"
"Their cannon fire is sinking!" exclaimed Colonel Talbot. "In a minute
it will cease and then will come the charge! 'Tis Carrington's way,
and a good way! Hark! Listen to it! The signal! Ready, men! Ready!
Here they come!"
The great cannonade ceased so abruptly that for a few moments the
stillness was more awful than the thunder of the guns had been. The
recruits could hear the great pulses in their temples throbbing.
Then the silence was pierced by the shrill notes of a brazen bugle,
steadily rising higher and always calling insistently to the men to
come. Then they heard the heavy thud of many men advancing with
swiftness and regularity.
The Southern troops were at the earthworks in double rows, and the
gunners were at the guns, all eager, all watching intently for what
might come out of the smoke. But the rising breeze suddenly caught the
great bank of mists and vapors and whirled the whole aside. Then Harry
saw. He saw a long line of men, their front bristling with the blue
steel of bayonets, and behind them other lines and yet other lines.
It seemed to Harry that the points of the bayonets were almost in his
face, and then, at the shouted command, the whole earthwork burst into a
blaze.
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