ld friends they had left at Fort Clifton. They knew how
those rascals on the other side of the valley were enjoying the sport.
They could hear, in imagination, the shouts of the cannoniers as they
saw their shells bursting so prettily, and rammed home another shot.

[Illustration]

There was some impediment ahead, and there the column stood, a fair mark
for these rascals. There was no help near, and all that could be done
was to stand firm and wait orders; but help was coming.

A cloud of dust was approaching from the rear of the column. All eyes
were strained to see what it might mean. Presently the artillerymen
recognized a well-known sound. A battery was coming in full gallop, the
drivers lashing their horses and yelling like madmen. The guns bounded
along as though they would outrun the horses, and with rush, roar, and
rattle they approached the front of the battalion. Some fellow in the
Second Company Howitzers sung out, "Old Henry Carter! Hurrah! for the
Third Company! Give it to 'em, boys!" It was, indeed, the Third Company
of Howitzers, long separated from the Second, with their gallant captain
at their head!

Not a moment was lost. The guns were in battery, and the smoke of the
first shot was curling about the heads of the men in the column in
marvelously quick time. Friends and comrades in the column called to the
men at the guns, and they, as they stepped in and out, responded with
cheerful, ringing voices, "Hello, Bill!" "How are you, Joe?" Bang!
"Pretty"--Bang!--"well, I thank you." Bang! "Oh! we're giving it to 'em
now." Bang!

As the battalion moved on, the gallant boys of the Third Company
finished their work. The disappointed enemy limbered up, slipped into
the woods and departed. Cheered by this fortunate meeting with old
comrades, with the pleasant odor of the smoke lingering around them,
these hitherto bereft and mournful artillerymen pushed on, laughing at
the discomfiture of the enemy, and feeling that though deprived of their
guns by the misfortunes of war, there was still left at least one
battery worthy to represent the artillery of the army.

As the column marched slowly along, some sharp-eyed man discovered three
of the enemy's skirmishers in a field away on the left. More for
amusement than anything else, it was proposed to fire at them. A group
of men gathered on the roadside, a volley was fired, and, to the
amazement of the marksmen, for the distance was great, one of the
skirmishers