"You are out of your reckoning."
"There's some more on 'em over to the brook. I reckon I'll go over, and let 'em know you're here," suggested the farmer.
"If you do, you will get a bit of lead through your upper story," replied Deck, as he rode on.
He had hardly started his horse before a volley was heard in the direction of the hill road.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE ENEMY'S BATTLE WITH THE MUD
The sound of the volley did not come from the top of the hill, and Captain Gordon would not have been so simple as to waste the powder and balls in the carbines of his men at an impracticable distance from the object of his attack. Lieutenant Belthorpe must have seen his force as soon as he reached the top of the hill; and no doubt he had hurried to join in the attack at the right moment, so that it could be made in the front and rear at the same time.
But plans do not always work precisely as they are arranged beforehand. Deck turned his steed as soon as he heard the volley, and hastened back to notify the sergeant; but Fronklyn had heard the discharge, and marched on the instant. For a non-commissioned officer, he was decidedly a man of parts, though he had not been in a fight till that day.