shoulder of the bony
beast, and almost on tip-toe to do it, "had much fall, ground struck me
hard," continued he, his eyes snapping all the while.

"Well, Doctor," remarked one of the other field officers, "we have told
you all along that if you ever got in range with that horse, your life
would hardly be worth talking about."

"They not know him," anxiously said the Doctor.

"Of course they know him. He has the best and plainest ear-mark in the
world."

"Pretty close shoot that, anyhow."

The result of this conversation was, that in the further movement the
Doctor led his horse during the day.

The firing ceased with no damage, save the bruises of the Doctor, and
those received by our tonguey little Corporal, who asserted that the
windage of a shell knocked him off a fence. As he fell into a stone
heap, it is more than probable that he had some good reason for the
movement--besides, why cannot Corporals suffer from wounds of that kind,
frequently so fashionable among officers of higher grade?

The onward movement was resumed. In the course of half an hour the
cannonading again opened, interspersed with occasional volleys of
musketry. The rattling of musketry became incessant. Advancing under
cover of rocky bluffs, the shells passed harmlessly over the Brigade. We
soon ascertained that the Rebels had made a stand at a point where our
advance, from the character of the country, necessarily narrowed into
the compass of a strip of meadow-land. Here a brigade of Rebel infantry
were drawn up in line of battle. Their batteries posted on a neighboring
height, were guided by signals, the country not admitting of extended
observation. The contest was brief. The gleam of the bayonets as they
fell for the charge, broke the Rebel line, and they retired in
considerable confusion to the wood in their rear. Our batteries soon
shelled them from those quarters, and the advance continued--the
skirmishers of both sides keeping up a rattling fire. Some Rebel
earthworks were passed, and late in the afternoon the track of the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad was crossed. The Rebels, before leaving, had
done their utmost to complete the destruction of that much abused road.
At intervals of every one hundred yards, piles of ties surmounted by
rails were upon fire. These were thrown down by our men. About half a
mile beyond the road, in a finely sodded valley, the troops were halted
for the night, pickets posted, and the men prepared their m