CHAPTER XXIV

THE ENCOUNTER WITH THE RUFFIANS

Deck Lyon rushed furiously down the lane which connected the two roads at this point. It was dark, and it was in vain that he tried to understand the situation from anything he could see. He was sure that the main body of the ruffians were not in the cross-cut, for there was not room enough for them. He had to depend chiefly upon his ears for information, for the trees on one side of the passage obscured his way.

The first sound that attracted his attention as he advanced, above the general din, was a half-suppressed scream quite near him. The lane was so rough that he was obliged to move more slowly than when he had left the wagon, and he halted when he heard the cry. A moment later he discovered a man bearing a form in his arms, whose cries he was evidently trying to suppress with one of his hands placed over her mouth.

An opening in the grove enabled him to see so much, and to note the position of the ruffian. With his revolver in his hand he rushed forward; and, finding himself behind the assailant of the female, he threw himself upon him, and grasped him by the throat with both hands. He had done some of this kind of work at the schoolhouse in the evening, and the experience was useful to him.

He compelled the villain to release his hold upon his prisoner in order to defend himself. Deck wrenched and twisted him in an effort to throw him down, but his arms were not strong enough to accomplish his purpose, and he called upon Mose to assist him. The faithful servant was close by him; and perhaps he was desirous of striking a literal blow in defence of his young master, for he delivered one squarely on the head of the ruffian which knocked him six feet from the spot.

At this moment, and just as the captor of the lady went over backwards into a hole by the side of the cart-path, a bright light was flashed upon the scene, and Deck could see where he was and where the ruffian he had encountered was. When Clinker had secured the horses at the end of the lane, he realized the necessity of more light on the subject before the party; for though he heard much he saw little.

Taking a quantity of the hay from the wagon, he hastened to the scene of the conflict just as Deck had closed with the ruffian who was bearing the lady away. Putting it on the ground, he lighted it with a match, and then heaped on sticks and hits of board and plank scattered about by those who had loaded stone in the passage. The blaze revealed the entire situation to Deck and his companions, and it made a weird picture.

"Good, Clinker!" shouted Deck, as he saw the blacksmith standing with his musket in his hand, busy doing what he had undertaken. "Keep the fire up!"

The ruffian whom Mose, who was not much inferior to General and Dummy in bulk and strength, had knocked both literally and slangily "in a hole," lay perfectly still. Some five rods ahead of him Deck discovered a road wagon in the lane. Two horses were harnessed to it, and at the head of each of them was a ruffian, doing his best to restrain the spirited animals, frightened by the cries and the movements of the assailants. Behind the wagon were two white men engaged in a terrible struggle with half a dozen of the soldiers of the ruffian army. They were getting the worst of it, though they fought with desperate energy.

From their appearance and the fact that they were defending themselves, it was plain enough to Deck that they were in charge of the two females. They were unarmed, though one of them had procured a piece of board, and was doing good service with it. Just beyond the scene of the fight stood Buck Lagger, holding a female by the arm. She evidently realized that resistance was useless, and she had ceased to struggle or scream.

"Now follow me, boys!" shouted Deck. "You had better walk over to the fire, miss," he added to the young lady redeemed from the hands of the ruffian. "Clinker will see that no harm comes to you."

The six men who had followed the young man in advance of them, marched close to him, with their muskets in readiness for use. Deck could not order them to fire, for they were as likely to hit friends as enemies; but he rushed to the scene of the conflict, where the two white men had just been forced back by the marauders.

"Both fall back this way, gentlemen!" called the young leader.

Major Gadbury and Tom Belthorpe, as the colonel had given the names of those who attended his two daughters to the party, could not help realizing that assistance was at hand, though they saw only a stout boy and half a dozen negroes, and they promptly detached themselves from their assailants, and retreated behind the wagon.

"Now fire at them, one at a time!" shouted Deck, when it was safe to do so.

Mose was nearest to him, and instantly discharged his musket at the foremost assailants of the gentlemen. One of them dropped to the ground. The ruffians had not bargained for this sort of discipline, and they fled on the instant; for they had heard Deck's order, and saw that there were more bullets where the first one came from. They ran into the woods, and disappeared behind the trunks of the great trees.

"Don't fire again, but follow me!" said Deck, as he started at his best speed towards the spot where Buck Lagger stood with his prisoner.

This ruffian perceived the defeat of his party, and he attempted to force the lady in the direction taken by his infamous comrades. He led the way, dragging his prisoner after him; but she resisted now, hanging back so that he could not move at anything more than a snail's pace. She screamed again, and Major Gadbury and Tom Belthorpe started to assist her.

Deck had accomplished half the distance to the ruffian when he saw that the strength of the lady was failing her, and Buck was advancing more rapidly. He raised his revolver, and, aiming the weapon with all possible care, he fired. Clinker had kept the fire blazing freely, and he had plenty of light. The ruffian released his hold upon his prisoner, and swung his right hand over to his left shoulder. Deck believed his bullet had struck him there, though he continued his retreat to the wood.

"I am sorry you didn't kill him!" exclaimed one of the two gentlemen, as they halted at Deck's side.

"I had to be careful not to hit the lady," replied Deck. "But we have driven them off. Now, boys, in line!" shouted the young leader to his men. "Face the woods!"

The six men came into line very promptly, though the movement would hardly have been satisfactory to a drill officer.

