"Get behind the trunk, Artie!" shouted Deck, a position he had secured before. "Now use your musket, my boy!"
They were near enough at their lofty position to make out individuals at the cross roads, which were distant hardly more than double the width of the creek. Deck had seen one man, who wore a semi-uniform, that took a very active part in the movement. Having a.s.sured himself that this person was not his uncle, the enterprising young soldier took careful aim at him, and fired. Artie discharged his piece a moment later.
"I hit the man in uniform!" exclaimed Deck, with no little exultation.
"A man is tying up one of his arms."
Major Lyon heard the shot, and shouted to the boys to come to the boathouse; and they obeyed the order, keeping the trunks of the trees between themselves and the enemy as far as possible. They were no longer needed in the tree, for the ruffian band could be plainly seen from the boathouse, which was at a safe distance from the enemy.
CHAPTER x.x.xVI
THE SECOND BATTLE OF RIVERLAWN
The enemy did nothing, and seemed to be still in a state of confusion and uncertainty as to what they should do. The new commander of their forces was certainly even more stupid than Captain t.i.tus had been. As Deck had suggested, he had expected to surprise the defenders at Riverlawn, so far, at least, as to get their boats into the water before they discovered that they were attacked.
"If they had any plan of attack it is a failure," said Captain Gordon, as he and the planter were seated on their horses watching the enemy from the front of the boathouse. "One of the recruits informs me that they have a leader in the person of a captain from the Confederate army in Tennessee, who was either sent for by Captain t.i.tus, or was despatched by General Buckner to organize recruits for the Southern army."
"I should say that his first business would be to prevent recruiting for the Union forces," replied Major Lyon.
"Whatever he is, he has made a mess of it," added Captain Gordon.
"But what did he expect to do?" asked the planter.
"Of course he expected to put his pontoons into the water, and send over a force of from thirty to fifty men before they were discovered. If he had done that, they could have acted as sharpshooters from behind the trees on this side. They are just out of range of our muskets now, though the twelve-pounders would catch them with a single shot of canister."
"But I don"t wish to have any more of them killed and wounded than is absolutely necessary," said the planter.
"You desire to carry on the war on peace principles," answered the captain with a smile. "You don"t seem to understand that the war has actually begun, and the more damage we can do the enemy, the better it will be for us."
"You are in command, and I shall not interfere with your operations,"
said Major Lyon, as he rode off to the point where Levi was training his gunners.
The recruits in front of the boathouse were impatient for something to be done. They were from the country around the village of Barcreek. The frequent outrages against Union men and families had kindled a feeling of hatred in them, and they were anxious to retaliate. The influence of certain men like Colonel Cosgrove and Colonel Belthorpe had created more Union sentiment than prevailed in many of the Southern counties of the State, and the loyal men had been terrorized from the first indications of trouble.
"Why don"t we fire at them, Captain?" demanded Enbank.
"Why don"t you fire at the moon? Because you are too far off, and nothing is to be gained by it," replied the commander. "I am waiting for the enemy to make a movement of some kind; and as soon as they do so, you shall have enough of it, I will warrant you."
"They are doing something now!" exclaimed Sam Drye.
"The mule-teams are in motion!" exclaimed Major Lyon, returning to the front of the building.
"I see they are," replied Captain Gordon; "and there is a movement up the new road, as you call it."
"What does that mean?"
"Probably it is intended to cover the launching of the boats. I think the reprobates are in earnest this time," added the commander.
About fifty men started up the new road, and immediately broke into a run. The territory between the new and the old road was covered with trees of large growth, though rather too spa.r.s.ely to be a wood, but was rather a grove. For about twenty rods above the cross roads the trees had been cut off, and it was a stump field. As soon as the detachment reached the grove they scattered and took refuge behind the trunks of the big trees.
"That is the idea, is it?" said Captain Gordon. "They intend to pick us off from their covert. We must do the same thing. Scatter, my men; and fire at will as you see a head."
The recruits obeyed the order, and were sheltered behind the big trees by the time the enemy reached the positions they had chosen. A desultory firing was begun on both sides of the creek. The commander and the major were on horseback, and they could not protect themselves as the recruits did, and they rode to the rear of the boathouse. They found that Levi had organized a shovel brigade there. The Magnolia had been taken out of the water to prevent it from being captured by the marauders, and had been placed behind the boathouse.
Levi had moved the craft about twenty feet from the building, and had propped it up, with the keel nearest to the creek. This was as far as he had proceeded when the officer presented himself on the ground. Twenty negroes, armed with shovels, which had before been brought down in the wagon, were standing ready for orders.
"What in the world are you doing now, Levi?" asked the planter, when he saw what had been done.
"I am throwing up a breastwork, so that my men can work the guns without being shot down by the enemy on the other side of the creek," replied the overseer.
"A capital idea!" exclaimed Captain Gordon.
"But you are putting it behind the boathouse, man!" shouted the major, who thought he had detected Levi in an egregious blunder.
