POINDEXTER CAPTURED
Hundreds of the guerrillas who had been with Porter worked their way
south to join Poindexter, and that chieftain found himself at the head
of a force of from a thousand to fifteen hundred men. That part of
Porter's force that had joined Poindexter had been closely followed by a
portion of McNeil's force, among them a hundred of the Merrill Horse.
With them came Lawrence and Harry with Bruno.
When they reached Mexico, Lawrence found a dispatch waiting him from
General Schofield, which filled him with amazement. It stated that he
had received a communication, apparently from the same hand that had
sent the first communication to him (Lawrence), in May, which revealed
the plot of the partisan uprising. This communication stated that a
large body of troops was moving up from Arkansas to cooeperate with the
guerrillas, the object being to capture Independence and Lexington, and
that the movement was a month later than expected, but now it was well
under way.
"I am not satisfied," wrote General Schofield, "with the way the
officers in that district are meeting the emergency, and I want you to
go there immediately and report to me the full situation."
Lawrence reluctantly bade Harry and Bruno good-bye, and he and Dan
started for their new field of work, where we will leave them for a
time, and follow the adventures of Harry.
Poindexter and Cobb had now come back into the territory that was
commanded by Colonel Guitar. That officer had fully recovered from his
sickness, and, hastily collecting a force of five hundred men, he
started in pursuit of Poindexter.
Harry and his dog were now so well known that Guitar placed him in
command of a small body of scouts. They were dressed as guerrillas, and
they certainly looked and acted the part.
Poindexter had expected to join Porter in his retreat north, at or near
Kirksville, but he had been attacked and driven back by a force under
General Ben Loan, thus preventing the union which Porter and Poindexter
had planned.
Poindexter was now hiding in the woods and thickets along the Chariton,
and numerous guerrilla bands were flocking to his standard.
It was Colonel Guitar's business to find him and scatter his forces
before they became too strong; and to find him Guitar could employ no
better means than Harry and Bruno.
For his companions, Harry had chosen five boys, ranging in age from
eighteen to twenty, all native Missourians, skilled in woodcraft,
accustomed to firearms, and all burning to avenge themselves on the
guerrillas, for all had suffered terrible wrongs at their hands.
Just as Harry was about to start on his scout, a boy by the name of Jack
Harwood came to him and begged to be allowed to be one of the party. He
was about eighteen years of age, of slender build, but as wiry and
active as a cat. His face bore a rather sad expression, for his father
had been shot down in cold blood by some of Porter's gang; the house had
been burned over his mother's head, and she had died a few days later
from shock and exposure. Fortunately for Jack, he was not at home at the
time, or he would have shared his father's fate.
Jack buried his mother, bade farewell to his ruined home, and enlisted.
He seemed never to tire, and was never as happy as when he was hunting
guerrillas. He was brave to recklessness, and early in the service had
been promoted to a sergeantcy in his company.
Harry looked him over and told him he would see what he could do. The
eyes of the boy glowed with a fierce flame as he told Harry of his
wrongs. It was so much like his own story that Harry's heart went out
towards him.
Colonel Guitar readily granted Harry's request that Harwood might be
added to his force, and so Harry found himself at the head of six young,
adventuresome and daring scouts.
Harry's orders were to locate Poindexter, but keep in touch with the
column as much as possible.
No sooner were they away from the command than Harry halted and said:
"Boys, I must make you acquainted with Bruno, so he may make no
mistake."
The great dog was called, and he came and stood before his master,
wagging his tail and looking up in his eyes, as if to say, "What is it?"
"Bruno, this is Jack Harwood. He is all right."
Bruno smelled Jack, gave a short yelp and, lifting one of his paws,
offered it to him. The boy shook it with wonder and delight.
Bruno was then introduced to each of the scouts, and they seemed to pass
muster, for to each one he offered his paw.