"Ready!" he continued. "Aim! Fire!"

That was about the extent of the recruits' knowledge of the drill; but they fired their weapons, and each of them sent two more shots after the first as the command was given. One of the gentlemen suggested that none of the ruffians were hit by the volley, and Deck explained that the last discharges were for their moral effect, though not in these words.

"I don't know you, sir, but we are under ten thousand obligations to you for this timely assistance," said the gentleman who remained with Deck, for the other had hastened to the lady Buck had abandoned.

"My name is Dexter Lyon," replied the young defender. "What is yours?"

"Tom Belthorpe," returned the other, who appeared to be something over twenty years of age. "We have been to a party with the girls at Rock Lodge, and were on our way home."

"Then you are the son of Colonel Belthorpe. Who is the other gentleman?"

"That is Major Gadbury, who is spending a week at my father's plantation," replied Tom, rubbing his head and some of his limbs, for he was rather the worse for the wear in his conflict with the ruffians, as the other gentleman conducted the terrified lady to the spot.

"I never was so frightened in all my life," gasped the lady, as they stopped in front of Deck.

"It is all over now, and I would not mind any more about it," added the Major cheerfully, though he was considerably battered after the fight through which he had passed.

"This is Mr. Dexter Lyon, Major, the son of our neighbor," said Tom, presenting the leader of the colored battalion, though Deck was somewhat abashed at the formality, and to hear himself "mistered" was a new experience to him.

"I am glad to know you, Captain Lyon," replied the Major, grasping his hand and wringing it till the boy winced. "You have rendered us noble and brave service, and we shall all be grateful to you as long as we live. This is Miss Margie Belthorpe."

"I am delighted to see you, Mr. Lyon!" exclaimed the young lady, who was only nineteen years old, as she sprang to the hero of the night, grasped his hand, and then kissed him as though he had been a baby.

Deck was seventeen years old, and rather large of his age, as well as somewhat forward for his years; and he felt as though he had tumbled into a sugar-bowl at that moment. The blaze of Clinker's fire lighted up his blushing face, and possibly he was sorry there were no more ruffians at hand for him to shoot if such was to be his reward. He forgot that he was tired and sleepy in the pleasurable excitement which followed the encounter.

"If you please, we will go over to the fire where the other lady is waiting for you," said he, as he started for the point indicated. "Fall in behind and follow us, boys," he added to the recruits.

"I have never happened to meet any negroes in arms before," said Tom Belthorpe, as he walked along with Deck. "But they seem to be ready for business."

"They are indeed; and these boys are as brave as any white men could be," added Deck, loud enough for the subject of his remark to hear it.

The two ruffians who had been left at the heads of the horses had fled into the woods as soon as they saw that the assault was repulsed, and the animals had become restive. Clinker had rushed over to secure them, and he had quieted them down so they were quite reasonable by this time. The young lady committed to his charge had followed him.

"This is my sister, Miss Kate Belthorpe," said Margie, when the party reached the spot.

"Oh, I am so glad you came when you did, Mr.----"

"Dexter Lyon," added Tom.

"Mr. Lyon; and you were as brave as a lion!" exclaimed Kate, as she took the hand of Deck; and either because she had witnessed the reception her sister had given the hero, or as an inspiration of her own, she promptly kissed him on both cheeks, and Deck felt as though he had fallen into a barrel of sugar. "You grappled with that villain, just as though you had been as big as he was, and held on to him till one of your boys knocked him into the hole with his fist. You are a brave fellow, and I shall remember you as long as I live."

"And 'none but the brave deserve the fair,'" added Major Gadbury.

"How did you happen to get into this scrape, Mr. Belthorpe?" asked Deck.

"We were all invited to a party at Rock Lodge, and we went. The governor couldn't go, for he insisted upon attending a Union meeting at the Big Bend schoolhouse," replied Tom. "But he promised to call for us on his way home, for he drove us to the Lodge himself. Most of the guests left by midnight, but father did not come, and we could not walk home. But at three o'clock Captain Carms volunteered to send us home when we became impatient."

"My father and I went to that meeting, and so did some of these ruffians that committed this outrage," added Deck.

"But these scoundrels are not Union men," objected Tom.

"But some of them were there, all the same, and some of them got put out. But it is a long story, and we had better be moving before we tell it."

The ladies agreed to this last proposition, for they were in evening dresses, and the chill air of the night made them shiver. The driver of Captain Carms's wagon had come out of the quarry, whither he had retreated, as soon as the danger was passed, and his team was ready to proceed. Deck sent Clinker for his wagon, and he drew it up at the end of the cross-cut.

The ladies were assisted to their seats again, while the two gentlemen took the seat in front of them. Miss Kate insisted that Deck should ride with them, for she wanted to hear the story about the meeting. More than this, she insisted that he should sit on the back seat between her sister and herself. Margie did not object, and the major and Tom only laughed. Deck had his doubts about his ability to tell his story in the midst of such delightful surroundings.

The team started, and at the corner Deck directed Clinker to follow closely after him. But his story was interesting and exciting, and he did not suffer from cold or embarrassment during his recital. When he had disposed of the Union meeting, he described the battle fought at Riverlawn, and the preparations which had been made for the onslaught, including the discovery and removal of the arms and ammunition. He had hardly finished before the wagon stopped at the plantation of Colonel Belthorpe.