who have never failed. Go back,
I entreat you!"

Then Gordon turned to the troops and cried, as he rose on his toes in his
stirrups:

"Men, you will not fail now!"

Back came the answering shout:

"No! No!" and the whole mass of troops burst into one thunderous, echoing
cry:

"Lee to the rear! Lee to the rear! Lee to the rear!"

Nor would they move until Lee turned and rode back. Then, led by Gordon,
they charged straight upon their foe, who met them with an equal valor.
All day long the battle of Spottsylvania, equal in fierceness and
desperation to that of the Wilderness, swayed to and fro. To Harry as he
remembered them they were much alike. Charge and defense, defense and
charge. Here they gained a little, and there they lost a little.
Now they were stumbling through sanguinary thickets, and then they rushed
across little streams that ran red.

The firing was rapid and furious to an extraordinary degree. The air
rained shell and bullets. Areas of forest between the two armies were
mowed down. More than one large tree was cut through entirely by rifle
bullets. Other trees here, as in the Wilderness, caught fire and flamed
high.

Midnight put an end to the battle, with neither gaining the victory
and both claiming it. Harry had lost another horse, killed under him,
and now he walked almost dazed over the terrible field of Spottsylvania,
where nearly thirty thousand men had fallen, and nothing had yet been
decided.

Yet in Harry's heart the fear of the grim and silent Grant was growing.
The Northern general had fought within a few days two battles, each the
equal of Waterloo, and Harry felt sure that he was preparing for a third.
The combat of the giants was not over, and with an anxious soul he waited
the next dawn. They remained some days longer in the Wilderness, or the
country adjacent to it, and there was much skirmishing and firing of
heavy artillery, but the third great pitched battle did not come quite as
soon as Harry expected. Even Grant, appalled by the slaughter, hesitated
and began to maneuver again by the flank to get past Lee. Then the
fighting between the skirmishers and heavy detached parties became
continuous.

During the days that immediately followed Harry was much with Sherburne.
The brave colonel was one of Stuart's most trusted officers. Despite the
forests and thickets there was much work for the cavalry to do, while the
two armies circled and circled, each seeking