soldiers.

"I was afeared you had gone where you couldn't hear the bugle-call,
littl' un, and I bless the Lord with all my might that you ain't food
for the worms or the crows," said the big Kentuckian fervently. "You
oughtn't to gone off without me; but I reckon"--

"That will do for now, Sergeant Knox!" shouted Captain Gordon. "We have
no time for long stories. Attention--company!"

As Deck rode to his place at the head of the second platoon, Captain
Gordon and Lieutenant Belthorpe grasped his hand, and spoke a word of
welcome to him. The men in the ranks greeted him with pleasant words.
The first company countermarched; and as the captain came to the
position of the second lieutenant, he directed him to march at his side
in his capacity as guide. Fronklyn took a similar position at the side
of Captain Truman, and both companies moved as the guides directed.

"You have had a hard time of it, Deck," said Captain Gordon as they
left the road and entered the field.

"Not very, Captain. Both Fronklyn and myself were knocked from our
horses; and it would have been all up with me if the sergeant had not
dragged me out of the _melee_. But I was only stunned by the flat
side of a sabre, as Fronklyn was by a pistol-bullet," Deck explained.

"But you were within the breastworks of the enemy?"

"We were, forced in by the crowd of runaways from the battle-field. We
both came to our senses, kept out of sight for a while, then took
possession of a boat astern of a steamer, and floated down the
Cumberland to Robertsport, or a little farther, and got ashore. I
haven't time to tell the whole story. Three sons of Colonel Hickman
were with Captain Ripley's riflemen; and with them we met the colonel.
We cleaned out the robbers from his mansion. I think we had better halt
here, Captain Gordon, and do a little scouting."

The suggestion was promptly adopted, and the company came to a halt
just at the foot of the first hill. Deck and Knox were sent to the top
of the next hill on foot, both armed with carbines. There were trees
and bushes on the summit, but not on the sides, of the elevation. They
took a position in the shelter of this growth, but the guerillas were
not yet in sight. They must have halted for some time; and Deck
conjectured that Captain Grundy must have joined them, and had taken
the time to tell his story.

"I see nothing of them yet, Life," said the lieutenant, after he had
surveyed the country in all directions