Bob did not know whether or not this order had ever before been given during a charge, and, what was more, he did not care. His object was to cut the men who were lingering about the burning cabin off from their horses, and in order to do that he must get as close as he could to them before he was discovered.
CHAPTER XVI.
CONCLUSION.
The men about the cabin were so engrossed in their work of destruction, and the horse-guards were so intent on watching them, that Bob"s advance was not discovered until he and his followers were within less than two hundred yards of the cabin. So entirely unexpected was their appearance that for a moment the cattle-thieves were struck motionless with astonishment; then they recovered their power of action, and those who were on foot made a rush for their horses. Some succeeded in reaching them, but others did not. Two or three of them fell before the carbines of the troopers, who opened a hot fire as soon as they saw that they were discovered, and the horse-guards, believing that the attacking party was backed up by a large force of soldiers which was close at hand, instantly put spurs to their nags and galloped off, taking the loose horses with them and leaving their companions to look out for themselves.
"Throw down and throw up, Greasers!" commanded Corporal Owens as he dashed up to the cabin swinging his sabre over his head; and the order, which meant, "Throw down your weapons and throw up your hands," was obeyed by five sullen fellows, who muttered Spanish oaths between their teeth and looked mad enough to do almost anything.
There was no fight at all. If there had been a shot fired at the troopers, they didn"t know it. The party that had gone off with the horses outnumbered Bob"s, and could, beyond a doubt, have driven them off the field if they had only thought so; but their surprise was complete, and, more than that, they were demoralized. The presence of the troopers they regarded as part of a pre-concerted plan to cut them off from the river, and that frightened them more than Bob"s sudden onslaught.
"Still another feather for your cap, Corporal Owens," said George, after he and Loring and a few others had taken a shot or two apiece at the retreating cattle-thieves, "and n.o.body hurt on our side, either. Now I--What are you doing here? Is this the way you keep your promise?"
These questions were addressed to one of the prisoners, who took off his sombrero and scratched his head as if he were trying to stir up his ideas so that he could make some reply to these peremptory interrogations.
"Springer," continued George, slowly, "what are you doing here? Where"s the squatter?"
"In there," replied the cattle-thief, jerking his head toward the cabin, which was now fairly ablaze and sending out so much heat that the troopers were obliged to draw away from it. "He never would have touched him, Fletcher wouldn"t, if he had kept in the house an" left us alone; but he plumped one of us over when we fust came up; an" this here is the consequence," added Springer, nodding his head toward the cabin again.
George knew why it was that the cattle-thieves had stopped to destroy the squatter"s house. He had killed one of their number, and they, in turn, had killed him after a hard fight, and it was now too late to recover his body or to save a single thing the cabin contained.
"So this is the fellow who twice befriended you, is it?" said Bob, who was surprised to hear George call one of the prisoners by name. "Don"t you think it would be a good plan to chuck him into the fire too?"
"_I_ do," said Loring fiercely.
Springer drew a little nearer to George for protection.
"I didn"t have any hand in it," said he earnestly--"honor bright, I didn"t. I can explain everything, so that you can see that I am not to blame for being here."
"Carey," exclaimed Bob, "go back to Mr. Wentworth and give him his choice between taking care of himself and going to the fort with us.
Hurry up, now.--If I only had a spade or two, I would make these prisoners bury their dead comrades."
"Springer," said George, "can these friends of yours understand English?"
The cattle-thief replied that they could not; they were all Mexicans.
"I am glad to hear it, for I want to ask you a few questions before you explain how you came to be here. Did Fletcher have his whole band with him to-night?"
"Not half of "em," was the reply; "he had only about thirty men."
"How many has he in all?"
"Two hundred or so."
"Does he still make his head-quarters at the Don"s ranche?"
"Yes; but look here, Mr. George," said Springer earnestly; "if you are goin" over there after him, be mighty careful. You know what sort of a looking place that ranche is--all stone, you know--an" them fellows is all old soldiers, an" they"ll fight awful."
George nodded his head as if to say that he knew all about that, and spent some minutes in questioning the prisoner in regard to the road that led to the ranche, while Bob sat by on his horse and listened. By the time George had heard all he wanted to know, and Springer had told how he had been arrested by the officer at Eagle Pa.s.s and rescued by Fletcher, Carey came back.
"Mr. Wentworth will take care of himself," reported the trooper. "He says that if he went to the fort he would have to come back to Holmes"s ranche, anyway--he is going to make his home there for a while, for he and Holmes were boys together--and so he might just as well go there in the first place, and save time and travelling. He sent his best wishes to everybody, and hopes we will catch all the scoundrels who wiped out the squatter."
"I wish we could," said Bob, facing about in his saddle and gazing in the direction in which the thieves had retreated; "but we have five prisoners to take care of, and so our hands are tied."
"You just ought to have seen him, corporal," continued Carey. "He had thrown his three horses in a sort of triangle by tying their feet together and tripping them up in some way, and there he lay with his boys behind his living breastworks, all ready for a fight. Grit to the last, wasn"t he? When I asked him why he hadn"t mounted and dug out as soon as we left, he said that that wouldn"t have been safe, for he might have run right in among the Greasers before he knew it."
"Well, boys," said Bob, gazing sorrowfully at the glowing bed of coals that covered the site of the squatter"s cabin, "there is nothing more we can do here, and so we will make a break for the fort."
"Look here, corporal," said one of the troopers: "if you are going to make us carry double with those dirty Greasers, I am going to kick."
