h cannon on either flank,
appeared across the fields. It was Burnside with the bulk of the
Northern army moving down upon them. Harry was standing beside Colonel
Talbot, ready to carry his orders, and he heard the veteran say, between
his teeth:

"The Yankees have fooled us, and this is the great battle at last."

The two forces looked at each other for a few moments. Elsewhere great
guns and rifles were already at work, but the sounds came distantly.
On the hill and in the fields there was silence, save for the steady
tramp of the advancing Northern troops. Then from the rear of the
marching lines suddenly came a burst of martial music. The Northern
bands, by a queer inversion, were playing Dixie:

"In Dixie's land
I'll take my stand,
To live and die for Dixie.
Look away! Look away!
Down South in Dixie."

Harry's feet beat to the tune, the wild and thrilling air played for the
first time to troops going into battle.

"We must answer that," he said to St. Clair.

"Here comes the answer," said St. Clair, and the Southern bands began
to play "The Girl I Left Behind Me." The music entered Harry's veins.
He could not look without a quiver upon the great mass of men bearing
down upon them, but the strains of fife and drum put courage in him and
told him to stand fast. He saw the face of Colonel Talbot grow darker
and darker, and he had enough experience himself to know that the odds
were heavily against them.

The intense burning sun poured down a flood of light, lighting up the
opposing ranks of blue and gray, and gleaming along swords and bayonets.
Nearer and nearer came the piercing notes of Dixie.

"They march well," murmured Colonel Talbot, "and they will fight well,
too."

He did not know that McDowell himself, the Northern commander, was
now before them, driving on his men, but he did know that the courage
and skill of his old comrades were for the present in the ascendant.
Burnside was at the head of the division and it seemed long enough to
wrap the whole Southern command in its folds and crush it.

Scattered rifle shots were heard on either flank, and the young
Invincibles began to breathe heavily. Millions of black specks danced
before them in the hot sunshine, and their nervous ears magnified every
sound tenfold.

"I wish that tune the Yankees are playing was ours," said Tom Langdon.
"I think I could fight battles by it."

"Then we'l