""Bout face!" I shouted. "Load at will--fire!"
We poured one scattering volley into them. It halted their movement for a moment, and then the door opened a scant crack.
"Is this you, Caton?"
"Yes; for G.o.d"s sake, open up!"
The heavy door swung slowly inward, and with a wild rush to be first, we surged headlong into the hall.
CHAPTER x.x.x
A UNION OF YANK AND REB
As the heavy door clanged behind us some one upon the outside began pounding upon it, while with deadly chug a bullet crashed into the oaken panel.
"Donnerwetter!" shouted a deep voice, wildly. "Captain, I am yet out mit der bullets."
With a crash I flung aside the thick iron bar which answered as a lock, and drew in the Sergeant, yet panting heavily from his hard run.
"By Chiminy, dot vas a narrow squeak," he exclaimed, as I released my grasp upon him and hurled the door back into its place.
A dim light swinging suspended from the ceiling of the great wide hall revealed clearly the scene within. As I turned I beheld Brennan for the first time, and his face remains a memory. Standing with his back to the stair-railing, a revolver grasped tightly in either hand, his eyes burning, his countenance flushed with anger, and clouded by doubt, he appeared almost like one distracted. At sight of me he gave up all attempt to control his raging temper.
"What does all this mean?" he demanded hoa.r.s.ely. "Who are these men?
Caton, if you have betrayed us, by G.o.d, I will shoot you dead."
"There is no betrayal," returned the Lieutenant, coolly. "These men are friends."
"Friends?" he laughed cynically. "Friends? in that uniform, and you attired in a Rebel cavalry jacket? Friends? that fellow over there?"
and he pointed derisively at me with his pistol barrel. "d.a.m.n you, but I believe you are all a pack of lying thieves!"
Caton"s face burned. He took one step toward him, his hands clinched, and when he spoke his clear voice shook with intense indignation.
"Major Brennan," he said, coldly deliberate, "you are my superior officer, but you go beyond all privilege of rank in those words. I say these men are friends; they have sunk the issues of war in order that they may answer the call of humanity. If you dare impeach my motives any further, I shall hurl back the cowardly insult in your face. I will take no such words, sir, from any living man."
Brennan looked at him, his lips struggling with the utterance that would not come. Knowing well the danger of such delay, I hastily pushed aside the ring of men, and fronted him, determined to end this foolishness then and there.
"Major Brennan," I said firmly, ignoring his efforts to silence me, "you must listen to reason whether you wish to do so or not. My troopers are all around you; I have two men to your one in this house, and can enforce my will if necessary. Now mark what I say--we are not here in anger or in war, but to help you in the protection of endangered women. We captured your courier, have despatched one of our own number into the Federal camp for aid, and have fought our way in here to stand beside you and your men in defence of this house against those ruffians without. You can use us or not, just as you please; it rests with you to say whether we shall be comrades in arms on this occasion, or whether I shall a.s.sume command by the power of force which I chance to control."
He seemed utterly unable to grasp my full meaning, to comprehend the situation.
"You mean, you would fight with us? under my command?" he asked incredulously.
"I offer my services under your orders," I replied clearly, "and these men in gray will obey mine."
I actually thought he would extend his hand, but some remembrance suddenly restrained him.
"I--of course, Captain Wayne," he stammered, at length, "I--I must accept your offer. I--I am grateful for it, but I shall insist upon one thing; there must be a final settlement of the personal matter existing between us. I am not willing to waive my rights in this."
"There is no occasion for your doing so, sir," I answered coldly, for I considered the reference at that moment in extremely ill taste. "When our work here has been accomplished, you will find me very much at your service."
He bowed gravely.
"I am exceedingly glad we understand each other," he said. "May I ask the size of your command?"
"Sergeant," I questioned, "whom have we lost?"
"Nelson vos kilt, I d.i.n.ks; der Kid is not here yet, und Sands vos vounded bad."
"Very well; then, Major Brennan, I tender you sixteen men fit for duty, besides myself. You are doubtless acquainted with the house, and can a.s.sign us to positions where our services will prove of greatest value."
He had completely recovered his self-control by this time, and spoke now with the terse sentences of a tried soldier.
"I thank you, Captain Wayne, and will ask you to choose four men and a.s.sume command of the east side of the house. Caton, you will take the same number for defence of the rear. Captain, what is your sergeant"s name?"
"Ebers, an experienced German soldier."
"I should have suspected his nationality. Let him have command of four more, and cover the west windows. I shall defend the front myself, as I have been doing."
"Very well," I answered shortly, for his eyes had remained fixed upon me all the time he was talking. "Take the positions a.s.signed you, lads, and do not permit a man from without to put foot on the veranda. If they once succeed in getting under cover of the porch roof, they will give us plenty of trouble."
"They have remained remarkably quiet since you came in," interposed the Major. "Even my men seem to see nothing to shoot at."
"Probably they haven"t recovered as yet from our little surprise party," I said, with a smile of remembrance. "We left a mule out there who will entertain them for some time, unless they adopt heroic measures."
The position for defence a.s.signed to my care took me into the dining- room of the mansion,--a s.p.a.cious, almost square apartment, containing three large windows reaching nearly to the floor. The outside blinds had been closed, but the gla.s.s in the panes was mostly broken, and there were other evidences that the firing had been both heavy and continuous. I found two soldiers of Brennan"s party within, both lying upon the floor, and peering cautiously through the apertures of the blinds. They glanced up at us with undisguised amazement.
"It"s all right, lads," I said heartily. "Never mind our colors to- night; we are all fighting the same way."
I had taken with me Bungay, together with three of my troopers, and after placing them as advantageously as possible, I stretched myself out on the floor, and applying an eye to a convenient opening took careful survey of the situation without. There was little to be observed, for darkness securely hid the movements of the enemy.
Everything upon our side of the house, however, appeared comparatively quiet, yet it was clearly evident that the besiegers had no present intention of withdrawing from the attack; the flame of the stables had already largely died away, but what little light remained enabled me to perceive unmistakable signs of their presence. I could distinguish frequent moving figures in the background, but was unable to determine their distance from the house. Occasionally a flash out of the night would evidence the discharge of a gun, and I heard a gruff voice shouting forth an order. One shot struck the window just above me, showering my shoulders with fragments of broken gla.s.s, and I noticed one of the Federal soldiers in the room carried his arm in a rude sling.
This present cessation of activity was, I felt convinced, only temporary. I did not expect, from all I could now see, that the final a.s.sault would take place upon my side of the building. The ma.s.sing of the main body of the besiegers before the front entrance, together with the presence there of their leaders, was sufficient to convince me that this was to prove the princ.i.p.al point of attack, and from my knowledge of such affairs I decided that probably the first signs of returning daylight would be the signal for a determined a.s.sault. The dark interior of such a house as this offered too many defensive advantages which the daylight would largely overcome.
"Have you had some hard fighting?" I asked of the man lying next me, a manly-looking fellow, wearing the yellow chevrons of a corporal of cavalry.
"They pitched in mighty strong at first, sir," he answered civilly.
"An" we had so few men they pretty nearly rushed us, fer sure. It was our repeatin" rifles thet drove "em back."
"You suffered to some extent?"
"Two killed, sir, and three or four wounded. It wus hot "nough fer a while, I tell you; as lively a little jig as I"ve ever bin in. McNeal, there, got a lump of lead in his arm. Would you mind explainin" "bout you fellows comin" in here to help us, sir? It seems kinder odd to be fightin" longside of gray-backs."
I told him briefly the circ.u.mstances, and his eyes danced merrily at the recital.