"These negroes are worth from five hundred to a thousand dollars apiece if you want to sell them, and not many of them would be left if I should set them to digging in the open," replied Levi, laughing at his own argument. "Those ruffians could pick them off at their leisure, and we might as well not have any artillery if the cannoneers are to be shot down as fast as they show themselves. I will warrant that fellow in command on the other side has picked out his best riflemen for duty in the grove."
"The negroes are not for sale," replied the planter. "I should as soon think of selling one of my sons as one of them. But the boathouse is between you and the enemy, Levi."
"How long do you think it will take me with the force at hand to move the boathouse out of the way, Major Lyon?" demanded the overseer with a very broad smile.
"I indorse Mr. Bedford"s work," added Captain Gordon, who had turned to observe the operation of the enemy at the cross roads. "They are not making a good job of their work."
As soon as the recruits had been ordered to the trees, and before the detachment sent to the grove had obtained their positions, Deck and Artie had obeyed the commander"s order in hot haste. They had chosen a couple of trees on the very verge of the quagmire which lay between the lawn and the road to the south; and when the ruffians attempted to move the mules, both of them opened fire upon the animals.
Both of the boys were good shots, and they hit the mark every time. The mule, though one of the most useful beasts in the world, is very uncertain at times. The testimony of soldiers is to the effect that mules object to being under fire. The two boys were near enough to each other to talk together, and they had agreed to fire into different teams, and they had wounded one in each of them. The two that had been hit not only made a disturbance, braying furiously, but they communicated the scare to the others. The mule drivers could do nothing with them, and in a minute or two the whole of them were all snarled up, and the men were obliged to unhitch them from the wagons and lead them away.
The animals were so terrified that they bolted up the new road in spite of the drivers, and turned in at the bridge, which seemed to promise them a place of security, just as Colonel Belthorpe and his party galloped up to it. The mules were permitted to take the lead. Major Gadbury and Tom were with the planter of Lyndhall. Major Lyon saw them, and, by a roundabout course, joined them in season to prevent them from coming within range of the sharpshooters in the grove.
It did not take the planter of Riverlawn long to explain the situation; and he was informed that twenty Lyndhall negroes, under the lead of Uncle David, in wagons, were on their way to the seat of danger. The horses were left in charge of the servants, and the party made their way to the fort, where they armed themselves with breech-loaders, and took places behind the trees with the recruits.
At the cross roads the enemy were attempting to get the boats to the creek by hauling the wagons by man-power. It was a long pull for them, but they succeeded at the end of a couple of hours. The party in the grove and the one on the lawn were careful about showing themselves, and the firing was continued on both sides without producing any decided result. But by this time Levi had completed his breastwork. Rather to make a smoke than for any other purpose, both of the twelve-pounders were discharged, aimed into the grove.
While the smoke hung about the boathouse, for one of the pieces had been fired on each side of it, all hands seized hold of the building, lifted it from its foundations, and bore it some distance towards the mansion.
The cannon were then drawn into the hastily constructed fort, loaded with round shot this time, and were ready for use. The cracking of the rifles in the grove had been quite lively during this operation, and two of the negroes were wounded.
By this time the first of the boats had been filled with men, who were paddling it with all their might to a clump of bushes near the trees where Deck and Artie were sheltered. Both of them fired into the crowd in the boat. But it was hardly under way before Levi had brought one of his guns to bear upon it. He was very careful in pointing the piece, and the solid shot struck the craft squarely on its bow, knocking the thing all to pieces. The black gunners cheered, and were almost mad with enthusiasm.
Another of the boats which had just been launched had to be used to pick up the men from the first. They were taken to the sh.o.r.e. Then some sort of a contention seemed to be stirred up among the party, the nature of which could be easily understood, for it was almost sure death to embark in the boats. In the mean time the shots from the recruits and others behind the trees were picking them off, and the dispute ended in the whole of them taking to their heels and fleeing towards the bridge.
The fire from the grove seemed to be suspended at the same time; for the sharpshooters could not help seeing that the plan of attack, whatever it was, had failed. Colonel Belthorpe and Major Lyon came out from behind their trees. Captain Gordon, who was a cavalry officer, thought it was time for his arm of the service to come into action to hara.s.s the retreat of the enemy, if nothing more, and he called in all the recruits from their covert, and ordered as many men as could be mounted to rally at the bridge.
Twenty-four mounted men, including those from Lyndhall, were mustered, each with a breech-loader, in the absence of sabres and carbines.
Captain Gordon led them down the new road to the grove. The force occupying it had fled to the old road, and were hurrying to the Rapids Bridge. Among the trees they found two men killed and three badly wounded. Each of them had a rifle on the ground near him, and they were weapons of excellent quality.
The cavalry party followed the fugitives to the bridge, and at the intercession of Major Lyon they were permitted to escape; for he was confident they would not make another attack upon Riverlawn, at least not till they had an organized regiment for the purpose.