"Good," exclaimed Harry. "Bruno will now know any one of you among
thousands, and you will find him the most valuable member of the squad."
Harry rode to the northwest, for he knew it was in that direction
Poindexter was rallying his forces. The country through which they
passed seemed to be terror-stricken. But few men were seen, and they
were old. The women gazed at them with scared eyes as they passed, and
little children would run and hide, or peer at them around the corners
of the houses with frightened faces.
To questions asked, both men and women were noncommittal. They knew
nothing. They were the first guerrillas they had seen for days. As for
Yankee soldiers, they knew of none nearer than the towns where they were
garrisoned.
Towards evening Bruno gave warning of foes ahead. Soon a party of ten
men rode in sight, manifestly guerrillas.
"Let me do the talking, boys," Harry said, "but be sure and sanction
everything I say; and be ready to fight at the word, if necessary. For
your life, don't let them get the drop on you. At the first suspicious
action, draw and fire."
The scouts did not seem loath to have a little skirmish. They loosened
the revolvers in their holsters, and remarked they were ready.
"Bruno," said Harry, "I don't want them to see you. Go and hide, and
don't come till I whistle."
The dog slunk into the woods that grew along the road, and in a
twinkling was out of sight. The scouts marvelled. "Why, he is human,"
said one.
"Almost, but not quite, about some things," answered Harry.
The band of guerrillas had seen them, and halted, and were scanning them
carefully, as if debating whether to advance or not.
"They seem to be a little afraid," laughed Harry. "Let's ride leisurely
forward, as if satisfied."
As they approached, the guerrillas made a movement as if to raise their
guns, but evidently thought better of it, and sat still to await their
coming, but with hands on the butts of their revolvers.
"Hello, boys; whar yo' uns goin'?" called out Harry, as he came up. "The
way yo' uns act, yo' uns must think we' uns air Yanks."
"Who be yo' uns, an' whar be yo' uns goin'?" the leader asked, scowling.
"We' uns? We' uns air from Franklin County. We' uns was a little too
close to St. Louis to be healthy for sich fellers as we' uns, so we
reckoned we' uns would come over and join Poindexter. Do yo' uns know
whar we' uns can find him?"
"Don't know an' don't care," growled the leader. "Yo' uns had better
come with we' uns. Had enough of stand-up fightin'! We' uns was with
Porter at Kirksville, and got hell kicked out of us."
Harry now learned that they were a part of Porter's band; that after his
last defeat Porter had advised his men to break into small parties and
make their way back to their old haunts, where they could rally if he
needed them. They could be nice, peaceable citizens until he wanted them
again. It was more fun harassing and robbing Union men and surprising
small parties of Yanks than it was to face the enemy in an open battle.
"I tell yo' uns," added the leader, shrugging his shoulders, "it's no
fun facing them rotten balls. They skeer a feller."
"Why didn't yo' uns lick 'em?" asked Harry.
"Lick 'em? Say, young feller, Did yo' un ever face the Merrill Hoss?"
"No; but the boys heah reckon they would like to have the chance."
"Ha! ha!" laughed the guerrillas. "Wall, go on and join Poindexter, an'
yo' uns may have a chance. See how you like it after the Merrill Hoss
gits a whack at yo' uns," and, laughing and jesting, they rode on.
When the guerrillas were first met, Jack Harwood gave a start of
surprise, and a look of fierce passion swept over his face. He suddenly
pulled his slouch hat down so as to hide his features, turned and kept
as far away as he could without exciting suspicion.
When the guerrillas had gone, he rode up to Harry, his eyes blazing, and
his whole body trembling with suppressed excitement.
"I know two of those fellows," he exclaimed, "They were with the gang
that murdered father. One of them was the one that fired the house.
Mother knew them. There were six of them, and I know every one. I have
sworn to get the whole six, and I will if I live."
The look of hatred on his face made Harry shiver, but he knew how he
felt; so had he felt when he saw his father lying dead before him.
