The division of Jackson reached Fredericksburg the next day and went into camp, partly in the rear of the town, and a portion of it further down the Rappahannock. Harry2, as an aide, rode back and forth3 on many errands while the troops were settling into place. Once more he saw General Lee on his famous white horse, Traveler, conferring with Jackson on Little Sorrel. And the stalwart and bearded Longstreet was there, too.
But Harry's heart bled when he rode into the ancient town of Fredericksburg, a place homelike and picturesque5 in peaceful days, but now lying between two mighty6 armies, directly within their line of fire, and abandoned for a time by its people, all save a hardy7 few.
The effect upon him was startling. He rode along the deserted8 streets and looked at the closed windows, like the eyeless sockets9 of a blind man. In the streets mud and slush and snow had gathered, with no attempt of man to clean them away, but the wheels of the cannon10 had cut ruts in them a foot deep. The great white colonial houses, with their green shutters11 fastened tightly, stood lone12 and desolate13 amid their deserted lawns. No smoke rose from the chimneys. The shops were closed. There was no sound of a child's voice in the whole town. It was the first time that Harry had ever ridden through a deserted city, and it was truly a city of the dead to him.
"It's almost as bad as a battlefield after the battle is over," he said to Dalton, who was with him.
"It gives you a haunted, weird14 feeling," said Dalton, looking at the closed windows and smokeless chimneys.
But the people of Fredericksburg had good cause to go. Two hundred thousand men, hardened now to war, faced one another across the two hundred yards of the Rappahannock. Four hundred union cannon on the other side of the river could easily smash their little city to pieces. The people were scattered15 among their relatives in the farmhouses16 and villages about Fredericksburg, eagerly awaiting the news that the invincible17 Lee and Jackson had beaten back the hated invader18.
But the Southern army, save for a small force, did not occupy Fredericksburg itself.
Along the low ridge19, a mile or so west of the town, Longstreet had been posted and he had dug trenches20 and gunpits. The crest21 of this ridge, called Marye's Hill, was bare, and here, in addition to the pits and trenches, Longstreet threw up breastworks. Down the slopes were ravines and much timber, making the whole position one of great strength. Harry gazed at it as he carried one of his messages from general to general, and he was enough of a soldier to know that an enemy who attacked here was undertaking22 a mighty task.
But Burnside did not move, and the somber23 blanket of winter thickened. More snows fell and the icy rains came again. Then the mercury slid down until it reached zero. Thick ice formed over everything and some of the shallower brooks24 froze solidly in their beds. The Southern lads were not nearly so well equipped against the winter as their foes25. Not many had heavy overcoats, and blankets and shoes were thin and worn.
The forest was now their refuge. The river was lined thickly with it, running for a long distance, and thousands of axes began to bite into the timber. Hardy youths, skilled in such work, they rapidly built log huts or shelters for themselves, and within these or outside under the trees innumerable fires blazed along the Rappahannock, the crackling flames sending a defiance26 to other such flames beyond the frozen river.
Harry had a letter from Dr. Russell, which had come by the way of the mountains and Richmond. He had already heard of the terrible day of Perryville in Kentucky, and the doctor had been able to confirm his earlier news that his father, Colonel Kenton, had passed through it safely. But the hostile armies in the west had gone down into Tennessee, and there were reports that they would soon move toward each other for a great battle. It seemed that the rival forces in both east and west would meet at nearly the same time in terrible conflict.
Dr. Russell told that Dick Mason had been wounded in the combat at Perryville, but had been nursed back to health by his mother, who with others had found him upon the field. He had since gone into Tennessee to rejoin the union army, and his mother had returned to Pendleton.
Harry folded the letter, put it in his pocket, and for a while he was very thoughtful.
It was a great relief to be sure that his father had gone safely through Perryville, and that Dick Mason, although wounded there, was well again. His heart yearned27 over both. His devotion to his father had always been strong and Dick Mason had stood in the place of a brother. They were alive for the present at least, but Harry knew of the sinister28 threat that hung over the west. The terrible battle that was to be fought at Stone River was already sending forth its preliminary signals, and for a little while Harry thought more of those marching forces in Tennessee than of the great army to which he belonged and of the one yet more numerous that faced it.
