"Did it hit anything, boys?" asked Levi, coming out of the fort.
"Nothing but a big tree beyond the road, and a large branch fell to the ground," replied Deck.
"I had an idea that you had been fooling us at first, Levi," added Artie, "and had fired at the main body, for they stopped as short as though the cannon ball had gone through the crowd. All the men at work on the raft knocked off instantly, and ran away as though the shot were chasing them."
"I reckon we needn"t fire another shot, for the ruffians won"t go near that raft again," added Levi. "I fired over their heads, as I told you I should, and n.o.body was hurt by that shot. I dropped one man behind that tree, and that is all the mischief I have done."
"Are you sorry for that one?" asked Deck.
"I am sorry for him, but not that I hit him, for he might have killed two or three of our people from his hiding-place behind the tree. I don"t believe in killing anybody as long as it can possibly be avoided; but the ruffians began the shooting, and they are responsible for the consequences. At least half a dozen Union men have been killed in this county by those ruffians, or those like them; and your father might have been swinging from a big tree by this time if we hadn"t taken the bull by the horns. No, I am not sorry for anything I have done!"
"And the house would have been burnt down, and mother and the girls subjected to the insults of these miscreants," added Artie; and all three of them were much moved as they contemplated the possibilities before them.
"Can you see anything of our people over there, Deck?" asked Levi.
"Not a thing; it is too dark."
"I don"t believe there will be anything more to do at the fort to-night, though the affair may not be over yet," continued Levi, after he had anxiously peered through the gloom to discover the rest of the defenders of Riverlawn. "I want you, Deck, to go up to the bridge, and down the creek road, and ascertain what our people are doing. You may report to Colonel Belthorpe that we have driven off the builders of the raft, and that the main body of the ruffians have fallen back from the road into the grove."
"All right, Levi," replied Deck, who was very glad to be appointed to such a mission; and, with his breech-loader on his shoulder, he marched in the direction indicated at a lively pace, though he was so tired and sleepy that it required a determined effort to enable him to keep on his feet, for it was now two o"clock in the morning.
When he reached the bridge he found there, to his intense astonishment, a dozen horses, some of them with saddles and bridles on, and others with bridles, and blankets in place of saddles. They were in charge of Frank the coachman, with Woolly and Mose to a.s.sist him.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE PARTY ATTACKED IN THE CROSS-CUT
Deck Lyon could not imagine any possible use that could be made of the horses in charge of the boys, and it was not probable that those in care of them could afford him any information on the subject. It was evident that some new movement was contemplated, and it looked as though the commander of the forces intended to chase the ruffians with mounted men.
"Where is my father, Frank?" asked Deck.
"He"s down the road with the rest of them; but I reckon they are all marching back to the bridge," replied the coachman.
"What are you going to do with all these horses?" asked Deck, as he began to move on.
"Dunno, Mars"r Deck, what they are for; but Mars"r Lyon sent us for them."
Frank knew nothing about the use to which the horses were to be put, and Deck continued on his way over the bridge. The fire from the blazing boards in front of Fort Bedford sent some of the light across the creek; but it did not reveal the presence of the defenders of the plantation, and the messenger could not see anything of the force. It could not be far away, and he continued to advance.
Just beyond the bridge he met a wagon coming towards him. When it came near enough for him to see it in the gloom, he found that it belonged to the plantation. Three men sat on the front seat, and were chattering at a lively rate as they drew near.
"Who is driving that team?" demanded Deck.
"Me, Mars"r Deck," replied the man who held the reins.
"Who"s me?"
"Clinker, sar, wid Bitts and Filly," replied the driver, who was the blacksmith of the estate.
"What are you doing with the wagon over here?"
"Cart"n" off de wounded, mars"r."
"How many have you?"
"On"y two, sar."
These were the ruffians, doubtless, who had fallen when the volley was fired at the beginning of the affair.
"You haven"t got them all, then," added Deck. "There is another opposite the fort, near a big tree, who was. .h.i.t by Levi, firing from the other side of the creek."
"We go for him when we done unload dese we got," said Clinker.
"Can you tell me where my father and the rest of them are?" inquired Deck, who could see nothing of the main body.
"In de grove, Mars"r Deck. Wen de ruff"ns done runned off dat way Mars"r Belt"orpe lead de sodjers arter "em."
Deck was afraid he might not find his father before morning if they pursued the retreating ruffians in that direction; for they would have to follow the river, when they reached it, about ten miles before they could come to a bridge by which they could cross. But he had a mission, and he bravely fought against the fatigue and sleepiness that beset him, and struck into the grove by a road some distance below the bridge over the creek.
He had not gone twenty rods in the gloom of the wood before he heard the sound of voices and the tramp of footsteps ahead of him, and he was confident the force was returning to the plantation. He soon confronted the little column, and placed himself by the side of the commander, who was leading the way.
"Levi sent me over to report what we have been doing," said he.
"I heard the report of one of your guns, and I concluded that you had work on your hands," replied Colonel Belthorpe, without slacking his speed or halting to listen to the report.
"Not much work, Colonel. The ruffians were building a raft at the pile of logs, and we fired over their heads, as ordered. The big branch of a tree came down, and all the men on the raft and near them ran into the woods. The road is all clear of them, and they are not going home by the Rapids Bridge."
"No, the villains!" exclaimed the commander. "They have other business on their hands. I am afraid we have been too tender with them."
"One thing more, Colonel, and I have done," continued Deck. "When the ruffians retreated before your fire, those who had guns stationed themselves behind the trees and began to fire at you. Then we three opened upon them with the rifles, and when Levi fired a man dropped.
After that we saw nothing more of them."
"All right, my boy," added the colonel, hurrying his march. "I thought the villains were only making a detour, intending to reach the Rapids Bridge; but I find they are marching in the direction of my plantation."
Colonel Cosgrove and Major Lyon had been called forward to listen to the report of Deck, and it was decided that, so far as Riverlawn was concerned, the battle had been fought and won, inasmuch as the enemy had been driven away. By the time the report was finished and the result announced, the force had reached the bridge.
"Where are you going now, Clinker?" asked Major Lyon, when the wagon returned from the hospital, as the small building set apart for the sick of the plantation hands was called, and appeared on the bridge.
"Mars"r Deck done tell me a man dropped behind a tree down de creek, and I"m gwine for him," replied the blacksmith.
"Go over and get the small wagon for that; we want this one," added the planter.
"Where are you going, father?" asked Deck, who saw that some expedition was in preparation.