the guns. Without delaying a moment, Sherburne
flung his troops in between, although they were outnumbered twenty to
one or more. He did not expect to stop them; he merely hoped to delay
them a few minutes, and therefore he offered himself as a sacrifice.

Harry was beside Sherburne as they galloped straight toward the Northern
cavalry, firing their short carbines and then swinging their sabres.

"They'll ride over us!" he shouted to Sherburne.

"But we'll trouble 'em a little as they pass!" the captain shouted back.

Harry shut his teeth hard together. A shiver ran over him, and then his
face grew hot. The pulses in his temples beat heavily. He was sure
that Sherburne and he and all the rest were going to perish. The long
and massive Northern line was coming on fast. They, too, had fired
their carbines, and now thousands of sabres flashed through the mists.
Harry was swinging his own sword, but as the great force bore down upon
them, the white mist seemed to turn to red and the long line of horsemen
fused into a solid mass, its front flashing with steel.

He became conscious, as the space between them closed rapidly, that a
heavy crackling fire was bursting from a wood between the Northern
cavalry and the river. The Southern skirmishers, brushed away at first,
had returned swiftly, and now they were sending a rain of bullets upon
the blue cavalrymen. Many saddles were emptied, but the line went on,
and struck Sherburne's troop.

Harry saw a man lean from his horse and slash at him with a sabre.
He had no sabre of his own, only a small sword, but he cut with all his
might at the heavy blade instead of the man, and he felt, rather than
saw, the two weapons shatter to pieces. Then his horse struck another,
and, reeling in the saddle, he snatched out a pistol and began to fire
at anything that looked like a human shape.

He heard all about him a terrible tumult of shots and shouts and the
thunder of horses' hoofs. He still saw the red mist and a thousand
sabres flashing through it, and he heard, too, the clash of steel on
steel. The Northern line had been stopped one minute, two minutes,
and maybe three. He was conscious afterwards that in some sort of
confused way he was trying to measure the time. But he was always quite
certain that it was not more than three minutes. Then the Northern
cavalry passed over them.

Harry's horse was fairly knocked down by the impetus of the Northern
charge, and the y