But these thoughts could not last long. The events in which he was to have a part were too imminent29 and mighty for anyone to detach himself from them more than a few minutes. He quickly returned, heart and soul, to his duties, which in these days took all his time. Many messages were passing between Lee and Jackson and Longstreet and the commanders next to them in rank, and Harry carried his share.
A few days after the letter from Dr. Russell the cold abated30 considerably31. The ice in the river broke, the melting snows made the country a sea of mud and slush and horses often became mired32 so deeply that it took a dozen soldiers to drag them out again. It was on such a day as this that Dalton came to him, his grave face wearing a look of importance.
"General Jackson has just told me," he said, "to take you and join General Stuart, who is going with his horse to the neighborhood of Port Royal on the river."
"What's up?"
"Nothing's up yet. But we understand that some of the Yankee gunboats are trying to get up, now that they have a clear passage through the ice."
"No, but Stuart is taking horse artillery34 with him, and he's likely to make it warm for the enemy in the water. Harry, if we only had a navy, too, this war wouldn't be doubtful."
"But, as we haven't got a navy, it is doubtful, very doubtful."
They quickly joined General Stuart, who was eager for the duty, and falling in line with the troop of Sherburne rode swiftly toward Port Royal, the cavalrymen carrying with them several light guns.
As they galloped36 along, mixed mud and snow flew in every direction, but most of them had grown so used to it that they paid little attention. The river flowed a deep and somber stream, and all the hills about were yet white with snow. At that time, colored too, as it was by his feelings, it was the most sinister landscape that Harry had ever looked upon. Black winter and red war, neither of which spared, were allied37 against man.
But his pulses began to leap when they saw coils of black smoke blown a little to one side by the wind. He knew that the smoke came from gunboats. They must be endeavoring to land troops, and Stuart was no man to allow a detached force to pass the Rappahannock and appear in their rear.
As the cavalry burst into a gallop35 from the snowy forest Harry saw that he was right. A fleet of gunboats was gathered in the stream and on the far shore they were embarking38 troops. But his quick eye caught a horseman on their own side of the river who was galloping39 away. He was already too distant for a rifle shot, but Harry instinctively40 knew that it was Shepard. He had seen the man under such extraordinarily41 vivid circumstances that the set of his figure was familiar.
Nor was he surprised to behold42 Shepard now. He merely wondered that he had not seen him earlier, so great was his activity and daring, and he had no doubt that he had brought the gunboats and the union troops warning that Stuart was coming. He was sure of it the moment the cavalry emerged from the woods, because one of the gunboats instantly turned loose with two heavy guns which sent shells whistling and screaming over their heads. Had they been a little better aimed they would have done much destruction, and Harry saw at once that they were going to have an ugly time with these saucy44 little demons45 of the water.
Another boat fired. One of the cavalrymen was killed and several wounded. Stuart promptly46 drew his men back to the edge of the wood, unlimbered and posted his cannon. Quick as they were, the black wasps47 on the river buzzed and stung as fast. Shells and solid shot were whistling among them and about them. They were good gunners on those boats and the men in gray acknowledged it by the rapidity with which they took to shelter.
But Stuart's blood was at its utmost heat. He had no intention of being driven off, and soon his own light guns were sending shell and solid shot toward the boats, which had relanded their troops on the other side, and which were now puffing48 up and down the river like the angry little demons they were, sending shells, solid shot, grape and canister into the woods and along the slopes where the horsemen had disappeared.
Harry and Dalton were glad to dismount and to get behind both the trees and the curve of the embankment. Harry, despite a pretty full experience now, could not repress involuntary shivers as the deadly steel flew by. He and Dalton had nothing to do but hold their horses and watch the combat, which they did with the keenest interest.
Stuart's cannon had unlimbered in a good place, where they were protected partly by a ridge, and their deep booming note soon showed the gunboats that they had an enemy worthy49 of their fire. Dalton and Harry looked on with growing excitement. Dalton, for once, grew garrulous50, talking in an excited monotone.
