Part 8 (2/2)

”The enemy is not far away,” he said. ”They're posted along a creek, with high banks and in a wood. They've got a strong artillery too, and I think they about equal us in numbers.”

d.i.c.k carried the report to the commander of the column, and soon the trumpets were calling the men to battle. The crackle of rifle shots ahead increased rapidly. The skirmishers were already pulling trigger, and, as d.i.c.k galloped back to Hertford he saw many puffs of white smoke down the road and in the fields and woods on either side. The Union men began to cheer. In the West they had suffered no such defeats as their brethren in the East, and every pulse beat with confidence. As the whole line moved forward the Southern cannon began to crash and their sh.e.l.ls swept the road.

The cavalry were advancing in a field, but they were yet held back to a slow walk. d.i.c.k heard many impatient exclamations, but he knew the restraint was right. He saw the accuracy of the Southern gunners. They were driving the Northern infantry from the road. Their fire was rapid and deadly, and, for a while, the Union army was checked.

Hertford was calmly examining the Southern position through his gla.s.ses, while he restrained his eager men. The volume of Southern fire was growing fast. Sh.e.l.ls and shrapnel rained death over a wide area, and the air was filled with whistling bullets. It was certain destruction for any force to charge down the road in face of the Southern cannon, and the Northern army began to spread out, wheeling toward either flank.

An aide arrived with an order to Hertford, and then he loosed his eager cavalry. Turning to one side they galloped toward the creek. Some of the Southern gunners, seeing them, sent sh.e.l.ls toward them, and a swarm of riflemen in a wood showered them with bullets. But they pa.s.sed so rapidly that not many saddles were emptied, and the trumpeter blew a mellow note that urged on spirits already willing enough.

The sweep of the cavalry charge exhilarated d.i.c.k. The thought of danger pa.s.sed away for the moment. He saw all around him the eager faces of men, and horses that seemed just as eager. Dust and dirt flew beneath the thudding hoofs, and the dust and floating smoke together made a grimy cloud through which they galloped.

They pa.s.sed around still further on the flank. They seemed, for a few minutes, to be leaving the battle, which was now at its height, the Southern artillery still holding the road and presenting an unbroken front.

d.i.c.k saw a flash of water and then the whole troop thundered into the creek, almost without slackened rein. Up the bank they went, and with a wild shout charged upon the Southern infantry. On the other flank another Northern force which also had crossed the creek attacked with fire and spirit.

But the battle still swayed back and forth. Hertford and his cavalry were thrown off, merely to return anew to the charge. A portion of the Northern force was driven back on the creek. The strong Southern batteries poured forth death. d.i.c.k felt that they might yet lose, but they suddenly heard a tremendous cheer, and a fresh force coming up at the double quick enabled them to sweep the field. Before sunset the Southern army retreated toward Jackson, leaving the field to the men in blue.

d.i.c.k dismounted and, examining himself carefully, found that he had suffered no wound. Colonel Hertford and the sergeant had also taken no hurt. But the lad and his elder comrade secured but little rest. They were bidden to ride across the country at once to General Sherman with the news of the victory. Sherman was at the head of another column, and Grant was farther away with the main body.

d.i.c.k and the sergeant, with the battle smoke still in their eyes, were eager for the service.

”When you're with Grant you don't stay idle, that's certain,” said d.i.c.k as they rode across the darkening fields.

”No, you don't,” said the sergeant, ”and I'm thinking that we've just begun. I know from the feel of it that big things are going to happen fast. Sheer away from the woods there, Mr. Mason. We don't want to be picked off by sharpshooters.”

They arrived after dark in Sherman's camp and he received them himself. d.i.c.k remembered how he had seen this thin, dry man holding fast with his command at s.h.i.+loh, and he saluted him with the deepest respect. He knew that here was a bold and tenacious spirit, kin to that of Grant. Sherman had heard already of the battle, but he wished more and definite news.

”You say that our victory was complete?” he asked tersely.

