"I reckon we needn't fire another shot, for the ruffians won't go near that raft again," added Levi. "I fired over their heads, as I told you I should, and nobody was hurt by that shot. I dropped one man behind that tree, and that is all the mischief I have done." "Are you sorry for that one?" asked Deck. "I am sorry for him, but not that I hit him, for he might have killed two or three of our people from his hiding-place behind the tree. I don't believe in killing anybody as long as it can possibly be avoided; but the ruffians began the shooting, and they are responsible for the consequences. At least half a dozen Union men have been killed in this county by those ruffians, or those like them; and your father might have been swinging from a big tree by this time if we hadn't taken the bull by the horns. No, I am not sorry for anything I have done!" "And the house would have been burnt down, and mother and the girls subjected to the insults of these miscreants," added Artie; and all three of them were much moved as they contemplated the possibilities before them. "Can you see anything of our people over there, Deck?" asked Levi. "Not a thing; it is too dark." "I don't believe there will be anything more to do at the fort to-night, though the affair may not be over yet," continued Levi, after he had anxiously peered through the gloom to discover the rest of the defenders of Riverlawn. "I want you, Deck, to go up to the bridge, and down the creek road, and ascertain what our people are doing. You may report to Colonel Belthorpe that we have driven off the builders of the raft, and that the main body of the ruffians have fallen back from the road into the grove." "All right, Levi," replied Deck, who was very glad to be appointed to such a mission; and, with his breech-loader on his shoulder, he marched in the direction indicated at a lively pace, though he was so tired and sleepy that it required a determined effort to enable him to keep on his feet, for it was now two o'clock in the morning. When he reached the bridge he found there, to his intense astonishment, a dozen horses, some of them with saddles and bridles on, and others with bridles, and blankets in place of saddles. They were in charge of Frank the coachman, with Woolly and Mose to assist him. CHAPTER XXIII THE PARTY ATTACKED IN THE CROSS-CUT Deck Lyon could not imagine any possible use that could be made of the horses in charge of the boys, and it was not probable that those in care of them could afford him any information on the subject. It was evident that some new movement was contemplated, and it looked as though the commander of the forces intended to chase the ruffians with mounted men. "Where is my father, Frank?" asked Deck. "He's down the road with the rest of them; but I reckon they are all marching back to the bridge," replied the coachman. "What are you going to do with all these horses?" asked Deck, as he began to move on.