"Look at that, Harry!" he cried. "See the water spurt51 right by the bow of that boat! A shell broke there! And there goes another! That struck, too! See the fallen men on the boat! Look at that little black fellow coming right out in the middle of the stream! And it got home, too, with that shot! By George, how the shell raked our ranks! Ah, but, you saucy little creature, that shell paid you back! See, Harry, its wheel is smashed, and it's floating away with the stream! Guns on land have an advantage over guns on the water! As the negro said, 'When the boat blows up, whar are you? But if the explosion is on dry land, dar you are!' Ah, another has caught it, and is going out of action! Oh my, little boats, you're brave and saucy, but you can't stand up to Stuart's guns."
Dalton was right. The gunboats, sinkable and fully52 exposed, were rapidly getting the worst of it. Stuart's guns, protected by the ridge, were inflicting53 so much damage that they were compelled to drop down the stream, two or three of them disabled and in tow of the others.
A covering union battery of much heavier guns opened fire from a hill beyond the river, but it was unable either to protect the gunboats or to demolish54 Stuart's horse artillery, which was sheltered well by the ridge. The men in gray began to cheer. It soon became obvious that they would win. Gradually all of the gunboats, having suffered much loss, dropped down the stream and passed out of range. The heavy battery was also withdrawn55 from the hill and the detached attempt to cross the Rappahannock had failed.
Stuart and his men rode back exultant56, but Dalton said to Harry that he thought it merely a forerunner57.
"Good, I hope, but I meant chiefly a sign of much greater things to come. I'm thinking that Burnside will attack in a day or two now. Lots of Northern newspapers find their way into our lines, and the whole North is urging him on. They demand that a great victory be won in the east right away."
"I feel sorry for a general who is pushed on like that."
"So do I, because he hasn't a ghost of a chance. He'll be able to cross the river under cover of his great batteries, but look, Harry, look at those frowning heights around Fredericksburg, covered with the finest riflemen in the world, the ditches and trenches sown with artillery, and the best two military brains on the globe there to direct. What chance have they, Harry? What chance have they?"
"Very little that I can see, but a battle is never won or lost until it's fought. We'd better report now to General Jackson."
They saluted58 General Stuart, and rode away over the icy mud. General Jackson received their report with pleasure.
"Excellent! Excellent!" he said. "General Stuart has routed them with horse artillery! A capable man! A most wonderful man!"
He said the last words to himself, rather than to Harry, and Stuart soon proved that his horse artillery was not underrated by winning a second encounter with the gunboats a day or two later. Early also beat back an attempt to cross the river at a third place, and it became apparent now that the union army could make no flanking attack upon its enemy south of the Rappahannock. It must be made, if at all, directly on its front at Fredericksburg.
But Harry had no doubt that it would be made. The reports of their numerous scouts59 and spies told with detail of the immense preparations going on in the union camp. He could often watch them himself with his glasses from the hills. He did not see much of St. Clair and Langdon these days, as they remained closely with their regiment60, the Invincibles, but Dalton and he were much together.
It was well into December when they were watching through the glasses the concentration of union cannon on Stafford Heights across the river. One hundred and fifty great guns were in position there and they could easily blow Fredericksburg to pieces. Harry looked down again at this little city which had jumped suddenly into fame by getting itself squarely between the two armies arrayed for battle.
He felt the old sensation of pity as he gazed at the closed shutters and the smokeless chimneys. Nobody was stirring in the streets, except some Mississippi soldiers who had been placed there to oppose the passage, and who were fortifying61 themselves in the houses and cellars along the river front.
"It's no good looking any more," Harry said to Dalton. "There's nothing to do now but wait. That's what General Jackson is doing. I saw him in his tent to-day, reading a book on theology that Dr. Graham has just sent him."
"You're right, Harry. If the general can rest, so can we. Well, not much of this day is left. See how the Yankee batteries are fading away in the twilight62."
"Yes, Harry, fading now, but they'll come back again, massive metal and as sinister as ever, in the morning."
"Which won't keep me from sleeping soundly to-night. Funny how you get used to anything. Neither the presence nor the absence of the Yankee army will interfere63 with my sleep unless the general wants to send me on an errand."
"And we also grow used to sights so tremendous in their nature that they turn the whole current of our history. Look at that winter sun setting there over the western hills. It may be my fancy, Harry, but it seems to have the colors of bronze and steel in it, a sort of menace, one might call it."