"Don"t you worry," answered Bob. "I shouldn"t do it myself, and of course I sha"n"t ask you to do it. They"ll have to walk.--Springer, draw these Mexican gentlemen up in line."
Springer gave the necessary order in Spanish, and it was sullenly obeyed.
"Just remind them, Springer, that if they don"t step faster than that somebody may hasten their movements with a prod from the point of a sabre," said Bob angrily. "We are in no humor to stand a great deal of nonsense from them. Now, right-face them; that"s better.--Fall in around them, squad, four on each flank and four in the rear. Forward, march!--Now, George, which way is the fort from here?"
"Off there," replied George, "but I am going to take you to the river-trail."
"What for?"
"So that you can get something to eat."
If they had been a little farther down the river, say about twenty-five miles, George would have taken them to his own house. It would have given him no little pleasure to entertain these companions of a long, toilsome and dangerous scout under his own roof; but of course he could not think of leading them out of their way in order to do it. They found plenty to eat after they reached the river-trail, but the ranchemen at whose houses they halted could give them no information concerning the raiders. They had been on that side of the river, and had gone back empty-handed, and that was all the ranchemen knew about the matter. This made it plain that Bob"s gallant dash had not been without its effect.
It had frightened the thieves so thoroughly that they dared not stop to pick up any of the cattle they found in their way.
Bob and his troopers camped that night near a farm-house whose owner was so delighted to see the five prisoners they had brought with them, and to learn of the success that had attended them ever since Captain Clinton sent them off by themselves, that he insisted on giving them a seat at his table. The next morning he gave them a breakfast; but the first squad who went in--which included Bob and George--had scarcely taken possession of their chairs when one of the sentries was heard calling l.u.s.tily for the corporal of the guard. Bob excused himself and ran out, only to return again almost immediately and startle everybody with the order, "Boots and saddles!" George jumped up from the table, wondering what was the matter. When he reached the porch he found out.
About a mile up the trail was a long column of blue-coats coming down at a sweeping trot.
"They are our boys, and they are after the Greasers," exclaimed Bob, as George came down the steps. "It"s lucky we are here, for you are the very man they want if they are going across the river.--Catch up, boys, and fall in just as we do when we are on the march, only face to the left, so as to front the column when it comes up."
If we have a reader who is familiar with cavalry tactics, he will have discovered, long before this time, that Corporal Owens was not at all particular as to the orders he gave, provided he could make his men act to suit him. When in the presence of his superiors he always gave the proper commands, in order to save himself from the reproof that would have promptly followed the slightest departure from the tactics; but when he was in command of a scouting-party he was decidedly free and easy. Even an old trooper might have been puzzled over this last order, but the men who had marched with him so many miles were quick to catch his meaning and prompt to carry out his wishes; so that when the whole available cavalry force of Fort Lamoine, numbering two hundred men, came sweeping by the farm-house a few minutes later, with Captain Clinton riding at the head, they were astonished to see Bob"s little squad drawn up in a hollow square, with their prisoners in the centre. Of late there had been a good many anxious inquiries made concerning these very men, and here they were, safe and sound, and, wonderful to tell, with more prisoners to show what good soldiers they were.
"Three cheers for the "Brindles," the old reliables!" shouted the sergeant-major; and the yells that arose from two hundred pairs of strong lungs could have been heard a long distance away.
George lifted his cap in response to a nod of recognition from Captain Clinton, and in obedience to a sign from him rode over to his side; but Bob and his men sat in their saddles as stiff as so many posts, looking straight to the front. When the next call for cheers came, however, it almost knocked Bob over.
"Three cheers for Sergeant Owens!" shouted a "Brindle;" and then came three more yells, followed by a "tiger" as loud and piercing as an Indian war-whoop. During his absence Bob had been promoted in general orders for gallantry, his pay as sergeant to begin on the day he rescued Mr. Wentworth"s boys from the hands of the Kiowas.
Presently the bugle sounded, and the column came to a halt. The officers at once fell out and crowded around George, who, in as few words as possible, told Captain Clinton what Bob"s squad had been doing since the captain left them back there on the borders of the Staked Plains. The officers were all very much pleased, especially Lieutenant Earle, who for a moment threw off his dignity and rode up to thank the members of the squad which had brought so much credit upon the troop he commanded.
"Sergeant," said he, extending his hand--which Bob accepted after running his own hand through his sword-knot and dropping his sabre by his side--"I congratulate you and all your men. You have done well."
Bob managed to stammer out something about being glad to have pleased the lieutenant, and the latter, after ordering them to sheathe their sabres, went on to tell how he had followed the Indians in his front until his men and horses were nearly exhausted and almost dead for want of water, and how he had finally returned to the fort a day behind the column, utterly disgusted with his want of success, to find that some of his own troop had carried off the honors of the scout. He was proud to command such men.
Meanwhile, Captain Clinton and George were engaged in an earnest consultation. The former told the young scout that he been sent out to punish the raiders who had just recrossed the river, and that he was going to do it, too. He was going to drive them out of their stronghold, and George must show him the way to it. His men had already had their coffee, but as George and the rest of Bob"s squad had had none, they might stay there at the farm-house until they had eaten the breakfast that had been prepared for them, and then ride on rapidly and overtake the column, which would move down the trail at a trot. This having been decided upon, a squad was made up of details from the different companies to take charge of the prisoners, and the command given to a corporal, who was instructed to take them to the fort. Then the column rode on, the corporal marched off with his captives, and Bob and his troopers went back to the farm-house to eat their breakfast.