"I had all I could do to keep from shooting them while they were talking
to you," continued Jack. "It makes me feel like a coward to let such a
chance go."
"It would have been madness, Jack. Then, we are not out to fight if we
can avoid it, but to get information. Never let your passion lead you to
do a foolish thing."
Jack said no more, but fell back in the rear.
It was almost night, and Harry decided to go into camp, as he had not
learned the exact whereabouts of Poindexter.
Suddenly some one asked, "Where is Jack Harwood?"
Harry looked. He was nowhere to be seen.
"Does any one know anything about him?" he asked, anxiously.
One of the men said: "Jack stopped just after the guerrillas left us. He
said the girth of his saddle was loose, and he would have to fix it. I
thought no more about him, and as I have been riding in front, I did not
notice he was not with us."
Could Jack have been captured by lurking guerrillas? They would go back
and see. It would not do to leave a comrade in peril. If Jack had been
captured, Bruno would have little trouble in following the trail. It was
not more than two miles back to the place where the soldier had seen
Jack dismount to fix his saddle girth, but there was no sign of a
struggle there; no evidence that any guerrilla had been lying in ambush.
But by the side of the road there were tracks of where a horse had been
turned and ridden back.
"By heavens!" exclaimed one of the men, "Jack has deserted. Don't you
remember one of those guerrillas said they lived in Ralls County?--and
Jack is from Ralls."
The other men began to swear. "If we ever catch him," they muttered,
with clenched fists.
"Hold on, boys," ejaculated Harry; "Jack has not deserted, but he has
gone, and gone alone, on one of the maddest adventures that ever single
man set out to do."
Then he told them of what Jack had said, and added: "No doubt he has
gone back to try and get those men."
"Let's go back and try to help him!" exclaimed the squad in unison.
Harry shook his head. "No, boys," he said; "and if you wish to continue
with me, you must promise me that you will not leave under any
conditions whatever, without my consent. We are soldiers. We are under
orders, and those orders are to find Poindexter. To try and find Jack
would lead us we know not where, and bring the whole object of our scout
to naught."
The men saw, and turned back; but with heavy hearts, for their thoughts
were with Jack.
The scouts went into camp not far from a substantial farmhouse, and the
occupants were a little more communicative than common, especially when
Harry told them to set up a good meal for them, and he would pay for it,
saying they had captured some Yankee money.
Their mouths being open, Harry found they had a son with Poindexter, and
he had left home only that morning. They had heard the son say
Poindexter was preparing to attack some place. They thought it was
Columbia, but were not sure.
Harry made his camp in the edge of a wood, a field in front. A rough
road ran through the wood, a short distance in the rear. If danger came,
it would be by that road that Harry calculated to retreat. They were to
rest till three o'clock, then up and away. Harry knew that with Bruno on
guard there would be no surprise, but he could not rest. He was thinking
of Jack Harwood.
About eleven o'clock, to Harry's surprise, Harwood made his appearance.
"If it hadn't been for Bruno," he said, "I would never have found you.
He met me down the road a ways, and guided me here."
"Where have you been?" asked Harry.
"Where have I been?" he answered, slowly. "On private business. I will
tell you about it in the morning."
"You must promise never again to leave without permission, or this is
your last scout with me," said Harry, sternly.
Jack did not answer. He turned to care for his horse.
When Jack stopped, under the pretence of fixing the girth of his saddle,
it was with the fixed purpose, come what would, of following those
guerrillas and killing the men who had helped murder his father. Had he
not taken a solemn oath to kill them on sight? He did not stop to think
how he could accomplish his purpose--of the danger of the undertaking.
He only knew he had seen the men; that was enough. He would track them,
if necessary, to the ends of the earth. As it was, fate favored him.
The guerrillas, all unconscious that Nemesis was on their track, rode on
until dusk, when they stopped at a fine plantation, and roughly ordered
supper and feed for their horses.
