solution, was hurrying forward his massive
columns, their eagerness growing as the sound of the battle swelled.
They would overwhelm the Union force, sweep it away.

Yet the time gained by Buford had a value beyond all measurements.
The crash of the battle had been heard by Union troops, too, and
Reynolds, one of the ablest Union generals, was leading a great column
at the utmost speed to the relief of the general who had held his ground
so well. A signalman stationed in the belfry of the seminary reported
to Buford the advance of Reynolds, and the officer, eager to verify it,
rushed up into the belfry.

Then Buford saw the columns coming forward at the double quick, Reynolds
in his eagerness galloping at their head, and leaving them behind.
He looked in the other direction and he saw the men of Hill advancing
with equal speed. He saw on one road the Stars and Stripes and on
the other the Stars and Bars. He rushed back down the steps and met
Reynolds.

"The devil is to pay!" he cried to Reynolds.

"How do we stand?"

"We can hold on until the arrival of the First Corps."

Buford sprang on his horse, and the two generals, reckless of death,
galloped among the men, encouraging the faint-hearted, reforming the
lines, and crying to them to hold fast, that the whole Army of the
Potomac was coming.

Harry felt the hardening of resistance. The smoke was so dense that he
could not see for a while the fresh troops coming to the help of Buford,
but he knew nevertheless that they were there. Then he heard a great
shouting behind him, as Hill's men, coming upon the field, rushed into
action. But Jackson, the great Jackson whom he had followed through all
his victories, the man who saw and understood everything, was not there!

The genius of battle was for the moment on the other side. Reynolds,
so ably pushing the work that Buford had done, was seizing the best
positions for his men. He was acting with rapidity and precision,
and the troops under him felt that a great commander was showing them
the way. His vigor secured the slopes and crest of Cemetery Hill,
but the Southern masses nevertheless were pouring forward in full tide.

The combat had now lasted about two hours, and, a stray gust of wind
lifting the smoke a little, Harry caught a glimpse of a vast blazing
amphitheater of battle. He had regarded it at first as an affair of
vanguards, but now he realized suddenly that this was the great battle
they had