THE SKIRMISH IN THE GREAT CIRCLE

Probably the leader of the marauders hurried the march of his followers as the Falstaffian column approached the village, in order to prevent the news of their coming from being circulated too soon. At any rate, Deck came down the slope at the best speed Ceph could make some time before the sergeant expected to see him.

"Coming, be they, Deck?" inquired he when Deck reined in before him.

"They are hurrying up, pounding their horses with their heels and the butts of their guns," replied Deck. "I don't believe there is a nag in the procession that can make over six miles an hour."

"Have they left the blocusses on foot behind?"

"No; but I fancy they are about out of wind by this time, for they are running to keep up."

"All right, Deck. I have seen your pa, and you can go down and tell him all you know; for I am posted here to signal him when the right time for him to move has come."

Deck obeyed the order; but he had nothing special to report, except the nearer approach of the ruffians. He fell back when he had said what he had to say, and watched eagerly for the signal from the sergeant. He was to keep near the major, to carry his orders if any were to be sent out; but this would not prevent him from taking part in the fight. Even his father had provided himself with a sabre, which he was ready to wield in the conflict if occasion required; not otherwise. The carbines of the platoon had been unslung, and the men were in readiness to fire a volley when the time came.

"There is Knox's signal, father!" exclaimed Deck, as the major had turned away to answer a question of the colonel.

The commander had seen the sergeant waving his cap very vigorously at the corner. The time had come. The colonel and the clergyman, with those surrounding them, were the only ones who were excited. The platoon was as steady as though it was to march to a prayer-meeting.

"Gallop—march!" said the major to Lieutenant Gilder, who was in command of the body.

Both the magnate and the minister had provided themselves with rifles, and insisted upon doing their share of the fighting, though Major Lyon assured them that he had force enough to handle double that of the enemy. The lieutenant gave the orders in detail, and the command was off in a moment. The major rode on the flank of the platoon, and the citizens followed him. Deck kept at the side of his father. Artie was with the captain; and his office was to carry any report or information to the major, if the circumstances should require.

We prefer to look through the eyes of Deck at the scene that followed. As soon as he reached the corner, somewhat in advance of the body of the company, he discovered the enemy. The mounted men were riding at the best speed of the miserable animals on which they were mounted; and very soon they reached what Knox called "the great circle," which was laid out to set off the grand entrance to Greeltop, the name of the estate of the colonel; and the village had taken its designation from the stately mansion and grounds. Before they reached this arena, they set up a series of frightful yells, evidently intended to intimidate the people of the village, and make them believe that the imps of the infernal regions had all broken in upon them at once.

The avenue was very wide, and the platoon resolved itself into "company front" at the command of the lieutenant. This was the first view the enemy had of the Union force waiting for them. The body advanced at a gallop, till the officer reduced the speed, and then formed them in a double rank. Lieutenant Gilder gave the orders in detail, which resulted in a volley, before which half-a-dozen saddles were emptied.

"Sling—carbine!" shouted the lieutenant before the smoke enabled the men to see what execution they had executed. "Draw—sabre!"

As the smoke rolled away the enemy was seen to be badly broken up, and the leader was using his best efforts to rally his undisciplined soldiers. But his men had fired as soon as they saw the troopers in front of them, and two of the latter had been wounded. The volley had hardly been discharged by the portion of the company in front of the marauders, when Captain Gordon was seen at the head of his men. He drew them up in such a position as to avoid sending the bullets into the midst of the other portion of his company.

Another volley followed from his men; and more of the wretches in front of them dropped from their saddles, or fell over if they were not mounted. A panic seized the enemy; and the major ordered his lieutenant not to charge upon the guerillas in accordance with the usual programme of the squadron.

"Dexter!" called the commander.

"Here, Major!" replied the orderly promptly, as he saluted the commander, with his drawn sabre ready for the charge.

"Ride around the flank of the enemy as quick as you can, and give Captain Gordon my order not to charge till I send him word," said the major. "Be careful of yourself, and return if you find the passage dangerous."

It did not look like a perilous undertaking to the father, or he would not have sent his son with the message. The action had come to look like a mere butchery to him, and he was not willing to engage in any inhuman slaughter. Deck dashed along the front of the company; for there was a space of at least a hundred feet between them and the enemy. The unmounted men were crushing in a mass to get behind the horses; for they expected another murderous volley.

Deck forced his horse into the broad gutter; for Ceph was more inclined to leap into the crowd of guerillas, as he had been trained to do. He saw the captain several rods from him, and he urged his steed forward to reach him. His uniform seemed to be a hateful sight to the banditti; and a couple of them rushed in front of him to intercept his passage. One of them raised his musket to fire at him; but the intrepid trooper struck it down with his sabre. The other did not attempt to shoot him, and probably his gun was not loaded. Both of the men kept their places in front of him, and were trying to beat him down with their clubbed weapons.

This was just the sport for Ceph; and, at the right signal from his rider, he made a spring into the air, with the evident intention of leaping over the obstacle in front of him. At the same time Deck made a vigorous use of his sabre, and hit the foremost of the men in the head, which caused him to spread himself out on the ground. Ceph went clear over the other, and the rider gave him a blow with the weapon in his hand as he did so.

