ittle way off, enthroned on its
many hills, with the James stretching white and sinuous from its feet to
the horizon. We could see the streets, the suburbs, the bridges, the
outlaying roads, nay, the moving masses of people. The Capitol sat white
and colossal on Shockoe Hill, the dingy buildings of the Tredegar works
blackened the river-side above, the hovels of rockets clustered at the
hither limits, and one by one we made out familiar hotels, public
edifices, and vicinities. The fortifications were revealed in part only,
for they took the hue of the soil, and blended with it; but many camps
were plainly discernible, and by means of the glasses we separated tent
from tent, and hut from hut. The Confederates were seen running to the
cover of the woods, that we might not discover their numbers, but we
knew the location of their camp-fires by the smoke that curled toward
us.

A panorama so beautiful would have been rare at any time, but this was
thrice interesting from its past and coming associations. Across those
plains the hordes at our feet were either to advance victoriously, or be
driven eastward with dusty banners and dripping hands. Those white
farm-houses were to be receptacles for the groaning and the mangled;
thousands were to be received beneath the turf of those pasture fields;
and no rod of ground on any side, should not, sooner or later, smoke
with the blood of the slain.

"Guess I got 'em now, jest where I want 'em," said Lowe, with a
gratified laugh; "jest keep still as you mind to, and squint your eye
through my glass, while I make a sketch of the roads and the country.
Hold hard there, and anchor fast!" he screamed to the people below. Then
he fell imperturbably to work, sweeping the country with his hawk-eye,
and escaping nothing that could contribute to the completeness of his
jotting.

We had been but a few minutes thus poised, when close below, from the
edge of a timber stretch, puffed a volume of white smoke. A second
afterward, the air quivered with the peal of a cannon. A third, and we
heard the splitting shriek of a shell, that passed a little to our left,
but in exact range, and burst beyond us in the ploughed field, heaving
up the clay as it exploded.

"Ha!" said Lowe, "they have got us foul! Haul in the cables--quick!" he
shouted, in a fierce tone.

At the same instant, the puff, the report, and the shriek were repeated;
but this time the shell burst to our right in mid-air, and scatter