With the aid of the guides the camp of the rebel recruits was surrounded and the whole party was taken by surprise. At first they were inclined to fight, but when they saw their assailants were double their number, and also were better armed, they considered discretion the better part of valor and gave up as gracefully as they could.
The lieutenant returned in triumph to Rolla with his prisoners and their horses. To guard against accidents the prisoners were not mounted on their own steeds, but carried in a wagon which formed a part of their camp equipment. Four soldiers with their carbines ready rode on each side of the wagon, and if any attempt had been made to escape it would have resulted badly for those who tried it.
The captured horses were turned over to the quartermaster, with the exception of two, which the colonel gave to Jack and Harry for their own use. Jack selected the one which had belonged to the captain, and remarked as he did so that he had carried out that gentleman's wishes in helping himself to a horse, though possibly not in the way the latter intended.
The colonel praised the boys for what they had done, but advised them to give the region of their late operations a wide berth in future.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE REBELS ON THE OFFENSIVE—SIEGE OF LEXINGTON.
The morning after their arrival at Rolla, the prisoners taken through the instrumentality of Jack and Harry were sent to St. Louis, where they were held until an exchange was arranged. Colonel Wyman thought the interests of the service would be advanced by keeping the captured captain and his comrades in ignorance of how their seizure was accomplished, and in obedience to his orders the two youths kept out of the way of the prisoners, and nothing was said in their presence that could enlighten them.
It was several months before the captain found out how cleverly he had been taken. At first he was inclined to be very angry with the boys, and vowed vengeance upon them if he ever met them again; but on reflection he remarked that all was fair in love and war, and perhaps he was not quite free from blame in talking so readily with two entire strangers. “They played the game well,” said he; “splendidly, in fact, for a pair of youngsters, and if I can ever give them a helping hand when they're in trouble I 'll do it.” He was n't at all a bad sort of fellow, that captain, and you can be sure that after that he was n't quite so ready to confide in persons whom he had never seen before.
Not only did the boys have a selection from the captured horses, but they had a choice of saddles and also of the pistols which formed the armament of the prisoners.