A DESPERATE CHARGE ON BOTH SIDES

The Texan Rangers were formed in a rather compact mass, while the Union line was considerably extended. Captain Truman had ideas of his own; and, though he was not a martinet, he was disposed to follow strictly the rules and precedents of military practice. His men could not very well fire into forty-five men huddled together in a small space without hitting some of them. On the other hand, the enemy might discharge a volley into his force, placed about six feet apart, with comparatively little effect.

He was surprised to observe how few of the Rangers fell from their horses at the first discharge of his men; but their practice immediately began to improve, and as soon as the detachment of Lieutenant Gadbury dashed into the road in the rear of the enemy, the fire became very destructive. Many of the enemy were killed and wounded, and it looked as though they would all be destroyed.

The Texans were brave men; they were impulsive and reckless, and they seemed to be perfectly satisfied that they could overcome the Union cavalry, and carry everything before them. In a few minutes it was evident to the captain of the second company that the officer of the enemy had made a fearful blunder, led into it by his impulsive ardor. He had conducted his men into the fight without sufficiently understanding the situation, and without taking the trouble to feel of the enemy beforehand. He had rushed blindly into the engagement with a feeling of contempt for his foe, and with the belief that the Texan cavalry could carry everything before them.

In a few minutes he had discovered his mistake, as he saw his men drop before the fire in the front and rear of his force. He had been beyond the crown of the elevation in the road when Captain Truman stationed his flanking party behind the knoll, where they could not be seen by the enemy. He had recklessly regarded the force in front of him as the entire strength of his foe.

The Rangers were between the upper and the nether millstone, as the Home Guards had been early in the morning; and it was only a question of time when they would all be shot down. In the village of Barcreek, Captain Truman had won a reputation as a chess-player among the better class of citizens who were fond of the game. He had reached the conclusion that warfare was to be conducted on similar principles, and he was on the lookout for an opportunity to "checkmate" his antagonist. He had fought the battle in the morning on the plan laid down for him by Major Lyon.

By dividing his detachment, and placing forty of them in front of the Texans, and spreading them out so that they appeared to be even a smaller force, he had tempted the attack in which the enemy were suffering so severely. It was not in the power or the nerve of any body of soldiers to stand up against such a deadly fire from their front and rear. They must either be shot down or surrender. It evidently had not occurred to the lieutenant in command of the Rangers to resort to the last expedient to save his men; but he was plainly making a movement to extricate them from the trap into which he had so inconsiderately led them.

"Attention, company!" shouted Captain Truman at the top of his lungs, as he interpreted the movement of the enemy. "Close order, march!"

The file closed up in a more compact mass. The command was given to sling their carbines, and to draw their sabres; and it was given none too soon, for the captain had correctly divined the intention of the lieutenant on the other side of attempting to cut his way through the force in front of him.

"Can you make out what Lieutenant Gadbury is doing, Deck?" asked the captain, who was rather near-sighted.

Deck and Artie had both remained near the captain; and they had not been idle or indifferent, but acted as volunteers in the second company.

"His men are slinging their carbines, as the enemy have done," replied Deck.

"We are going to have some hot work, my boy. If you are ready to return to the first company"—

"I am not ready to return, Captain Truman!" exclaimed Deck. "I think you need all the men you can have, and I shall add one to the number. I have not heard any firing to the south of us, and I don't believe the first company has been engaged yet."

"But I am somewhat concerned about our prisoners at the bridge. There are a hundred of them, or very nearly that number. They must have heard our firing, and Lieutenant Blenks may have his hands full. You can render better service by looking after this part of the field," added the captain.

"Of course I am ready to go wherever I can do the most good," replied Deck, who could not help wondering if the captain was not sending him out of the way because he was the major's son.

"You are wounded, and you can be spared better than some other man. Some of our poor fellows have bitten the dust. Ride over to the bridge; and, if Blenks is having no trouble with the prisoners, go over to the rear of the enemy, and direct Gadbury to follow up the charge of the Texans."

Deck saluted the captain, and dashed down the road towards the bridge with all the speed the willing Ceph could command. It was a few minutes that he required to reach the position of Lieutenant Blenks, who had heard the firing, and had drawn up his men for any duty that might be before them. No movement on the part of the prisoners was apparent to Deck, and they were surrounded by a guard, with their carbines in their hands; for the officer had ordered them to be on the lookout for any demonstration.

"I am sent by Captain Truman to ascertain the condition of the prisoners," said Deck, as he saluted the lieutenant.

"The prisoners are all right," replied the officer with a smile. "As soon as I heard heavy firing I strengthened the guards around them; for I thought they might want to take a hand in the fight over yonder. I had a talk with the second lieutenant of the Guards, now in command, and he told me that a company of Texan cavalry were to have connected with his force here."

"But the force we have engaged cannot be more than half the company; and all of them must have known that at least one of our companies was in this vicinity," added Deck.

"The lieutenant, whose name is Condor, tried to induce Lagger to wait till they had joined their forces before he meddled with the bridge; but he refused to do so."

