, who had lost those
two most precious days, and who had finally failed to make use of all
his numbers at the same time, now, great in preparation, as usual, made
ready for the emergency of the morrow.

All the powerful and improved artillery which McClellan had in such
abundance was brought up. The mathematical minds and the workshops of
the North bore full fruit upon this sanguinary field of Antietam. The
shattered divisions of Hooker, with which Dick and his comrades lay,
were sheltered behind a great line of artillery. No less than thirty
rifled guns of the latest and finest make were massed in one battery to
command the road by which the South might attack.

To the south the Northern artillery was equally strong, and beyond the
Antietam also it was massed in battery after battery to protect its men.

But the coming twilight found both sides too exhausted to move. The
sun was setting upon the fiercest single day's fighting ever seen in
America. Nearly twenty-five thousand dead or wounded lay upon the field.
More than one fourth of the Southern army was killed or wounded, yet it
was in Lee's mind to attack on the morrow.

After night had come the weary Southern generals--those left
alive--reported to Lee as he sat on his horse in the road. The shadows
gathered on his face, as they told of their awful losses, and of the
long list of high officers killed or wounded. Jackson was among the
last, and he was gloomy. The man who had always insisted upon battle did
not insist upon it now. Hood reported that his Texans, who had fought so
valiantly for the Dunkard church, were almost destroyed.

The scene in the darkness with the awful battlefield around them was one
which not even the greatest of painters could have reproduced. When the
last general had told his tale of slaughter and destruction, they sat
for a while in silence. They realized the smallness of their army, and
the immense extent of their losses. The light wind that had sprung
up swept over the dead faces of thousands of the bravest men in the
Southern army. They had held their ground, but on the morrow McClellan
could bring into line three to one and an artillery far superior alike
in quality, weight and numbers to theirs.

The strange, intense silence lasted. Every eye was upon Lee. When the
generals were making their reports he had shown more emotion than they
had ever seen on his face before. Now he was quiet, but he drew his
lips close together, his e