A Lieutenant at Eighteen Part 40

The coming of the cavalry has probably saved my mansion and my life. As the villains supposed, I have a considerable sum of money concealed; for I could not trust it in any bank in the present condition of the State. I should like to reward the lieutenant"--

"I would not accept any reward for simply doing my duty," interposed Deck.

"But I hope it will be in my power to serve you, young man."

"I am too happy to have served you, Colonel Hickman, to need anything more than the approval of my own conscience," replied Deck, moving off.

"I am not without influential friends, Lieutenant Lyon, and you may hear from me when you least expect it," continued Colonel Hickman, as he followed the young officer, and grasped him by the hand.

"I do not ask for any influence in my favor. I am a second lieutenant at eighteen, and I ask for no promotion to which my services do not ent.i.tle me," replied Deck proudly. "I have sent the horse you were kind enough to loan me back to your stable; and now I am at your service, Captain Woodbine."

Both of the officers mounted their steeds, and the planter showered benedictions upon them as they rode off. Deck had had some conversation with the three sons of the Colonel, and they had been as hearty in their commendations of the young officer as their father. The staff-officer then informed his companion that the Riverlawn squadron had been sent out on a reconnoissance down the river, and that the battalion was subject to his orders.

"Then you wish to go to the river?" suggested Deck.

"I do; as soon as possible," replied the captain.

"Then we will take the avenue, which is the nearest road;" and Deck led the way into the grove, and they soon reached the great bend of the stream where he and Fronklyn had effected their landing, and near Cuffy's ferry.

At this point Captain Woodbine took his field-gla.s.s from its case, and carefully examined the country on the other side of the river. Deck had no idea what he was looking for, and he said nothing. As he had come with the Riverlawns, it was evident that he had a mission to carry out; but so far he had kept his own counsel. Possibly he did not yet know what he should do. The Confederate army, or the greater portion of it, had effected its escape across the river in the steamer the fugitives had seen where they took the boat, and in other craft gathered there.

General Crittenden had abandoned a vast quant.i.ty of arms and munitions for which he had not sufficient transportation, and the Union army had taken possession of them in the morning. The cavalry had attempted to swim their horses over the swift-flowing river, but a great number of them had been drowned. The sh.o.r.e for a considerable distance below the breastworks was covered with dead horses, and with the bodies of men who had run the risk of riding their steeds through the angry stream.

"It will be impossible for the army of the enemy to remain in the fortifications they have erected at Mill Springs," said Captain Woodbine, as he closed the field-gla.s.s, and returned it to the case.

"They were in a starving condition on this side of the river, and they must be worse off on the other side. We will ride up the stream, and see what there is to be seen."

The staff-officer led the way, and Deck followed him in silence. He wondered what the captain was driving at, but he asked no questions. At Cuffy's ferry the captain found the ferryman, and halted to write a note in his memorandum-book, which he tore out, and directed the negro to deliver it to the commanding officer of the squadron when the force arrived.

"It is only an order for your father to wait till we return," said the captain; and then he rode on. "Do you know your way along the river, Lieutenant?" he asked a little later.

"No, sir; Fronklyn and I came down to this bend in a boat, of which the ferryman has taken possession, as I told him to do, for he had lost his own. But you will soon come to a swollen stream that flows into the river; and you cannot get across that, for the banks are very high and steep," replied Deck.

The captain continued on his way at a slow walk, for the horses mired in the soft soil, keeping his gaze fixed on the opposite sh.o.r.e. At the end of half an hour they came to a little hill, at the foot of which the tributary stream discharged itself into the c.u.mberland. The staff-officer directed his gla.s.s to the other sh.o.r.e, and there was nothing to obstruct his vision.

"As I supposed," said he, turning his horse, and starting on the return to the ferry.

"It is pleasant to have your supposition confirmed," Deck ventured to remark.

"My supposition was that the Confederate army would march to the south at once, and I have seen the column moving in that direction on the road that leads to Oak Forest," said Captain Woodbine, revealing his object for the first time, though he said nothing about his purpose in marching the Riverlawns to the river.

Deck asked no questions, but when they had gone half-way to the ferry the sound of several bugles was heard ahead of them.

"Our squadron appears to have arrived," said he.

"Perhaps it has," replied the captain with a smile.

"That is an artillery call!" exclaimed the lieutenant, as he recognized the sounds; and he was not a little astonished.