"Buck Lagger desired to win his spurs while the captain of the Guards was absent. But you need no assistance here," added Deck, as he wheeled his horse.

"None at all; we could ride these fellows down in two minutes. But their arms are loaded into our baggage wagon, and they could do nothing if they tried," replied the officer.

The messenger galloped up the road and into the field by the side of the east road. It was not cultivated, though it had been years before, and was now overgrown in places by small trees and bushes. Behind these Deck made his way to a point abreast of the enemy. He was in time to hear the order to charge upon the Union cavalry at the foot of the hill. The lieutenant had evidently delayed this order for some time; for when his men ceased to fire, the Union troopers had followed their example, and prepared for the decisive event of the conflict. The messenger rode into the road and saluted the officer in command of the flanking party.

"Captain Truman's order is that you follow up the enemy in the rear as they charge down the hill," said Deck.

"I am all ready to do that," replied the officer, as he pointed to his men, who sat upon their horses with their drawn sabres in their hands.

They were not more than two hundred feet from the Texans, and Lieutenant Gadbury had already addressed some inspiring words to them. The other division could be plainly seen at the foot of the hill, and both parties were observing the enemy with the most intense interest. Judging from the impetuous and reckless conduct of the Rangers, the conclusion had been reached on both sides to charge the foe; for any other movement would be turning their backs to the enemy.

During the tacit suspension of the conflict, both combatants had improved the opportunity to care for their wounded. Two of the men only had been killed so far, but half a dozen of them had been wounded; for the Texans had given most of their attention to those at the foot of the hill. Of these six, four kept in their saddles, and refused to take the rear. The wounds were dressed as far as possible, and Dr. Farnwright was a busy man at his post on the cross-roads.

Suddenly the officer in command of the Texans appeared in the rear of his force, and made a furious gesture with his sword, pointing in the direction of Gadbury's men. This was not what was expected of the Rangers; and for the moment all the advantage was in favor of the enemy, so far as numbers were concerned.

"Fours, right about, march!" shouted the Confederate lieutenant. "Now charge with all the blood there is in you! Ride them down, and use your sabres like men!"

The order was promptly obeyed by the Texans, who appeared to be under excellent discipline; but they had hardly whirled around before the watchful eyes of Captain Truman discovered what they were doing, and his energetic shouts of orders could be heard by the force now in front of the Rangers. In another moment the main body of the company were spurring their steeds with all their might up the hill. Their sabres were in their hands, and they were using them in urging forward their horses. They came like a whirlwind, with the captain in advance; and there was not a man among them who would not have been ashamed to be a laggard under such leadership.

It was well known that there were two or more companies of cavalry from Texas in this part of the State, and they had excited an unwholesome dread among the citizens by their desperate bravery and their reported prowess. In the squadron of Riverlawn cavalry, as it was sometimes called, the troopers had talked about them a great deal, and an emulation had been created among them to measure sabres with them. They had the opportunity on this occasion, and the pride of every soldier had been roused to the highest pitch.

Though the flanking division of the company was now outnumbered for the moment, all the Union men looked upon the change of front in the enemy as something like the appearance of the white feather, and they were encouraged by this phase of the combat. Lieutenant Gadbury, as soon as he saw the change of front on the part of the Rangers, was disposed to take the bull by the horns.

"Open order, march!" he shouted. "Sergeant Lingall, march half the column into the field on the left, and strike them on that side."

With the twenty men left to him, he gave the order to move forward at a gallop, imitating the example of the Texan lieutenant in taking his place in advance. No mercy was shown to the poor horses, which were goaded with sabre and spurs to their highest speed. The two divisions were rushing upon each other with a fury that promised a tremendous shock when they came together. Deck had placed himself in the front rank, and added one to the number reduced by death and wounds.

He was not a full-grown man; but he was a stout fellow, and as brave as a lion, which he had proved on some former occasions. Ceph, his intelligent horse, fully seconded him. The rider selected the point where he was likely to hit. It looked to him just as though the two officers in command would meet each other, and have a pass with their sabres, for which they had exchanged their dress swords. But the Texan, before the onslaught came, had moved over nearer the left flank of his force, in order to obtain a better view of his men; but he had started to regain his former position just as the crash of the two bodies ensued. He was directly in front of Deck, when Captain Truman shouted to his men to stand up to the work before them, and not yield a hair while the breath of life was in them.

Ceph had been ridden a great deal by his master before he became his war-charger, and he had trained him to some tricks in which the other horses had not been drilled. One of these was to leap over a high bar. As the young cavalryman saw the lieutenant of the enemy directly in front of him, he drew his rein, as Ceph had been instructed; and the steed stood up on his hind-legs, Deck clinging with his wounded arm to his holsters.

The gallant charger understood that he was to leap over the object in front of him; but it was more than he could do, and he came down with his fore-legs over the neck of the smaller horse of the lieutenant. The horse went down, the rider upon him, and Deck gave a sharp thrust with his sabre at the same moment. The officer was disabled at least, and Deck dashed over him into the thickest of the fight.