"I see the same colors, George, but I suppose it's fancy. The whole sky is one of steel to me. I see the gleaming of steel everywhere, over the hills, the river and the armies."
"Our imaginations are too vivid, Harry. But look how that darkness closes in on everything! Now the Yankee cannon and the Yankee army are gone! The river itself is fading, and there goes the town! Now, see the lights spring up on the far shore!"
"It's supper and sleep for me," said Harry. "It doesn't do to let your imagination run away with you. You know that Lee and Old Jack1 and Jim Longstreet have arranged for everything."
They ate their suppers, and, the general giving them leave, they lay down in the tent next to his, wrapped in their blankets. Harry slept soundly, but while the pitchy darkness of a winter night still enclosed the land he was awakened64 by a heavy rumbling65 noise. His nerves had been attuned66 so highly by exciting days that he was awake in an instant and sprang to his feet, Dalton also springing up with equal promptness.
They saw General Jackson standing68 in front of his tent and peering down in the darkness toward the river. Other officers were already gathering69 near him. Harry and Dalton stood at attention, where he could see them, if he wished to send them on any errand. But Jackson was silent and listening.
The heavy rumbling reports—cannon shots—came again, but they were fired on their side of the river.
"Gentlemen," said General Jackson, "the enemy has begun the passage. Those are our guns giving the signal to the army."
Harry's pulses began to throb70. But, although fires flared71 up here and there, little was to be seen in the darkness. Fortune seemed to have shifted suddenly to the side of the union. Not night alone protected the bridge builders, but a thick, impenetrable fog, rising from the river and the muddy earth, covered the stream and its shores. The Southerners could not see just where the bridge head was and their cannon must fire at random72 through the heavy darkness. Sixteen hundred Mississippians were stationed in Fredericksburg below, well concealed73 in cellars and rifle pits, but they could not see either, and for the present their rifles were silent.
But Harry's imagination immediately became intensely vivid again. He fancied that he could hear through all the shifting gloom the sound of axes and hammers and saws at work upon that bridge. These army engineers could throw a bridge across a river in half a day. He recognized at all times the great resources and the mechanical genius of the North. The South had good bridge builders herself, but she had bent74 all her powers to the development of public men and soldiers. Harry felt more intensely all the time the one-sided character of her growth and its defects.
Dalton stood by Harry's side, and the darkness was so intense that he seemed but a shadow. A little further away was Jackson. No fires had been lighted in his camp, but nevertheless he was not a shadow. That personality, quiet and modest, was so intense, so powerful that it seemed to Harry to become luminous75, to radiate light in the blackness of the night. It was imagination, he knew, at work again, but it was Jackson who had loosed its springs.
"Can you see your watch, George?" he whispered to Dalton.
"Yes, and its says only twenty minutes past three in the morning."
"And our signal guns began about twenty minutes ago. They will have nearly four hours in which to work before the sun rises and we can see them well enough to take good aim."
"And maybe longer than that, Harry. The whole night is permeated76 with the heaviest inland fog I ever knew. Maybe it will take the sun a long time to strike through it or drive it away. It's bad for us."
"But we'll win anyhow. I tell you, we'll win anyhow! Do you hear me, George?"
"Yes, Harry, I hear you. You're excited. So am I. There are mighty few who wouldn't be at such a time; but look at the general! He stands like a statue!"
General Jackson did not move, save to lift his glasses now and then, as if with their magnifying powers he could pierce the dark. But the night and the swollen77 fog still hid everything going on beyond the river from those on the heights. Down by the shore the Mississippians in their rifle pits might see a little, and the scouts undoubtedly78 had seen much, else the signal guns would not be firing.
Harry's pulses, after a while, began to beat more smoothly79 and there was not such a painful and insistent80 drumming in his head. Emotions yielded now to will and he waited patiently. General Jackson for the first time told some of his young officers that they could lie down and rest.
"There can be no action before daylight," he said, "and it's best to be fresh and ready."
He spoke81 to them with the grave kindness that he always used, save when some great fault was committed, and then his words burned like fire. Harry and Dalton procured82 their blankets from their tents, wrapped them about their bodies and lay down on the dryest spots they could find, but they had no thought of sleep. They permitted their limbs to relax, and that was a help to the nerves, but neither closed his eyes.
