When night settled down over the Wilderness the two armies lay almost face to face on a long line. The preliminary battle, on the whole, had favored the Confederacy. Hill had held his ground and Ewell had gained, but Grant had immense forces, and, though naturally kind of heart, he had made up his mind to strike and keep on striking, no matter what the loss. He could afford to lose two men where the Confederacy lost one.
Harry2, like many others, felt that this would be the great Northern general's plan. To-morrow's battle might end in Southern success, but Grant would be there to fight the following day with undiminished resolution. He was as sure of this as he was sure that the day would come.
The night itself was somber3 and sinister4, the heavens dusky and a raw chill in the air. Heavy vapors6 rose from the marshes7, and clouds of smoke from the afternoon's battle floated about over the thickets8, poisoning the air as if with gas, and making the men cough as they breathed it. It made Harry's heart beat harder than usual, and his head felt as if it were swollen10. Everything seemed clothed in a black mist with a slightly reddish tint11.
A small fire had been built in a sheltered place for the commander-in-chief and his staff, and the cooks were preparing the supper, which was of the simplest kind. While they ate the food and drank their coffee, the darkness increased, with the faint lights of other fires showing here and there through it. Around the muddy places frogs croaked12 in defiance14 of armies, and, from distant points, came the crackling fire of skirmishers prowling in the dusk.
Harry's horse, saddled and bridled16, was tied to a bush not far away. He knew that it was to be no night of rest for him, or any other member of the staff. Lee would be sending messages continually. Longstreet, although he had been marching hard, was not yet up on the right, and he and his veterans must be present when the shock of Grant's mighty17 attack came in the morning.
Hill, thin and pale, yet suffering from the effects of his wounds, but burning as usual with the fire of battle, rode up and consulted long and earnestly with Lee. Presently he went back to his own place nearer the center, and then Lee began to send away his staff one by one with messages. Harry was among the last to go, but he bore a dispatch to Longstreet.
He had heard that Longstreet had criticized Lee for ordering Pickett's famous charge at Gettysburg, but if so, Lee had taken no notice of it, and Longstreet had proved himself the same stalwart fighter as of old. He and the prompt arrival of his veterans had enabled Bragg to win Chickamauga, and it was not Longstreet's fault that the advantage gained there was lost afterward18. Now Harry knew that he would be up in time with his seasoned veterans.
As the young lieutenant19 rode away he saw General Lee walking back and forth20 before the low fire, his hands clasped behind him, and his eyes as serious as those of any human being could be. Harry appreciated the immensity of his task, and in his heart was a sincere pity for the man who bore so great a burden. He was familiar with the statement that to Lee had been offered the command of the Northern armies at the beginning of the war, but believing his first duty was to his State he had gone with Virginia when Virginia reluctantly went out of the union. Truly no one could regret the war more than he, and yet he had struck giant blows for its success.
A moment more and the tall figure standing21 beside the low fire was lost to sight. Then Harry rode among the thickets in the rear of the Confederate line and it was a weird22 and ghastly ride. Now and then his horse's feet sank in mud, and the frogs still dared to croak13 around the pools, making on such a night the most ominous23 of all sounds. It seemed a sort of funeral dirge24 for both North and South, a croak telling of the ruin and death that were to come on the morrow.
Damp boughs26 swept across his face, and the vapors, rising from the earth and mingled27 with the battle smoke, were still bitter to the tongue and poisonous to the breath. Rotten logs crushed beneath his horse's feet and Harry felt a shiver as if the hoofs29 had cut through a body of the dead. Riflemen rose out of the thickets, but he always gave them the password, and rode on without stopping.
Then came a space where he met no human being, the gap between Hill and Longstreet, and now the Wilderness became incredibly lonely and dreary31. Harry felt that if ever a region was haunted by ghosts it was this. The dead of last year's battle might be lying everywhere, and as the breeze sprang up the melancholy32 thickets waved over them.
He was two-thirds of the way toward the point where he expected to find Longstreet when he heard the sough of a hoof30 in the mud behind him.
Harry listened and hearing the hoof again he was instantly on his guard. He did not know it, but the character of the night and the wild aspect of the Wilderness were bringing out all the primeval and elemental qualities in his nature. He was the great borderer, Henry Ware33, in the Indian-haunted forest, feeling with a sixth sense, even a seventh sense, the presence of danger.
