keeping the regiments together. It was time for the sun, but it did not
appear. Everything was veiled in clouds and driving rain.

Dick looked at his watch, and saw that it was seven o'clock. They had
intended to attack at this hour, but further advance was impossible
for the time, and, bending their heads, they sought to protect their
ammunition. Presently they started again and toiled along slowly and
painfully for more than two hours. Then, just as they saw the enemy
ahead of them, the storm seemed to reach the very zenith of its fury.

Dick, in the vanguard, beheld earthworks, cannon and troops before
Jackson, but the storm still drove so hard that the Union forces could
not advance to the assault.

"This is certainly a most unusual situation," said Colonel Winchester,
with an effort at cheerfulness. "Here we are, ready to attack, and the
Southerners are ready to defend, but a storm holds us both fast in our
tracks. Our duty to protect our cartridges is even greater than our duty
to attack the enemy."

"The biggest rain must come to an end," said Dick.

But it was nearly noon before they could advance. Then, as the storm
decreased rapidly the trumpets sounded the charge, and horse, foot and
artillery, they pressed forward eagerly through the mud.

The sun broke through the clouds, and Dick saw before them a wood, a
ravine full of thickets, and the road commanded by strong artillery.
The Northern skirmishers were already stealing forward through the wet
bushes and grass, and soon their rifles were crackling. But the Southern
sharpshooters in the thickets were in stronger force, and their rapid
and accurate fire drove back the Northern men. Then their artillery
opened and swept the road, while the Northern batteries were making
frantic efforts to get up through the deep, sticky mud.

But the trumpets were still calling. The Winchester regiment and others,
eager for battle and victory, swept forward. Dick felt once more the
fierce thrill of combat, and, waving his revolver high above his head,
he shouted with the others as they rushed on. The stream of bullets from
the ravine thickened, and the cannon were crashing fast. But the Union
masses did not check their rush for an instant. Although many fell they
charged into the ravine, driving out the enemy, and pursued him on the
other side.

But the Southern cannon, manned by daring gunners, still held the field
and, aided by the thick mud which held back charging