any one
who might be passing in the ravine, although there was little danger now
from searchers with a great battle going on. Meanwhile he watched the
combat with an eagerness fully equal to that of the old colonel.

The mighty crash of cannon and rifles together continued, but for a
little while the smoke banked up in front so densely that the whole
combat was hidden from them. Then a wind slowly rolled the smoke away.
The figures of the men began to appear like shadowy tracery, and then
emerged, distinct and separate from the haze.

"They are nearer now," said the Colonel. "I can plainly see their long
lines moving and their light guns coming with them. But our batteries
are raking them horribly. Their men are falling by the scores and
hundreds."

Miss Woodville uttered a deep sigh and turned her face away. But she
looked again in a few moments. The terrible spell was upon her, too.

Dick's nerves were quivering. His heart was with the assailants and
theirs with the assailed, but he would not speak aloud against the hopes
of Colonel Woodville and his daughter, since he was in their house, such
as it was, and, in a measure, under their protection.

"Their charge is splendid," continued the colonel, "and I hope Pemberton
has made full use of the ground for defense! He will need all the help
he can get! Oh, to be out of the battle on such a day! The smoke is in
the way again and I can see nothing. Now it has passed and the enemy is
still advancing, but our fire grows hotter and hotter! The shells and
the grape and the canister and the bullets are smashing through them.
They cannot live under it! They must go back!"

Nevertheless the blue lines came steadily toward the Southern
earthworks. Dick saw officers, some ahorse, and some afoot, rushing
about and encouraging the men, and he saw many fall and lie still while
the regiments passed on.

"They are in the nearer thickets," cried the colonel, "and now they're
climbing the slopes! Ah, you riflemen, your target is there!"

The Northern army was so near now that the Southern rifle fire was
beating upon it like a storm. Never flinching, the men of the west and
northwest hurled themselves upon the powerful fortified positions. Some
reached shelves of the plateau almost at the mouths of the guns and hung
there, their comrades falling dead or dying around them, but now the
rebel yell began to swell along the vast line, and reached the ears of
those in the ravine.

"T