Part 13 (1/2)
”When I went across that stretch of woods I saw something that I didn't expect to see.”
”What was it?”
”A girl on a big horse. They came and they went so fast that I just got a glimpse of them.”
”A girl alone, galloping on a horse on a wintry night like this through a region infested by hostile armies! Why d.i.c.k, you're seeing shadows! Better sit down and have a cup of this good hot coffee.”
But d.i.c.k shook his head. He knew now that he had seen reality, and he reported it to Colonel Winchester.
”Are you sure it was the girl you saw at the big house?” asked Colonel Winchester. ”It might have been some farmer's wife galloping home from an errand late in the evening.”
”It was the girl. I am sure of it,” said d.i.c.k confidently.
Just at that moment Sergeant Whitley came up and saluted.
”What is it, sergeant?” asked the Colonel.
”I have been up the road some distance, sir, and I came to another road that crossed it. The second road has been cut by hoofs of eight or nine hundred horses, and I am sure, sir, that the tracks are not a day old.”
Colonel Winchester looked grave. He knew that he was deep in the country of the enemy and he began to put together what d.i.c.k had seen and what the sergeant had seen. But the thought of withdrawing did not occur to his brave soul. He had been sent on an errand by General Grant and he meant to do it. But he changed his plans for the night. He had intended to keep only one man in ten on watch. Instead, he kept half, and Sergeant Whitley, veteran of Indian wars, murmured words of approval under his breath.
Whitley and Pennington were in the early watch. d.i.c.k and Warner were to come on later. The colonel spoke as if he would keep watch all night. All the horses were tethered carefully inside the ring of pickets.
”It doesn't need any mathematical calculation,” said Warner, ”to tell that the colonel expects trouble of some kind tonight. What its nature is, I don't know, but I mean to go to sleep, nevertheless. I have already seen so much of hards.h.i.+p and war that the mere thought of danger does not trouble me. I took a fort on the Tennessee, I took a much larger one on the c.u.mberland, first defeating the enemy's army in a big battle, and now I am preparing to march on Nashville. Hence, I will not have my slumbers disturbed by a mere belief that danger may come.”
”It's a good resolution, George,” said d.i.c.k, ”but unlike you, I am subject to impulses, emotions, thrills and anxieties.”
”Better cure yourself,” said the Vermonter, as he rolled himself in the blankets and put his head on his arm. In two minutes he was asleep, but d.i.c.k, despite his weariness, had disturbed nerves which refused to let him sleep for a long time. He closed his eyes repeatedly, and then opened them again, merely to see the tethered horses, and beyond them the circle of sentinels, a clear moonlight falling on their rifle barrels. But it was very warm and cosy in the blankets, and he would soon fall asleep again.
He was awakened about an hour after midnight to take his turn at the watch, and he noticed that Colonel Winchester was still standing beside one of the fires, but looking very anxious. d.i.c.k felt himself on good enough terms, despite his youth, to urge him to take rest.
”I should like to do so,” replied Colonel Winchester, ”but d.i.c.k I tell you, although you must keep it to yourself, that I think we are in some danger. Your glimpse of the flying horsewoman, and the undoubted fact that hundreds of hors.e.m.e.n have crossed the road ahead of us, have made me put two and two together. Ah, what is it, sergeant?”
”I think I hear noises to the east of us, sir,” replied the veteran.
”What kind of noises, sergeant?”
”I should say, sir, that they're made by the hoofs of horses. There, I hear them again, sir. I'm quite sure of it, and they're growing louder!”
”And so do I!” exclaimed Colonel Winchester, now all life and activity. ”The sounds are made by a large body of men advancing upon us! Seize that bugle, d.i.c.k, and blow the alarm with all your might!”
d.i.c.k s.n.a.t.c.hed up the bugle and blew upon it a long shrill blast that pierced far into the forest. He blew and blew again, and every man in the little force sprang to his feet in alarm. Nor were they a moment too soon. From the woods to the east came the answering notes of a bugle and then a great voice cried: ”Forward men an' wipe 'em off the face of the earth!”
It seemed to d.i.c.k that he had heard that voice before, but he had no time to think about it, as the next instant came the rush of the wild hors.e.m.e.n, a thousand strong, leaning low over their saddles, their faces dark with the pa.s.sion of anger and revenge, pistols, rifles, and carbines flas.h.i.+ng as they pulled the trigger, giving way when empty to sabres, which gleamed in the moonlight as they were swung by powerful hands.
Colonel Winchester's whole force would have been ridden down in the twinkling of an eye if it had not been for the minute's warning. His men, leaping to their feet, s.n.a.t.c.hed up their own rifles and fired a volley at short range. It did more execution among the horses than among the hors.e.m.e.n, and the Southern rough riders were compelled to waver for a moment. Many of their horses went down, others uttered the terrible shrieking neigh of the wounded, and, despite the efforts of those who rode them, strove to turn and flee from those flaming muzzles. It was only a moment, but it gave the Union troop, save those who were already slain, time to spring upon their horses and draw back, at the colonel's shouted command, to the cover of the wood. But they were driven hard. The Confederate cavalry came on again, impetuous and fierce as ever, and urged continually by the great partisan leader, Forrest, now in the very dawn of his fame.
”It was no phantom you saw, that girl on the horse!” shouted Warner in d.i.c.k's ear, and d.i.c.k nodded in return. They had no time for other words, as Forrest's hors.e.m.e.n, far outnumbering them, now pressed them harder than ever. A continuous fire came from their ranks and at close range they rode in with the sabre.
d.i.c.k experienced the full terror and surprise of a night battle. The opposing forces were so close together that it was often difficult to tell friend from enemy. But Forrest's men had every advantage of surprise, superior numbers and perfect knowledge of the country. d.i.c.k groaned aloud as he saw that the best they could do was to save as many as possible. Why had he not taken a shot at the horse of that flying girl?
