nd not caring to risk the limbs
of their animals, the cavalrymen went down on foot. In high curiosity,
Deck followed, to find himself in a cold and gloomy place continually
filled with fine spray from the waterfall. True enough, there was a cave
some ten feet high by twenty feet wide beyond the falling waters,
through the bottom of which flowed the brook as peacefully as it flowed
above in the sunshine. Looking ahead, they saw the outlet of the cave,
several hundred yards distant.

"They have outwitted us!" cried Deck, after a moment's examination.
"They came down here and rode right through the cave. Evidently they
were commanded by somebody who knows this locality well. They have a
fine start of us, but if we don't let them know what we have discovered
we may yet take them unawares."

As no one had his horse, all present had to climb back to the top of the
well-hole. As soon as this was done, Major Lyon despatched several
messengers to notify his officers of the truth of the situation, and
then set off at full speed in the direction the retreating enemy had
taken. He was soon joined by Captain Abbey with the first battalion, and
the four companies were urged forward at the best speed the condition of
the road allowed.

The Confederates had made good use of the time gained by the trick they
had played, but they could not go on forever, and by nightfall their
horses were so wearied they refused to get off a walk, and then their
commander, a plucky young man from Montgomery, who was by profession a
surveyor, and well acquainted with the territory, led his men and the
extra horses directly into a bit of swamp ground, surrounded by a
thicket of cypresses. There were but two paths into the swamp, and he
felt tolerably safe from pursuit.

The trick that had been played upon him put Deck upon his mettle, and he
determined, come what might, that the Riverlawns should capture those
particular Confederates ere the journey to Huntsville was resumed. As an
entrance to the swamp would have proved dangerous in the darkness, he
encamped for the night on the outside, but sent out a strong picket
guard to surround the district.

The Confederates endeavored to escape at four in the morning, knowing
that daylight would prove fatal to such an undertaking. They came out of
the swamp on both roads, and an alarm from the two spots rang out almost
simultaneously. But Major Lyon had prepared for this, and at the first
alarm the first bat