He was following a path, scarcely traceable, used by charcoal34 burners and wood-cutters, but when he heard the hoof a second time he turned aside into the deepest of the thickets and halted there. The hoofbeat came a third time, a little nearer, and then no more. Evidently the horseman behind him knew that he had turned aside, and was waiting and watching. He was surely an enemy of great skill and boldness, and it was equally sure that he was Shepard. Harry never felt a doubt that he was pursued by the formidable union spy, and he felt too that he had never been in greater danger, as Shepard at such a moment would not spare his best friend.
But he was not afraid. Danger had become so common that one looked upon it merely as a risk. Moreover, he was never cooler or more ample of resource. He dismounted softly, standing beside his horse's head, holding the reins35 with one hand and a heavy pistol with the other. He suspected that Shepard would do the same, but he believed that his eyes and ears were the keener. The man must have been inside the Confederate lines all the afternoon. Probably he had seen Harry riding away, and, deftly37 appropriating a horse, had followed him. There was no end to Shepard's ingenuity38 and daring.
Harry's horse was trained to stand still indefinitely, and the young man, with the heavy pistol, who held the reins was also immovable. The silence about him was so deep that Harry could hear the frogs croaking39 at a distant pool.
He waited a full five minutes, and now, like the wild animals, he relied more upon ear than eye. He had learned the faculty40 of concentration and he bent41 all his powers upon his hearing. Not the slightest sound could escape the tightly drawn42 drums of his ears.
He was motionless a full ten minutes. Nor did the horse beside him stir. It was a test of human endurance, the capacity to keep himself absolutely silent, but with every nerve attuned43, while he waited for an invisible danger. And those minutes were precious, too. The value of not a single one of them could have been measured or weighed. It was his duty to reach Longstreet at speed, because the general and his veterans must be in line in the morning, when the battle was joined. Yet the incessant44 duel45 between Shepard and himself was at its height again, and he did not yet see how he could end it.
Harry felt that it must be essentially46 a struggle of patience, but when he waited a few minutes longer, the idea to wait with ears close to the earth, one of the oldest devices of primitive47 man, occurred to him. It was fairly dry in the bushes, and he lay down, pressing his ear to the soil. Then he heard a faint sound, as if some one crawling through the grass, like a wild animal stalking its prey48. It was Shepard, of course, and then Harry planned his campaign. Shepard had left his horse, and was endeavoring to reach him by stealth.
Leaving his own horse, he crept a little to the right, and then rising carefully in another thicket9 he picked out every dark spot in the gloom. He made out presently the figure of a riderless horse, standing partly behind the trunk of an oak, larger than most of those that grew in the Wilderness.
Harry knew that it was Shepard's mount and that Shepard himself was some distance in front of it creeping toward the thicket which he supposed sheltered his foe49. There was barely enough light for Harry to see the horse's head and regretfully he raised his heavy pistol. But it had to be done, and when his aim was true he pulled the trigger.
The report of the pistol was almost like the roar of a cannon50 in the desolate51 Wilderness and made Harry himself jump. Then he promptly52 threw himself flat upon his face. Shepard's answering fire came from a point about thirty yards in front of the horse, and the bullet passed very close over Harry's head. It was a marvelous shot to be made merely at the place from which a sound had come. It all passed in a flash, and the next moment Harry heard the sound of a horse falling and kicking a little. Then it too was still.
He remained only a half minute in the grass. Then he began to creep back, curving a little in his course, toward his own horse. He did not believe that Shepard's faculty of hearing was as keen as his own, and he moved with the greatest deftness53. He relied upon the fact that Shepard had not yet located the horse, and if Harry could reach it quickly it would not be hard for him, a mounted man, to leave behind Shepard, dismounted. It might be possible, too, that Shepard had gone back to see about his own horse, not knowing that it was slain54.
He saw the dusky outline of his horse, and, rising, made two or three jumps. Then he snatched the rein36 loose, sprang upon his back, and lying down upon his neck to avoid bullets, crashed away, reckless of bushes and briars. He heard one bullet flying near him, but he laughed in delight and relief as his horse sped on toward Longstreet.