”We must keep together, d.i.c.k!” shouted Warner. ”Here are Pennington and Sergeant Whitley, and there's Colonel Winchester. I fancy that if we can get off with a part of our men we'll be doing well.”
Pennington's horse, shot through the head, dropped like a stone to the ground, but the deft youth, used to riding the wild mustangs of the prairie, leaped clear, seized another which was galloping about riderless, and at one bound sprang into the saddle.
”Good boy!” shouted d.i.c.k with admiration, but the next moment the hors.e.m.e.n of Forrest were rus.h.i.+ng upon them anew. More men were killed, many were taken, and Colonel Winchester, seeing the futility of further resistance, gathered together those who were left and took flight through the forest.
Tears of mortification came to d.i.c.k's eyes, but Sergeant Whitley, who rode on his right hand, said: ”It's the only thing to do. Remember that however bad your position may be it can always be worse. It's better for some of us to escape than for all of us to be down or be taken.”
d.i.c.k knew that his logic was good, but the mortification nevertheless remained a long time. There was some consolation, however, in the fact that his own particular friends had neither fallen nor been taken.
They still heard the shouts of pursuing hors.e.m.e.n, and shots rattled about them, but now the covering darkness was their friend. They drew slowly away from all pursuit. The shouts and the sounds of trampling hoofs died behind them, and after two hours of hard riding Colonel Winchester drew rein and ordered a halt.
It was a disordered and downcast company of about fifty who were left. A few of these were wounded, but not badly enough to be disabled. Colonel Winchester's own head had been grazed, but he had bound a handkerchief about it, and sat very quiet in his saddle.
”My lads,” he said, and his tone was sharp with the note of defiance. ”We have been surprised by a force greatly superior to our own, and scarcely a sixth of us are left. But it was my fault. I take the blame. For the present, at least, we are safe from the enemy, and I intend to continue with our errand. We were to scout the country all the way to Nashville. It is also possible that we will meet the division of General Buell advancing to that city. Now, lads, I hope that you all will be willing to go on with me. Are you?”
”We are!” roared fifty together, and a smile pa.s.sed over the wan face of the colonel. But he said no more then. Instead he turned his head toward the capital city of the state, and rode until dawn, his men following close behind him. The boys were weary. In truth, all of them were, but no one spoke of halting or complained in any manner.
At sunrise they stopped in dense forest at the banks of a creek, and watered their horses. They cooked what food they had left, and after eating rested for several hours on the ground, most of them going to sleep, while a few men kept a vigilant watch.
When d.i.c.k awoke it was nearly noon, and he still felt sore from his exertions. An hour later they all mounted and rode again toward Nashville. Near night they boldly entered a small village and bought food. The inhabitants were all strongly Southern, but villagers love to talk, and they learned there in a manner admitting of no doubt, that the Confederate army was retreating southward from the line of the c.u.mberland, that the state capital had been abandoned, and that to the eastward of them the Union army, under Buell, was advancing swiftly on Nashville.
”At least we accomplished our mission,” said Colonel Winchester with some return of cheerfulness. ”We have discovered the retreat of General Johnston's whole army, and the abandonment of Nashville, invaluable information to General Grant. But we'll press on toward Nashville nevertheless.”
They camped the next night in a forest and kept a most vigilant watch. If those terrible raiders led by Forrest should strike them again they could make but little defense.
They came the next morning upon a good road and followed it without interruption until nearly noon, when they saw the glint of arms across a wide field. Colonel Winchester drew his little troop back into the edge of the woods, and put his field gla.s.ses to his eyes.
”There are many men, riding along a road parallel to ours,” he said. ”They look like an entire regiment, and by all that's lucky, they're in the uniforms of our own troops. Yes, they're our own men. There can be no mistake. It is probably the advance guard of Buell's army.”
They still had a trumpet, and at the colonel's order it was blown long and loud. An answering call came from the men on the parallel road, and they halted. Then Colonel Winchester's little troop galloped forward and they were soon shaking hands with the men of a mounted regiment from Ohio. They had been sent ahead by Buell to watch Johnston's army, but hearing of the abandonment of Nashville, they were now riding straight for the city. Colonel Winchester and his troop joined them gladly and the colonel rode by the side of the Ohio colonel, Mitchel.
d.i.c.k and his young comrades felt great relief. He realized the terrible activity of Forrest, but that cavalry leader, even if he had not now gone south, would hesitate about attacking the powerful regiment with which d.i.c.k now rode. Warner and Pennington shared his feelings.
”The chances are ninety per cent in our favor,” said the Vermonter, ”that we'll ride into Nashville without a fight. I've never been in Tennessee before, and I'm a long way from home, but I'm curious to see this city. I'd like to sleep in a house once more.”
They rode into Nashville the next morning amid frowning looks, but the half deserted city offered no resistance.
CHAPTER XIII. IN THE FOREST
d.i.c.k spent a week or more in Nashville and he saw the arrival of one of General Grant's divisions on the fleet under Commodore Foote. Once more he appreciated the immense value of the rivers and the fleet to the North.
He and the two lads who were now knitted to him by sympathy, and hards.h.i.+ps and dangers shared, enjoyed their stay in Nashville. It was pleasant to sleep once more in houses and to be sheltered from rain and frost and snow. It was pleasant, too, for these youths, who were devoted to the Union, to think that their armies had made such progress in the west. The silent and inflexible Grant had struck the first great blow for the North. The immense Confederate line in the west was driven far southward, and the capital of one of the most vigorous of the secessionist states was now held by the Union.