Mr. Rice, the owner of the plantation, was a hot Southern sympathizer,
but he did not relish his present company. He felt like kicking them out
of doors, but he knew it would not do to refuse them, so he made the
best of it, and ordered supper prepared.
It was a good supper, and, in the highest of spirits, nine of the
guerrillas sat down; the tenth was on guard. But he did not notice a
silent figure creeping up to the window of the room in which the rest
were dining.
Suddenly there was a sharp report, a crash of glass, and one of the
diners sprang to his feet and fell backward, shot through the brain. At
the same time a voice rang through the room. "Remember Thomas Harwood,
Number One. Let the other five beware!"
At the sound of the shot and the fall of their comrade, the other
guerrillas sat as if stunned for a moment; then with cries of terror
they rushed from the house, thinking a Yankee force was on them; but a
single shot, and excited cries from the sentinel, were all that they
heard.
Before the attack, the sentinel had seen or heard nothing, but
afterwards he had caught a glimpse of a dim figure fleeing up the road.
He had fired, but there was no response to his shot.
When told what the voice had said, he turned pale and trembled. "My
God!" he exclaimed, "it must have been Jack Harwood, Tom Harwood's son.
There were six of us who put a quietus on that old Abolitionist. I heard
the boy took a terrible oath he would never rest until he got the whole
six. After that we lay for the boy, but he gave us the slip and went in
the Yankee army. So, poor Ben is done for. He was one of the six. My
being on guard is all that saved me. But whar did the boy come from? How
did he know we' uns was heah?"
This question greatly puzzled the guerrillas, until one of them spoke:
"I reckon them seven fellers we' uns met was Yanks. That Harwood boy
must have been one of them. He saw you two fellers, and follered we' uns
heah, and got poor Ben."
"Boys, I'll never feel easy as long as Jack Harwood lives," said the one
who had escaped. "That boy is a devil. That's nine of us--only seven of
them. Let's turn back and take them by surprise. We' uns can shoot them
up."
It was agreed to, and so the guerrillas turned back.
After the return of Jack, Harry had lain down for a time, but could not
sleep. He knew something had happened, but could not imagine what it
was. Surely, Jack had not engaged the guerrillas single-handed. But he
would have to wait until morning to know. Just as he was sinking into
sleep, Bruno caught him by the shoulder and shook him. He was on his
feet in a second.
Everything seemed quiet, and the guard said he had heard nothing, but
Bruno showed by his actions everything was not right.
"Arouse the boys," said Harry; "something is in the wind."
The scouts were aroused, but nothing could be discovered. Everything
seemed quiet and asleep.
"Jeffreys," said Harry to one of the men, "creep down towards the house
and see if any mischief is going on down there. Be careful; keep in the
shadow of the fence, and get back as quickly as possible."
Jeffreys was gone nearly half an hour and Harry was beginning to get
alarmed, when he came back. He had a startling story to tell. He had
crept up nearly to the house and found the yard full of men and horses.
The nine guerrillas had come back and stopped at the house to make
inquiries.
"The villain who lives there," continued Jeffreys, "told them all about
where we were camped and the best way to surprise us. They were making
arrangements to creep up on us when I thought it time to come back. I
heard them talk of some one of our number who had killed one of their
men. What did they mean?"
"Never mind now," answered Harry. "Let's get ready to give them a warm
reception. We know just how many there are, and they are the ones who
will be surprised."
It was a warm reception they got. Harry let them come almost up to them
before he gave the signal to fire. First the carbines, then the
revolver, had been his order.
In a minute all was over. Stunned by the reception they received, those
who had not been killed or wounded beat a hasty retreat. Investigation
showed three of the guerrillas dead and three more desperately wounded.
The wounded were carried to the farmhouse to be cared for.
Among the dead was the one who had stood guard. Jack gazed at him a
moment in silence and then muttered, "Number Two, but who killed him?"