Those dark hours seemed an eternity83 to Harry. The floating fog seemed to grow thicker and to enter his very bones. He shivered and drew the blanket close. Now, with his ears close to the earth, he was sure that he could hear the axes and the saws and the hammers beating on steel rivets84 on the other side of the Rappahannock.
The Confederate cannon still fired the signals of alarm at regular intervals85, but the night and the fog always closed in again quickly over the flash that the discharge had made. After a while a murmur86 came from the long Southern line along the heights and on the ridges87. Horses stirred here and there, cannon, moved to new positions, made sighing sounds as their wheels sank in the mud; sabres and bayonets clanked, thousands of men whispered to one another. All these varying sounds united into one great soft voice which was like the murmur of a wind through the summer night.
Toward five o'clock in the morning, when the darkness had not diminished a whit4, a messenger from General Lee rode up with a note for General Jackson. It merely stated that all was ready and to hold the positions that he had taken up the night before. Jackson wrote a brief reply by the light of a lantern that an orderly held, and the messenger galloped away with it. It was the only incident that had occurred in a long time.
"They're not using many lights on the other side of the river," said Harry, although he noted88 an occasional flame in the darkness. "Of course, they want to hide their bridge building, but you'd think they'd have fires burning elsewhere."
"They've learned the value of caution," said Dalton. "I'm bound to say they're going about the first part of their work with skill."
He spoke with the calm superiority of a young Officer.
Harry took out his own watch, and by holding it close to his eyes was able to read its face.
"A quarter to six," he said. "According to the watch it is less than three hours since we first heard those alarm guns, but my five known senses and all the unknown tell me that it has been at least a week."
"In an hour we should see something," said Dalton. "Confound this fog. If it weren't so thick we could see now."
Harry's pulses began to beat hard again in the next hour. He strove with glasses even for a glimpse of the winter sun which he knew would come so late, but as yet the fog showed nothing save a faint luminous tinge89 low down in the east. An orderly brought food to them, and while they ate they saw the luminous tinge broaden and deepen.
"The sun's rising behind that fog," said Dalton, "but here comes a little wind that will drive away the fog or thin it out so we can see."
"Yes, I feel it," said Harry, "and you can see the dull, somber red of the sun trying to break through. Look, George, unless I'm mistaken the fog's moving down the river!"
"So it is, there's the flash of the stream, the color of steel, and by all the stars, there's their bridge two-thirds of the way across!"
Heavier puffs90 of wind came and the fog billowed off down the river. The whole gigantic theater of action sprang at once into the light. There were the two great armies clustered on opposing ridges, there was the deserted town, there was the deep river, the color of lead, flowing between the foes, two-thirds of its width already spanned by the union bridge, the bridge itself covered with workmen, and boats swarming91 by its side.
Harry felt a thrill and a shudder92 which were almost simultaneous. Then came a deep muffled93 roar from the two armies on the ridges looking at each other. But as the roar died it was succeeded by the rapid, stinging fire of rifles. The Mississippians in their pits and cellars near the bank of the river were sending a hail of bullets upon the bridge builders.
The rest of the Southern army stood by and watched. Harry knew that Lee and Jackson would make their chief defense94 on the ridges, but the Mississippians were there to keep the enemy from being too forward. So deadly were their rifles that every workman fled off the bridge to the union shore, save those who were struck down upon it, falling into the water.
Then came a pause, a period of intense waiting, short, but seemingly long, even to the veteran generals, after which the gallant95 builders, who truly deserved the name of the bravest of the brave, ventured again upon the bridge in the face of those terrible Mississippi rifles. A blast of death again blew upon them. Bullets in hundreds struck upon bodies or rattled96 on timbers. The workmen could not live in the face of such a fire, and those who had not been slain97 retreated again to their own side of the stream. A third time the heroic bridge builders returned to their work, and a third time they were driven back by the deadly Mississippi hail. Harry felt pity for them.
"I never saw anything braver," he said to Dalton.
"Nor did I, Harry, nor anything more useless. The bridge builders never had a chance before the rifles. But now their supports, which should have been there all the time, are coming up."
