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They were asleep about as soon as they struck the bed. Cuffy came to the barn about nine o'clock in the forenoon to attend to the horses. He led them all out to water, and then gave them another feed in tubs. His guests had complained of fatigue, and he allowed them to sleep as long as they desired. It was noon when Fronklyn awoke, and he had slept his full eight hours.
You are a lieutenant, and they will be glad to get you; for they have not bagged many officers in the last twenty-four hours," replied Fronklyn. "Sergeant, if you are dissatisfied with my movements, we are not in the camp or in the field, and you are at liberty to retire and look out for yourself." "I would drown myself in the river before I would do that!" protested the sergeant warmly.
"I obey your orders, Sergeant; but the villains will not hear us at this distance," replied Warren Hickman. "I have no doubt they are looking for the money in the house." At this suggestion they rode some distance farther; and, turning another bend, Fronklyn discovered a three-story building at what appeared to be the end of the avenue.
Fronklyn opened the front door of the mansion, and then deposited himself behind the safe, the house door concealing him on the open side. His carbine was in condition for immediate use, and he had taken a revolver from the horse he had ridden belonging to the trooper who had perished in the river.
"I had just struck down a trooper with my sabre when I heard the tramp of a horse behind me. I was about to wheel so as to face him, when I felt a blow on my head, and I can remember nothing more." "You fell on the field, as I had before you." "Are you wounded, Fronklyn?" "I am slightly; and my case seems to be something like yours, though it was a pistol-ball that brought me down.
"All right; I agree with you in regard to the risk, but I will do this instead of you," replied Fronklyn. "Are you accustomed to handling a boat, and especially to rowing?" asked Deck. "I never handled a boat at all, and never rowed one in my life," answered the sergeant. "Then I must do this job;" and the lieutenant started on his mission.
But, Sergeant Fronklyn, you are disgruntled, as I have never seen you before." "Because it seems to me you are running as fast as the mud will permit you into the very jaws of the lion; or, if that is too figurative for your plain common-sense, into the hands of the enemy.
Deck stated his plan, which he had arranged after a survey of the surroundings of the mansion. It involved a change of position among the men, the most important of which was placing the planter behind the safe in the hall, thus releasing Fronklyn for more active duty. The colonel was willing, and even glad, to take the position assigned to him, and, like a good soldier, asked no questions.
"You need not be concerned about me; I can finish the affair if the villains will only show themselves," replied the colonel; and his cheerful tones indicated that he was happy in his new position. Deck and Fronklyn passed around into the rear of the hall, where they found Warren Hickman standing at the door of the dining-room, where he could not be seen from the head of the back stairs.
"Considering what we have been through since the sun went down last night, I think we are very well fixed to-day. We have a couple of horses to go where we please, and all we have to do is to ride back to the outside of the Beech-Grove camp of the enemy; for we have seen enough of the inside of it," replied Fronklyn.
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