"So it is, Dick. I was here once, when I was a boy before the Mexican
war. Down on the bar, the low place between the bluffs and the river,
was the dueling ground, and it was also the place for sudden fights. It
and Natchez, I suppose, were rivals for the wild and violent life of the
great river."

"Well, sir, it has a bigger fight on its hands now than was ever dreamed
of by any of those men."

"I think you're right, Dick, but the general means to attack at once. We
may carry it by storm."

Dick looked again at the vast entanglement of creeks, bayous, ravines,
forests and thickets. Like other young officers, he had his opinion, but
he had the good sense to keep it to himself. He and the colonel rejoined
the regiment, and presently the trumpets were calling again for battle.
The men of Champion Hill, sanguine of success, marched straight upon
Vicksburg. All the officers of the Winchester regiment were dismounted,
as their portion of the line was too difficult for horses.

Their advance, as at Champion Hill, was over ground wooded heavily and
they soon heard the reports of the rifles before them. Bullets began to
cut the leaves and twigs, carrying away the bushes, scarring the trees
and now and then taking human life. The Winchester men fired
whenever they saw an enemy, and with them it was largely an affair
of sharpshooters, but on both left and right the battle rolled more
heavily. The Southerners, behind their powerful fortifications at the
heads of the ravines and on the plateau, beat back every attack.

Before long the trumpets sounded the recall and the short battle ceased.
Grant had discovered that he could not carry Vicksburg by a sudden
rush and he recoiled for a greater effort. He discovered, too, from the
resistance and the news brought later by his scouts that an army almost
as numerous as his own was in the town.

The Winchester regiment made camp on a solid, dry piece of ground beyond
the range of the Southern works, and the men, veterans now, prepared
for their comfort. The comrades ate supper to the slow booming of great
guns, where the advanced cannon of either side engaged in desultory
duel.

The distant reports did not disturb Dick. They were rather soothing. He
was glad enough to rest after so much exertion and so much danger and
excitement.

"I feel as if I were an empty shell," he said, "and I've got to wait
until nature comes along and fills up the shell again with a human
being."

"In