Heavy columns of union riflemen moved forward to the edge of the river and replied to the Mississippians. But the Southerners, in the shelter of the cellars and pits, held their ground. But few of them were hit and they kept up that deadly hail which swept the uncompleted bridge clear of every workman who attempted to go upon it.
The rapid fire of the rifles crashed up and down both sides of the river, two sheets of flame seeming to reach out as if they would meet each other. The wind that had driven away the fog also carried off the smoke, and the river still gleamed like steel between. Then, as the rifle fire died again, there was another silence for a while.
"It will take more than rifles," said Harry, "to drive out those intrenched Mississippians."
"So it will, Harry," said Dalton, who was watching through glasses, "and here it comes. Their great batteries are about to open."
The next instant the whole earth seemed to be shaken by the roar of heavy cannon. The opposing hills and ridges fairly poured forth flame, and shells and solid shot crashed upon the whole devoted98 town. Nor did this tremendous fire from a hundred and fifty great guns cease for an instant. The roar and crash were appalling99. Harry saw houses crumbling100 in Fredericksburg, with flames leaping up from others.
The artillery of Longstreet immediately facing the union batteries was too light and weak to reply, and the gunners remained quiet in their trenches while the storm rained its showers of steel upon the town. Yet the Mississippians in the rifle pits held fast, their earthen shelters protecting them. While the bombardment was at its very height workmen ran out on the bridge for the fourth time to complete it, and while the shells and solid shot were whistling over their heads, the rifles of the Mississippians once more swept it clean. Harry groaned101. He could not help it at the sight of men so brave who were cut down like grass by the scythe102. Then his attention turned away from the bridge to the mighty cannonade which seemed to be growing in volume. The wind took much of the smoke across the river and it floated in a great cloud over Fredericksburg, through which shot the flames of the burning buildings.
But the main army of the South, stretched along a front of six miles, remained silent. Jackson on the right scarcely moved, but all the while he attentively103 watched through his glasses the great cannonade. Nearly all the soldiers were lying down, and to most of them the earth seemed to heave with the shock of all those blazing cannon.
Harry and Dalton walked once to the point where the Invincibles lay. That is, all but Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant104-Colonel St. Hilaire were lying down. They stood rigidly105 erect106, their eyes on the great cannonade, and as Harry approached they were exchanging brief comments with each other.
"What harm does that cannonade do, Hector?" asked Colonel Talbot.
"Much to the town, little to us."
"What a pity we don't have an artillery equal to theirs."
"A great pity, Leonidas."
"They will presently move forward in much greater force to finish the bridge."
"Undoubtedly, Leonidas. They have shown folly107, wasting the lives of such brave men in small efforts one after another. They will try something else."
"I see a great many boats against the bank on their side of the river. I fancy they will use them in their next attempt, whatever it may be."
"I agree with you. Good morning, Lieutenant Kenton. A mighty and appalling sight."
"The Yankees will force the passage," said Colonel Talbot. "Our artillery is not strong enough to reply to their covering cannonade. We are glad to see you safe and whole, Harry. You'll find your friends lying in that ravine just behind us."
It was a rather deep ravine, and when Harry looked over its edge, St. Clair and Langdon greeted him gladly.
"Come down, Harry," said Langdon, "and be joyful109. This gully is pretty well dried out and you can rest. We've got a West Point fellow here and he's humming one of his old songs to about the biggest chorus a song ever had. Captain Swayne, Lieutenant Kenton, once of the Invincibles, but now of General Jackson's personal staff. Swayne's from Tennessee, Harry, and you two are well met. Swayne belongs to a regiment a few yards beyond the gully. He was at the Seven Days and the Second Manassas. We three thought we won those battles ourselves, but it seems that Swayne was at both all the time, helping110 us. Take off your cap, Harry, and thank the gentleman."
Swayne, a slender, fair man, not over twenty-three, smiled and extended a hearty111 hand, which Harry received with equal heartiness112. The smile turned into a slight twinkle.
"I've been glad to meet your friends here, Mr. Kenton," he said, "but the meeting has brought a disappointment with it."
"How's that?"
"Until we began talking I thought I had won the Seven Days and the Second Manassas all by myself. Now, it seems that I have to share the honors with you fellows."
