. They fought with an impetuosity
which the enemy could not withstand, and a large portion of the latter
justified their record for that day by running away.

There were individual instances of bravery on the part of the foe; but,
as a whole, the attack upon the Riverlawns was feeble and nerveless. It
was fortunate for the entrapped platoon that it was not set upon by
some other company of the Confederate cavalry, rather than one which
had run away from the field of battle; for in that case they might all
have been prisoners of war.

Sergeant Knox remained at the head of the platoon, and after he had
struck down with his powerful right arm two or three that confronted
him, he was avoided by the enemy; but he continued to shout encouraging
words to the men, who did not flinch a hair from the troopers that
beset them in double their own numbers.

"Now forward, my boys!" he cried, as he saw that the entrance was clear
for the passage of the body.

The men pressed on, upsetting the enemy in their path, though most of
them had fallen back out of the reach of the sabres of the Riverlawns;
and with this renewed effort they passed through the entrance and out
of the intrenchments. But they had no sooner reached the outside of the
works than they discovered the rest of the squadron in a fight at the
foot of the first hill, with a whole regiment of Confederate cavalry.
Captain Woodbine had occupied this hill at the beginning of the fight
in this section, and on it Captain Ripley and his riflemen had been
posted later.

The two companies of the First Kentucky were moving forward; but there
was not room enough for them to manoeuvre. As usual, the sharpshooters
were making havoc in the ranks of the regiment, and the head of the
column was falling back to escape the deadly rifle-balls. Life halted
his platoon, and looked them over, puffing like a steam-engine from the
violence of his excitement and the fury of his exertions to save the
command. The prospect before him was not encouraging, for the enemy had
some troops outside of the works.

"Where is Leftenant Lyon?" demanded he of Corporal Tilford, as the
latter rode up to him to give him information in regard to the officer
in command of the platoon.

"I am sorry to say we left him in the enemy's camp," replied the
corporal.

"Left him there!" exclaimed Life, with something like horror in his
expression. "Was he wounded?"

"Worse than that, I am afraid," answered his in