him around so that he faced the
enemy again. "It's awful bad manners to rush out of a matinee just as
the performance begins. You disturb the people who've come to enjoy the
show. Keep you seat till the curatin goes down. You'll find enough to
interest you."

The same sudden inspiration of common-sense that had flashed upon
Captain Bennett, in encountering the snake now raised him to the level
of this emergency. He comprehended that the volley they had received had
emptied every Rebel gun. The distance was so short that the enemy could
be reached before they had time to re-load. But no time must be lost
in attempting to form, or in having the order regularly given by the
Colonel. He sprang toward the enemy, waving his sword, and shouted in
tones that echoed back from the cliffs:

"Attention, BATTALION! Charge bayonets! FORWARD, DOUBLE-QUICK, MARCH!"

A swelling cheer answered him. His own company ran forward to follow his
impetuous lead. The others joined in rapidly. Away they dashed down
the side of the declivity, and in an instant more were swarming up the
opposite side toward the astonished Rebels. Among these divided councils
reigned. Some were excited snapping unloaded guns at the oncoming foe;
others were fixing bayonets, and sturdily urging their comrades to do
likewise, and meet the rushing wave of cold steel with a counter wave.
The weaker-hearted ones were already clambering up the mountain-side out
of reach of harm.

There was no time for debate. The blue line led by Bennett flung itself
upon the dark-brown mass of Rebels like an angry wave dashing over a
flimsy bank of sand, and in an instant there was nothing to be done but
pursue the disrupted and flying fragments. It was all over.

Chapter III. A Race.

"Some have greatness thrust upon them." -- Twelfth Night.

The unexpected volley probably disturbed private Jacob Alspaugh's mind
more than that of any other man in the regiment. It produced there an
effect akin to the sensation of nauseous emetic in his stomach.

He had long enjoyed the enviable distinction of being the "best man"
among combative youths of Sardis, and his zeal and invariable success
in the fistic tournaments which form so large a part of the interest in
life of a certain class of young men in villages, had led his townsmen
to entertain extravagant hopes as to his achievements in the field.

But, like most of his class, his courage was purely physical, and a low
o