"So you do," said Langdon, and then he sang:
"There comes a voice from Florida,
From Tampa's lonely shore,
It speaks of one we've lost,
O'Brien is no more.
In the land of sun and flowers,
His head lies pillowed low,
At Benjamin Haven's, Oh!
At Benny Haven's, Oh!
At Benny Haven's, Oh!"
"Do I get it right, Swayne? Remember that I heard you sing it only three times."
"Fine! Fine!" said Swayne with enthusiasm. "You have it right, or as near right as need be, and you're using it in a much better voice than I can."
"I'm a great soldier, but my true place is on the operatic stage," said Langdon modestly.
"It's an old West Point song of ours, Kenton," said Swayne. "While I was lying here listening to the continued roar of all those great guns, I couldn't keep from humming it as a sort of undernote."
"This gully has a queer effect," said St. Clair, who, lying on a blanket, was dusting every minute particle of dried mud from his uniform. "It seems to soften114 the sounds of all those guns—and they must be a couple of hundred at least. It produces a kind of harmony."
"It's the old god Vulcan and a thousand assistants of his hammering away on their anvils," said Harry, "and they hammer out a regular tune67."
"Besides hammering out a tune," said St. Clair, "they're also hammering out swords and bayonets to be used against us."
As he spoke he drew from his pocket a tiny round mirror, not more than three inches in diameter, and carefully examined the collar of his coat.
"Have you found a speck115, Arthur?" asked Langdon. "If I hadn't seen you risk your life fifteen or twenty thousand times I'd say you're a dandy."
"I am a dandy," said St. Clair. "At least, I mean to be one, if I come out of the war alive."
"What do you intend to wear?" asked Harry.
"Depends upon what I can afford. If I have the money, it's going to be the best, the very best any market can afford."
"A dozen suits, I suppose."
"At least as many, with hats, shoes, overcoats, cloaks, shirts and all the et ceteras to match. Why shouldn't I wear fine clothes if I want 'em? Do you demand that instead I spend it on fiery116 whisky to pour down me, as so many public men and leading citizens do? The clothes at least don't burn me out and finally burn me to death."
Langdon put up his hands in defense.
"I haven't jumped on you, Arthur," he said. "I admire you, though I can't equal you. And as I'm not willing to be second even to you, I'm going to our sea island, near the Carolina coast, when this war is over, lie down under the shade of a live oak, have our big colored man, Sam, to bring me luxurious117 food about once every three hours, and between these three-hour periods I'll be fanned by Julius, another big colored man of ours, and I won't make any exertion118 except to tell day by day to admiring visitors how I whipped the Yankees every time I could get near enough to see 'em, and how a lot more were scared to death just because they heard me crashing through the brush."
"You'll do the bragging119 part, all right, Happy," said St. Clair. "I believe you could keep up the sort of existence you describe for a year at least."
"I'd like to try. Now, what under the stars is that?"
Nothing had happened. Something had merely ceased to happen. The great cannonade had stopped in an instant, as if by a preconcerted signal, and their nerves, attuned so long to such a continuous roar, seemed to collapse120, because some support was withdrawn. Harry's face turned white and his heart beat very fast, but in a few moments he recovered himself.
"I suppose they've given it up for the time being," he said, "but they're sure to try it again in some other way."
"That's a safe prediction," said St. Clair. "Burnside is trying to get across the Rappahannock to attack us, because the whole North is driving him on, and he hasn't got the moral courage to hold back until he can choose his time and place. Funny how this silence oppresses one."
The whole Southern army, along its six miles of length, was now standing up and looking toward the point on the other shore of the Rappahannock where the union batteries were massed. All work seemed to have been abandoned there, although the troops were still clustered along the shore and about the bridge head. Clouds of smoke from the great batteries floated down the river.
"A Yankee failure so far, Harry," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot. "The bridge has advanced no further, and I should say that our shore is now enriched by about fifty thousand pounds of steel hurled121 from those batteries and with little harm to us."
"I've no doubt you're right, sir," said Harry, "and now that a period of rest has come, I shall hurry back to General Jackson, who may need me to carry some order."