Ceph went flying the rest of the way; and the guerillas did not attempt to stop him. The young horseman had a good chance to see the condition of the enemy at a glance. The footmen had hemmed in the horses in their efforts to escape the expected bullets; and there was no question in his mind that the horde had already been effectually defeated. If the sergeant's big bag had been ready, they were all ready to go into it.

"Good Heaven, Deck!" exclaimed Captain Gordon, rushing up to him with all the speed of his horse. "Did you cut through the enemy?"

"Not exactly, Captain," replied Deck. "I am here to deliver to you Major Lyon's order not to charge the enemy without a special order to that effect."

"I haven't given that order yet, for the enemy are about crushed already; but I intended to follow up the charge of the rest of the company on the other side. But I saw you, Deck, engaged against two men in front of you only a few minutes ago; and I was about to order the platoon to charge in order to rescue you. I thought the first company had lost one of its best soldiers then."

"But I have come through all right, Captain," added Deck, laughing at the excitement of his officer. "Ceph always does me a good turn when I get into a tight place, and he did this time."

"There come some more of the men from the other side of the house," added the captain, as he pointed to the way the orderly had come.

Deck looked, and saw Life Knox, with a dozen troopers, rushing along the gutter through which he had come; but the guerillas did not attempt to molest them, for they were formidable enough to have beaten the whole squad of the enemy, even before they had lost a man.

"Major Lyon sent me after you, Deck," said the sergeant, as he stopped his horse in front of him. "You had a narrow squeak of it that time, my boy."

"No, I didn't, Life; what's the use of making such a to-do about nothing? I'm all right," replied Deck, who thought his father and the rest of them were treating him like an infant.

"But your pa was tearing his hair like a mother that had lost her baby, to think he had sent you into such a tight place," added Knox. "He would 'a' sent the whole company after you in two minutes more. But you are safe, and I thought you'd gone to feed the worms sure."

"The worms will not dine on me just yet. I am going back now to my place on the other side of the enemy," said Deck. "You can come when you get ready, Life."

As he spoke he wheeled his trusty steed, and intimated to him that he was ready; whereupon Ceph made a spring, and darted off at a breakneck speed.

"Hold on, Baby!" shouted the sergeant, calling him by a name he had used before, to which Deck did not object as long as the Kentuckian did not treat him like an infant. "We uns kim over to escort you back!"

"Obey your orders, Life," returned the furious young rider, without even looking behind him.

Knox started after him with all the hurry there was in his steed; but there was hardly a horse in the squadron that could run as fast as Ceph, for he had been trained to this branch of his equine profession as a racer. But none of the guerillas were disposed to meddle with him again; and perhaps the two who had attacked him before had mistaken his intentions. He rode into the presence of the major, saluted him gracefully; and the cavalrymen who had witnessed his encounter broke out in a cheer.

"Captain Gordon replied that he did not give the order to charge, because he was waiting for you to begin on this side of the enemy," said Deck.

"Thank Heaven that you are safe, Dexter!" replied the father devoutly.

"Heaven and Ceph," added the young hero.

The father was busy just then, and he said no more. As soon as Deck had started with his message, Major Lyon realized that the action would become a slaughter, and he was anxious to stay the flow of blood. He was not willing to cut down the men in front of him with the sabres of his soldiers; for they appeared to be helpless, as much from panic as from the want of proper arms.

"Do you surrender?" he shouted at the top of his lungs, directing his voice to the mass of the wretches gathered in the centre of the great circle.

No one answered him, and probably no one heard him. He ordered Lieutenant Gilder to move his men forward very slowly. This officer was in front of his troopers; and he led the way as directed, the major remaining on the flank.

The lieutenant raised his white handkerchief on his sabre, and waved it in the air to indicate his peaceful intentions. When he had gone half the distance to the enemy, he halted the platoon.

"Do you surrender?" he shouted at the top of his voice.

The answer was the discharge of half-a-dozen muskets by the mounted guerillas who held the front of the mass. Lieutenant Gilder dropped from his horse to the ground; and something like a confused cheer went up from the men who had fired the volley. Sergeant Knox was the next in command; and, pushing his horse to the front, he waved his sabre in the air.

"Draw—pistol!" he cried. "Ready—aim—fire!"

The pistols were all ready for use, and the men fired them into the front rank of the enemy, which seemed to contain all the fighting ability there was left in the band. They were reloading their old guns; but some of them did not live to complete the operation. Dr. Farnwright, who had been near the major, rushed forward, and Knox sent two men to assist him. Regardless of the danger of the position, the surgeon rushed to the front to attend to the lieutenant.

"Platoon—charge!" shouted the sergeant, afraid that the work of the doctor would be impeded by the senseless operations of the mob.

The troopers, with the sergeant in front of them, darted at the mass of banditti in the circle; but they fell back only to precipitate themselves upon the command of Captain Gordon behind them. At this moment Major Lyon ordered his bugler to sound the recall. The soldiers fell back only a very short distance in obedience to the signal, and they had hardly struck a blow. They held the enemy where they were.