saw, for he made a business of knowing all that was going on
around him, was a column of cavalry fleeing across the meadow.
The captain of the Rangers, from his position near the rear, had
evidently found a means of escape. Deck fought with his sabre as long as
there was one of the enemy near him; but as fast as the Texans could get
out of the _mêlée_ they fled to the rear. The pass was so narrow that
the Union troopers, few as there were of them on the by-road, had not
room enough to do themselves justice. But Fronklyn urged them on, and
drove them before him, till he heard the clashing of arms in front of
him.
Both Captain Gordon and Lieutenant Belthorpe dashed into the narrow
road, and followed up the enemy, till the last of them had taken to the
meadow. When the ground was examined later, it was found that there was
only one narrow causeway by which the descent to the low ground could be
made; and the Rangers covered and defended this pass till all of their
number had left the road. It was in vain that the fresh troopers pressed
forward from the hill road, for the way was blocked against them. In the
inability of the captain and the lieutenant to bring their numbers to
bear, the combat was on equal terms.
The Rangers defended themselves bravely and skilfully. There were a
number of hand-to-hand struggles with which there was no space for the
interference of others. But it looked as though the Texans had leaped
from the frying-pan into the fire; for they had gone out but a short
distance from the by-road before their horses began to mire; for the
ground proved to be very soft. Several of the Texans were obliged to
dismount, and pull their steeds out of the mud.
Captain Gordon had pressed forward, and engaged the rear of the
retreating column; and he was about to order a pursuit, when he
discovered the enemy was sinking in the mire, and that the meadow was no
place for horses. It was located all along the wild region; and,
doubtless, some of those sink-holes and caverns which abound in this
part of the State existed in this section of wild land. But the captain
was not willing to permit the escape of the enemy.
Deck Lyon was reasonable enough to abandon the idea of "bagging the
game;" for the Rangers could now hardly be regarded as an organized
military company. The meadow proved to be nothing but a quagmire, though
the farmer appeared to get the hay from it, as there were two stacks of
it on the field; but he had to take the occasion when the ground was
frozen to obtain his crop. By this time the Texans were scattered all
over the meadow, wandering about in search of more solid ground.
It would have been easy enough to shoot down the whole of them; but
Captain Gordon was too chivalrous a man to murder the defenceless
fellows. A few of them had crossed the brook, and were ascending the
hill on the other side. A number of them were making a road of the
bottom of the little stream, which seemed to be composed of sand washed
in from the hills.
The first company were at ease all along the by-road, watching the
movements and the struggles of the enemy; and no doubt Captain Dingfield
wished he had fought it out, or surrendered on the hard ground. The
night was coming on; and even if the Texans extricated themselves from
their pitiable condition, they must be so demoralized that they could do
no further mischief till they had rested and recruited from the effects
of their battle with the mud.
"What are them men doin' in there?" asked the farmer, who wandered as
far as the causeway, when it was safe to do so, and there encountered
Deck, whom he had met before.
"They are trying to get out," replied Private Lyon.
"They can't do it!" exclaimed the native, who indulged in much profane
speech. "They'll make a cemetry of the whole medder. It's nothin' but
muck in there till you git to the bottom on't, and that's where them
fellers will go. I had a colt git in there, and all on us couldn't git
him out; and I reckon his carcass is lyin' on the bottom now. They've
sp'ilt my medder," continued the farmer; and he heaped curses on the
unfortunate troopers, who were tearing up the soft sod at a fearful
rate.
The native had picked up the three horses of the troopers who had been
killed in the affray, and they were some compensation for the damage
done him in the meadow, which looked as though it had been ploughed up.
"Isn't there any way for those men to get out of that quagmire?" asked
Captain Gordon, as he encountered the farmer.
"I don't know o' none," replied the man in a surly tone, "If they was
only Yankees, I'd like it better."
"I like it better as it is," replied the captain.
He knew of no way to extricate the troopers from their plight. It was
the dry season of the year, and probably there was less water and less
mud than in the wet season. The bodies of the horses seemed to be
resting on the sod, with their legs wholly plunged in the soft soil. The
riders had dismounted, and attacked two stacks of hay on the field, and
were placing it in front of their animals. It afforded a better
foundation for them than the oozy turf; and a couple of them were
already standing on their legs.
The darkness was gathering rapidly, and Captain Gordon gave the order
for his men to form in column; and then he marched them out to the hill
road. He was satisfied that the Texans would escape from their miserable
plight, though it might require many hours for them to accomplish it.
They had already begun to build a sort of causeway of the hay, to
connect with the solid one by which they had fled from the fight. The
hay was of a coarse quality, abundantly mixed with weeds and bushes, and
it appeared to be substantial enough to support the horses.
It was evident to the captain that the entire force of the enemy could
be easily captured as they came off the meadow; but it might require the
whole night to secure them. The first company, now united, marched to
the hill road, and halted in a field which had been selected before for
the camping-ground. The men proceeded to feed themselves and their
horses. A half-dozen scouts were left on the by-road to watch the mired
Texans. They had built a great fire to afford them light, and continued
their labors.
A portion of the field where they had encamped consisted of a grove of
big trees, such as the company had frequently seen. The baggage-train
had been left at the bridge, and the men had no tents, but they were
provided with overcoats and blankets; and thus protected from the cold
of the chill night, it was not accounted a hardship to sleep on the
ground. Sentinels surrounded the camp, and two scouts had been sent out
in each direction on the hill road.
"Scouts coming in from both ways!" shouted the sentinels in the road;
and the word was carried to the guard quarters.
The captain was immediately informed. As Deck happened to be in the
detail for guard duty, he had been stationed in the road, and it was his
voice which first announced the return of the scouts. Captain Gordon,
who had stretched himself under a tree for a nap, hastened to the road
to ascertain the cause of the alarm.
"Where are the scouts, Deck?" he asked, as he confronted the sentinel in
the road.
"They have not got here yet," replied Deck, as he saluted the captain.
"I saw them at the top of the hills, coming in at full speed."
"But there is no enemy in this vicinity, except the Texans in the
quagmire," added the captain.
"I know of none, Captain."
The two scouts came in almost at the same moment, before the captain and
the private could discuss the situation, and reported a detachment of
cavalry approaching from either direction.