"A moment, please, Harry, my boy," said Colonel Talbot, twirling his mustaches. "You are near to General Jackson, of course, being his personal aide. If it should fall out conveniently, would you do myself and my most excellent friend and second, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, a small favor?"
"Of course, Colonel. Gladly. What is it?"
"If the enemy should cross the river, as he probably will, and if you should be near enough to Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, and if the moment should be propitious122, would you kindly123 whisper in his ear that the skeleton regiment, known as the Invincibles, Leonidas Talbot, Colonel, and Hector St. Hilaire, Lieutenant-Colonel, would be overjoyed at the honor of leading the attack upon the intrusive124 and invading Yankee army?"
"Promise, Harry, promise!" seconded Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire in his softest and most persuasive125 South Carolina accent. "You really owe that to us."
"I promise gladly," replied Harry; "but you know what General Jackson is. He makes his plans without telling anybody what they are, and he carries them out. If it is a part of his plan for the Invincibles to lead the attack, so far as his division is concerned, you'll lead it. If not, you won't."
"But still a word in his ear might have some influence," persisted Colonel Talbot. "It might come at the very moment when he was hesitating over a choice, and it would probably decide him in our favor."
"Then I shall do my best, sir," said Harry. "You can rely upon me"
He returned to General Jackson, but found that his commander was yet inactive. He was still waiting and watching with a patience that seemed equal to that of the Sphinx. Noon came, food was served, and the hours trailed their slow length on.
Then they saw a great movement in the union army. The Northern generals were about to make their supreme126 effort. Hooker, who had shown such desperate courage at Antietam and who had won the name of Fighting Joe, called for men who would cross the river in boats under the fire of the Mississippi rifles. It looked like certain death, but four entire regiments127 came forward at once. They entered the boats, which promptly pulled for the right bank, and the great batteries at once opened a covering fire.
The Mississippians once more sent forth their hail of bullets, but the boats were so numerous that, although some were stopped, the majority came on. Man after man, shot through, fell over the sides into the deep river. Sometimes a boat itself sank, but the main force rapidly approached the Southern side.
"They have lost many men, but they will make the crossing at last, Harry," said Dalton.
"So it seems," said Harry. "I suppose our generals could bring up enough men to drive them back, but it looks as if they don't want to do it."
"It may be that they're holding the trap open for the victim to walk in."
"However it may be, they're across. See, they're landing in thousands, and the Mississippians, leaving their rifle pits, are retreating. Now they can finish the bridge and as many more as they need at their leisure."
The retreating Mississippians rejoined their comrades, and still the Southern army did not stir. The Northern army, almost unmolested, continued its bridge building, and the afternoon and a dark night passed.
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1
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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14
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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15
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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farmhouses
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| n.农舍，农场的主要住房( farmhouse的名词复数 ) | |
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invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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23
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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30
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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32
mired
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| abbr.microreciprocal degree 迈尔德（色温单位）v.深陷( mire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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35
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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36
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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37
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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38
embarking
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| 乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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39
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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40
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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41
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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42
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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43
omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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44
saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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45
demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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46
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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wasps
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| 黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人 | |
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48
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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49
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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50
garrulous
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| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
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51
spurt
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| v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆 | |
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52
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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53
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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54
demolish
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| v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等) | |
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55
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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56
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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57
forerunner
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| n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先 | |
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58
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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59
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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60
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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61
fortifying
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| 筑防御工事于( fortify的现在分词 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
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62
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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63
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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64
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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65
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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66
attuned
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| v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音 | |
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67
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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68
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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70
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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71
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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72
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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73
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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74
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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75
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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76
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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77
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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78
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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81
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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82
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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83
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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84
rivets
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| 铆钉( rivet的名词复数 ) | |
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85
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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86
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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87
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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89
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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90
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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91
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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92
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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93
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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94
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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95
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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96
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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97
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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98
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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99
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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100
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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101
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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102
scythe
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| n. 长柄的大镰刀，战车镰； v. 以大镰刀割 | |
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103
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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104
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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107
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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108
saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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109
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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111
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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112
heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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113
cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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114
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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115
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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116
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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117
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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bragging
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| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的现在分词 )；大话 | |
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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122
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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123
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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124
intrusive
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| adj.打搅的；侵扰的 | |
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125
persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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126
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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