They talked, too, of the navy which had run past forts on the
Mississippi, and which had shown anew all its ancient skill and courage.
As they talked, twilight came, and the road led once more through the
deep woods, where the shade turned the twilight into the darkness of
night. Then rifles flashed suddenly in the thickets, and a half-dozen
horsemen fell. The whole column was thrown for an instant or two into
disorder, frightened horses rearing and stamping, and, before their
riders could regain control, another volley came, emptying a half-dozen
saddles.
Colonel Hertford gave rapid commands. Then, shouting and waving his
saber he galloped boldly into the forest, reckless of trees and bushes,
and Dick, the sergeant, and the whole troop followed. The lad was nearly
swept from his horse by a bough, but he recovered himself in time to see
the figures of men on foot fleeing rapidly through the dusk.
Bullets pattered on bark and leaves, and the angry horsemen, after
discharging their carbines, swept forward with circling sabers. But the
irregulars who had ambushed them, save a few fallen before the bullets,
escaped easily in the dense woods, and under cover of the darkness which
was now coming down, thick and fast.
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