Jack now told Harry how he had followed the guerrillas and shot one.
Harry listened in silence and then said, "Jack, I know how you feel. I
once felt the same way, until Captain Middleton taught me better. He
says this is a war of principles, not against individuals. That it is
simply murder to kill for private wrongs."
"Wrong to kill guerrillas?" asked Jack in surprise.
"Yes, the way you did. In killing Ben Storms you had no idea of aiding
the great cause for which we are fighting. You did it for revenge. In
doing it you put yourself on the same plane as the man you killed."
"Why, you have just helped me in killing several. What's the
difference?" asked Jack in astonishment.
"We killed those men in battle, and to save our own lives. The
difference is great. If I had cruelly killed those wounded men instead
of taking them to the house to be cared for, that would have been
murder, not warfare."
A thought came to Harry and he asked, "Jack, if that other man who
helped kill your father had been only wounded and not killed, what would
you have done?"
Jack hung his head and whispered, "Killed him."
"I thought so, I would have done the same to a man who helped kill my
father if it had not been for Captain Middleton. I have learned better,
and now thank him for it. Jack, promise me you will never leave the
command again without my permission."
Jack made the promise, but was rather doubtful as to the expediency of
sparing the life of a guerrilla guilty of murder.
Owing to the fight it was well along in the morning before the scouts
started. They had not gone over two miles before they met a man riding
rapidly. To him they told the story of going to join Poindexter.
"Better go to Switzler's Mill," he said. "Poindexter starts for there
this morning. I left him not over six hours ago. I'm on my way to try
and rally some of Porter's men to come to his assistance."
"Is that so?" dryly answered Harry. "You had better come with us. You
are just the man we've been looking for." And to the fellow's amazement,
he found himself a prisoner.
"Now, boys," cried Harry, gleefully, "back to Guitar, I've found out all
I want to know."
Horse flesh was not spared, and Guitar was found about noon, his column
on the march. To him Harry told the news, and with all speed the head of
the column was turned towards Switzler's Mill.
Now commenced a chase that lasted for seven days and did not end until
the command had ridden two hundred and fifty miles over the roughest of
roads.
Poindexter turned and twisted like a fox. There was no fight in his men;
they ran like a pack of frightened coyotes at the first crack of a gun.
Guitar struck him at Switzler's Mill and scattered his force like chaff.
Hot on Poindexter's trail the tireless troopers clung. Horses suffered
more than the men. Scores fell by the roadside and died of exhaustion.
At Little Compton Poindexter was once more brought to bay, and, scarcely
firing a shot; he fled, leaving behind his trains, most of his
ammunition, several hundred stands of arms, and five hundred horses.
His army was now little more than a fleeing mob. Once more he was struck
at the Muscle Fork of the Chariton. Many of his men were drowned trying
to get across the stream.
With only four hundred followers out of the fifteen hundred he had at
the beginning, Poindexter fled westward. Guitar could follow no farther.
Men and horses were exhausted.
In this remarkable campaign Guitar states that he lost only five men
wounded, while he estimates that at least one hundred and fifty of the
enemy were killed and drowned, and he had captured one hundred men and a
thousand horses and mules.
Poindexter's misfortunes were not ended. As he fled west and south the
remnant of his force was struck by General Ben Loan and totally
dispersed, every guerrilla seeking his own safety. Poindexter found
himself a wanderer without a single follower.
Disguising himself he skulked in the woods and found shelter in the
houses of friends, but tireless on his path were Harry and his scouts.
From covert to covert and from house to house they trailed him and at
last ran him down.
They entered a house where an apparently sick man sat cowering in a
corner, wrapped in a blanket. With a snarl Bruno was about to spring
upon him when Harry stopped him, and going up to the man said, "The jig
is up, Poindexter. You're not half as sick as you pretend."
With a groan and a curse the guerrilla chieftain yielded himself a
prisoner.