”It was, sir,” replied d.i.c.k. ”The entire force of the enemy retired rapidly toward Jackson, and our men are eager to advance on that city.”

”It would be a great stroke to take the capital of Mississippi,” said Sherman musingly. Then he added in his crisp manner: ”Are you tired?”

”Not if you wish me to do anything,” replied d.i.c.k quickly.

Sherman smiled.

”The right spirit,” he said. ”I wish you and your comrade to ride at once with this news to General Grant. He may hear it from other sources, but I want to send a letter by you.”

In ten minutes d.i.c.k and the sergeant were riding proudly away on another mission, and, pa.s.sing through all the dangers of Southern scouts and skirmishers, they reached General Grant, to whom they delivered the letter from Sherman. Grant, who had recently been in doubt owing to the threat of Pemberton on his flank, hesitated no longer when he heard of the victory, and resolved at once upon the capture of Jackson.

d.i.c.k, after his battle and two rides, went to sleep in a wagon, while an orderly took his horse. When he awoke unknown hours afterward he found that he was moving. He knew at once that the army was advancing. Before him and behind him he heard all the noises of the march, the beat of horses' hoofs, the grinding of wheels, the clanking of cannon, the cracking of whips and the sounds of many voices.

He was wonderfully comfortable where he lay and he had the satisfaction and pride of much duty done. He felt that he was ent.i.tled to rest, and, turning on his side, he went to sleep again. After another unknown time his second awakening came and he remained awake.

He quietly slipped out at the tail of the wagon, and stood for a few moments, dazzled by the blazing sunlight. Then a loud, cheery voice called out: ”Well, if it isn't our own Lucky d.i.c.k come back again, safe and well to the people to whom he belongs!”

”If z equals d.i.c.k and y equals his presence then we have z plus y, as d.i.c.k is certainly present,” called out another voice not quite so loud, but equally cheery. ”Luck, Frank, is only a minor factor in life. What we usually call luck is the result of foresight, skill and courage. There are facts that I wouldn't have you to forget, even if it is a hot day far down in Mississippi.”

Warner and Pennington sprang from their horses and greeted d.i.c.k warmly. They had returned a day or two before from their own less perilous errands, but they were in great anxiety about their comrade. They were glad too, when they heard that the sergeant had joined him and that he had come back safe.

”I suppose it means a battle at Jackson,” said Warner. ”We're surely on the move, and we're going to keep the Johnnies busy for quite a spell.”

”Looks like it,” said d.i.c.k.

Colonel Winchester came soon, and his face showed great relief when he shook hands with d.i.c.k.

”It was a dangerous errand, d.i.c.k, my lad,” he said, ”but I felt that you would succeed and you have. It was highly important that we gather all our forces for a great stroke.”

d.i.c.k resumed at once his old place in the Winchester regiment, with Warner, Pennington and his other comrades around him. Refreshed by abundant sleep and good food he was in the highest of spirits. They were embarked upon a great adventure and he believed that it would be successful. His confidence was shared by all those about him. Meanwhile the army advanced in diverging columns upon the Mississippi capital.

Jackson, on Pearl River, had suddenly a.s.sumed a vast importance in d.i.c.k's mind, and yet it was but a tiny place, not more than three or four thousand inhabitants. The South was almost wholly agricultural, and cities, great in a political and military sense, were in reality but towns. Richmond, itself the capital of the Confederacy, around which so much centered, had only forty thousand people.

The Winchester regiment was detached that afternoon and sent to join the column under McPherson, which was expected to reach Jackson first. d.i.c.k was mounted again, and he rode with Warner and Pennington on either side of him. They speculated much on what they would find when they approached Jackson.

”If Joe Johnston is there,” said Warner, ”I think we'll have a hard fight. You'll remember that he did great work against us in Virginia, until he was wounded.”

”And they'll know, of course, just when to expect us and in what force,” said d.i.c.k. ”Slade will tell them that. He probably has a large body of spies and scouts working under him. But I don't think he'll come inside our camp again.”