"I should judge that it was," added the captain.

His companion was not communicative; and Deck said no more, for ten minutes would explain the mystery that bothered him. In less time than he thought he obtained a view of the ground near the ferry; and the first thing that confronted him was a battery of four guns. In the field were plainly to be seen two companies of cavalry, dressed in United States uniform; but they were not the Riverlawn Squadron.

"That is not our battalion, Captain Woodbine," said he, amazed at the appearance of this strange force.

"It certainly is not," answered the staff-officer.

"Two more companies of cavalry comin' down de road, Mars'r," Cuffy volunteered to inform them.

"Those must be the Riverlawns, as you call them, Lieutenant."

The two companies of cavalry near the river and the battery were taking their rations from their haversacks, and Captain Woodbine did not disturb them. By this time Major Lyon's command had halted in the road, the head of the column near Cuffy's house. A trooper, running his horse, was approaching; and Deck saw that it was his brother Artie, who rode up to the staff-officer, saluted him, and reported the arrival of the squadron by order of his father.

As soon as he had delivered his message, he grasped the hand of the lieutenant; for they had not yet come together in the hurry of the events of the afternoon. The meeting was such as two loving brothers could not help making it. Artie congratulated Deck on his escape and his present safety; for the story of his adventure with Fronklyn had been circulated through both companies, and there was no occasion for the lieutenant to repeat it.

"I say, Deck! what is going on here? What is that battery of light artillery and the two companies of cavalry doing here?" inquired Artie very earnestly.

"They seem to be taking a late dinner out of their haversacks," replied Deck, who was not a whit wiser than his brother.

"I could see that for myself," added Artie, laughing.

"That is all I know about it; and if you want to know anything more, you must ask Captain Woodbine, for I fancy he is the only person on the ground who understands the matter."

"I should as soon think of asking General Thomas, if he were here; for I suppose he knows all about it wherever he is."

"No doubt of it; and the captain is his only mouthpiece about this region. But if we wait a while I have no doubt we shall know all about the situation, though I do not expect to be supplied with a copy of the staff-officer's orders."

"Of course not."

"Orderly!" called the officer mentioned.

Artie, who answered to this designation near his father, rode up to the captain, and saluted him with even more than usual deference; for just now he seemed to be a sort of mysterious personage, in whom all power in this locality resided.

"If you have finished your interview with your brother, for I do not wish to hurry you, as we are in no special haste while the three companies are eating their dinner, you will deliver this order to Major Lyon."

"We have finished, Captain," replied Artie, surprised at the kindness of the staff-officer, who had been writing in his memorandum-book, and had torn out the leaf, which he tendered to the orderly.

Artie took the folded paper, and galloped back to the head of the Riverlawn column. Though he was a boy of eighteen, like his brother, but really only his cousin, he was not tempted to read the order he was carrying, greatly as his curiosity was stimulated; for it was a matter of honor with both of the young men to "mind their own business," and especially not to meddle with that of others; and either of them would have been a model postmaster, in whose keeping even postal-cards would have been sacred.

The three companies nearest to the river finished their dinner, and Deck looked the men over as they prepared to resume their places in the ranks. The horses had all been supplied with a feed of oats, poured upon the cleanest spots to be found on the gra.s.s, which had been somewhat kicked up by the tramp of horses. The men went to their steeds, and the lieutenant thought they were fine-looking men; and some few of them were as tall and bony as Life Knox. The members of the battery "hitched up" their animals again, and then took their seats on their horses and the gun-carriages and caissons.

Major Lyon, evidently in obedience to the order he had just received, had given his commands to the captains of the two companies, and they were marching them into the field behind the ferry-house; and in a few minutes they had formed in double ranks on the west side of the ground, north and south. Then the two other companies of cavalry formed in the same manner on the north side of the field, east and west. The battery came into line on the south side, and the whole made the three sides of the square.

The formation of the square was completed; and Deck, who had been instructed to accompany Captain Woodbine, was directed to summon the two majors in command of the squadrons into his presence. He shook hands with both of them, calling them by name. Then the order was given by the captains to present arms. The staff-officer raised his cap, and bowed.

"I will now cause my commission to be read to you," he continued, handing the doc.u.ment to Lieutenant Lyon, and directing him to read it, which he did in a voice loud and clear enough to be heard by all on the field.