They could not know then the reason; but they learned afterwards that the lieutenant had ordered them not to do so, as he wished to observe the effect of the death of the captain, for he had not moved after he fell. The company seemed to be staggered by the event for the space of a minute. The men all turned their heads towards the woods; and as no shot followed the first one at once, they might have inferred that the fatality to the commander had been the work of an assassin.
This view was immediately confirmed by the captain's successor; for he ordered four troopers to dismount, and go into the woods in search of the murderer. But they did not reach the edge of the forest before fire was opened upon them, and every one of them dropped dead or wounded. The rifle was a terribly effective weapon in the hands of the sharpshooters. The company had certainly fallen into an ambush. The troopers could do nothing on their horses in the woods, and for the moment they were practically helpless.
The fire continued all along the line of riflemen, one discharge at a time, so that no two men should aim at the same soldier or officer; and all along the detachment every one seemed to bring down his man. The lieutenant saw the havoc made in his command; but Captain Gordon did not give the order for his company to advance on the plan he had arranged.
The battle appeared to be fighting itself without any assistance from the summit of the hill, and it was evident that the enemy had no knowledge of any force outside of the forest.
"That lieutenant has just given an order, but I could not make out what he said," observed the colonel. "He is in a tight place, and you have set a very ugly trap for that company to fall into, Captain Gordon."
"The assistance of your company, Colonel, has given me a very decided advantage," replied the captain.
"And you have made excellent use of it. My men are safe in the woods, and the lieutenant seems to be losing his time."
"You can see what his order meant now, for his men are dismounting. They are going into the woods to clean out the enemy, and that is really the only thing he can do," replied Captain Gordon. "It will be time for me to put a finger in the pie very soon, for the protection of your men, if for nothing else."
"You need not trouble your head about the riflemen, for they all have legs; and even Ripley, the oldest man among them, can use his walking-pins as well as any of them. They will retreat through the woods, using their rifles as they retire."
Every alternate man of the company was dismounted, giving the bridle-rein of his horse to one mounted. They double-quicked into the forest; but they began to drop, to cling to the trees for support, or to retire from the field before the observers on the hill lost sight of them. Still Captain Gordon did not give the word to advance.