"There come some more of the men from the other side of the house," added the captain, as he pointed to the way the orderly had come.
Deck looked, and saw Life Knox, with a dozen troopers, rushing along the gutter through which he had come; but the guerillas did not attempt to molest them, for they were formidable enough to have beaten the whole squad of the enemy, even before they had lost a man.
"Major Lyon sent me after you, Deck," said the sergeant, as he stopped his horse in front of him. "You had a narrow squeak of it that time, my boy."
"No, I didn't, Life; what's the use of making such a to-do about nothing? I'm all right," replied Deck, who thought his father and the rest of them were treating him like an infant.
"But your pa was tearing his hair like a mother that had lost her baby, to think he had sent you into such a tight place," added Knox. "He would 'a' sent the whole company after you in two minutes more. But you are safe, and I thought you'd gone to feed the worms sure."
"The worms will not dine on me just yet. I am going back now to my place on the other side of the enemy," said Deck. "You can come when you get ready, Life."
As he spoke he wheeled his trusty steed, and intimated to him that he was ready; whereupon Ceph made a spring, and darted off at a breakneck speed.
"Hold on, Baby!" shouted the sergeant, calling him by a name he had used before, to which Deck did not object as long as the Kentuckian did not treat him like an infant. "We uns kim over to escort you back!"
"Obey your orders, Life," returned the furious young rider, without even looking behind him.
Knox started after him with all the hurry there was in his steed; but there was hardly a horse in the squadron that could run as fast as Ceph, for he had been trained to this branch of his equine profession as a racer. But none of the guerillas were disposed to meddle with him again; and perhaps the two who had attacked him before had mistaken his intentions. He rode into the presence of the major, saluted him gracefully; and the cavalrymen who had witnessed his encounter broke out in a cheer.