”Not likely since he's been recognized,” said Warner, thoughtfully. ”But I don't think General Grant is afraid of anything ahead. That's why he made the separation from our own world so complete, and our men are out cutting down the telegraph lines, so the Johnnies in Jackson can't communicate with their own government either. It's important to us that we take Jackson before Pemberton with his army can come up.”

Warner had estimated the plan correctly. Grant, besides cutting himself off from his own superiors at Was.h.i.+ngton, was also destroying communication between the garrison of Jackson and Pemberton's army of Vicksburg, which was not far away. The two united might beat him, but he meant to defeat them separately, and then besiege Vicksburg. It was a complicated plan, depending upon quickness, courage and continued success. Yet the mind of Grant, though operating afterward on fields of greater numbers, was never clearer or more vigorous.

They went into camp again after dark, knowing that Jackson was but a short distance away, and they expected to attack early in the morning. d.i.c.k carried another dispatch to Sherman, who was only a little more than two miles from them, and on his way back he joined Colonel Winchester, who, with Warner, Pennington and a hundred infantry, had come out for a scout. The dismounted men were chosen because they wished to beat up a difficult piece of wooded country.

They went directly toward Jackson, advancing very cautiously through the forest, the mounted officers riding slowly. The night was hot and dark, moon and stars obscured by drifting clouds. Pennington, who was an expert on weather, announced that another storm was coming.

”I can feel a dampness in the air,” he said. ”I'm willing to risk my reputation as a prophet and say that the dawn will come with rain.”

”I hope it won't be a big rain,” said Colonel Winchester, ”because if it is it will surely delay our attack. Our supply of cartridges is small, and we can't risk wetting them.”

Pennington persisted that a storm was at hand. His father had taught him, he said, always to observe the weather signs on the great Nebraska plains. They were nearly always hoping for rain there, and he had learned to smell it before it came. He could smell it now in the same way here in Mississippi.

His opinion did not waver, when the clouds floated away for a while, disclosing a faint moon and a few stars. They were now on the banks of a brook, flowing through the wood, and Colonel Winchester thought he saw a movement in the forest beyond it. It was altogether likely that so skillful a leader as Joe Johnston would have out bodies of scouts, and he stopped, bidding his men to take cover.

d.i.c.k sat on his horse by the colonel's side under the thick boughs of a great tree, and studied the thickets before them. He, too, had noticed a movement, and he was confident that the Southern sharpshooters were there. At the command of the colonel all of the officers dismounted, and orderlies took the horses to the rear. On foot they continued their examination of the thickets, and the colonel sent for Sergeant Whitley, who confirmed his opinion that the enemy was before them. At his suggestion the Union force was spread out, lest it be flanked and annihilated in the thickets.

Just as the movement was completed rifles began to crack in front and on both flanks, and the piercing yell of the South arose.

It was impossible to tell the size of the force that a.s.sailed them, but the Winchester men were veterans now, and they were not afraid. Standing among the bushes or sheltered by the trees they held their fire until they saw dusky figures in the thickets.

It had all the aspects of an old Indian battle in the depths of the great forest. Darkness, the ambush and the caution of sharpshooters were there. d.i.c.k carried a rifle, but he did not use it. He merely watched the pink beads of flame among the bushes, while he stayed by the side of his colonel and observed the combat.

It soon became apparent to him that it would have no definite result. Each side was merely feeling out its foe that night, and would not force the issue. Yet the Southern line approached and some bullets whistled near him. He moved a little to one side, and watched for an enemy. It was annoying to have bullets come so close, and since they were shooting at him he might as well shoot at them.

While he was absorbed in watching, the colonel moved in the other direction, and d.i.c.k stood alone behind a bush. The fire in front had increased somewhat, although at no time was it violent. Occasional shots from his own side replied. The clouds that had drifted away were now drifting back, and he believed that darkness alone would soon end the combat.

<script>