l have to capture it," said Harry.

Now the time for talking ceased. The rifle fire on the flanks was
rising to a steady rattle, and then came the heavy boom of the cannon
on either side. Once more the air was filled with the shriek of shells
and the whistling of rifle bullets. Men were falling fast, and through
the rising clouds of smoke Harry saw the blue lines still coming on.
It seemed to him that they would be overwhelmed, trampled under foot,
routed, but he heard Colonel Talbot shouting:

"Steady, Invincibles! Steady!"

And Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, walking up and down the lines,
also uttered the same shout. But the blue line never ceased coming.
Harry could see the faces dark with sweat and dust and powder still
pressing on. It was well for the Southerners that nearly all of them
had been trained in the use of the rifle, and it was well for them, too,
that most of their officers were men of skill and experience. Recruits,
they stood fast nevertheless and their rifles sent the bullets in an
unceasing bitter hail straight into the advancing ranks of blue.
There was no sound from the bands now. If they were playing somewhere
in the rear no one heard. The fire of the cannon and rifles was a
steady roll, louder than thunder and more awful.

The Northern troops hesitated at last in face of such a resolute stand
and such accurate firing. Then they retreated a little and a shout of
triumph came from the Southern lines, but the respite was only for a
moment. The men in blue came on again, walking over their dead and past
their wounded.

"If they keep pressing in, and it looks as if they would, they will
crush us," murmured Colonel Talbot, but he did not let the Invincibles
hear him say it. He encouraged them with voice and example, and they
bent forward somewhat to meet the second charge of the Northern army,
which was now coming. The smoke lifted a little and Harry saw the green
fields and the white house of the Widow Henry standing almost in the
middle of the battlefield, but unharmed. Then his eyes came back to the
hostile line, which, torn by shot and shell, had closed up, nevertheless,
and was advancing again in overwhelming force.

Harry now had a sudden horrible fear that they would be trodden under
foot. He looked at St. Clair and saw that his face was ghastly.
Langdon had long since ceased to smile or utter words of happy
philosophy.

"Open up and let the guns through!" some one sudde