He did not diminish his speed until he had gone two or three miles, and then, knowing that Shepard had been left hopelessly behind, even if he had attempted pursuit, he brought his horse down to a walk, and laughed. There was a bit of nervous excitement in the laugh. He had outwitted Shepard again. He had never seen the man, but it did not enter his mind that it was not he. Each had scored largely over the other from time to time, but Harry believed that he was at least even.
He steadied his nerves now and rode calmly toward Longstreet, coming soon upon his scouts55, who informed him that the heavy columns were not far behind, marching with stalwart step to their appointed place in the line. But it was Harry's business to see Longstreet himself, and he continued his way toward the center of the division, where they told him the general could be found.
He rode forward and in the moonlight recognized Longstreet at once, a heavy-set, bearded man, mounted on a strong bay horse. He had a very small staff, and he was first to notice the young lieutenant advancing. He knew Harry well, having seen him with Lee at Gettysburg and with Jackson before. He stopped and said abruptly57:
"You come from the commander-in-chief, do you not?"
"Yes, sir," replied Harry, "and I've been coming as fast as I could."
He did not deem it necessary to say anything about his encounter with Shepard.
"There has been heavy fighting. What are his orders?"
Harry told him, also giving him a written message, which the general read by the light of a torch an aide held.
"You can tell General Lee that all my men will be in position for battle before dawn," said the Georgian crisply.
Even as he spoke58, Harry heard the heavy, regular tread of the brigades marching forward through the Wilderness. He saluted59 General Longstreet.
"I shall return at once with your message," he said.
But Harry, having had one such experience, was resolved not to risk another. He would make a wider circuit in the rear of the army. Shepard, on foot, and anxious to avenge61 his defeat, might be waiting for him, but he would go around him. So when he started back he made a wide curve, and soon was in the darkness and silence again.
He had a good horse and his idea of direction being very clear he rode swiftly in the direction he had chosen. But his curve was so great that when he reached the center of it he was so far in the rear of the army that no sound came from it. If the skirmishers were still firing the reports of their rifles were lost in the distance. Where he rode the only noises were those made by the wild animals that inhabited the Wilderness, creatures that had settled back into their usual haunts after the armies had passed beyond.
Once a startled deer sprang from a clump62 of bushes and crashed away through the thickets. Rabbits darted63 from his path, and an owl15, wondering what all the disturbance64 was about, hooted65 mournfully from a bough25.
Long before dawn Harry reached the Southern sentinels in the center and was then passed to General Lee, who remained at the same camp, sitting on a log by some smothered66 coals. Several other members of his staff had returned already, and the general, looking up when Harry came forward, merely said:
"Well!"
"I have seen General Longstreet, sir," said Harry, "and he bids me tell you that he and his men will be in position before dawn. He was nearly up when I left, and he has also sent you this note."
He handed the note to General Lee, who, bending low over the coals, read it.
"Everything goes well," he said with satisfaction. "We shall be ready for them. What time is it, Peyton?"
"Five minutes past four o'clock, sir."
"Then I think the attack should come within an hour."
"Perhaps before daybreak, sir."
Grant, in truth, prompt and ready as always, had ordered the advance to be begun at half-past four, but Meade, asking more time for arrangements and requesting that it be delayed until six, he had consented to a postponement69 until five o'clock and no more.
Harry had one more message to carry, a short distance only, and on his return he found the Invincibles posted on the commander-in-chief's right, and not more than two hundred yards away.
"You must be a body guard for the general," he said to Colonel Leonidas Talbot.
"There could be no greater honor for the Invincibles, nor could General Lee have a better guard."
"I'm sure of that, sir."
"What's happening, Harry? Tell us what's been going on in the night!"
"Our line of battle has been formed. General Longstreet and his men on the right are soon to be in touch with General Hill. I returned from him a little while ago. I can't yet smell the dawn, but I think the battle will come before then."
Harry rode back and resumed his place beside Dalton. The troops everywhere were on their feet, cannon and rifles ready, because it was a certainty that the two armies would meet very early.
In fact, the Army of Northern Virginia began to slide slowly forward. It was not the habit of these troops to await attack. Lee nearly always had taken the offensive, and the motion of his men was involuntary. They felt that the enemy was there and they must go to meet him.
"What time is it now?" whispered Dalton.
Harry was barely able to discern the face of his watch.
"Ten minutes to five," he replied.
"And the dawn comes early. It won't be long before Grant comes poking70 his nose through the Wilderness."
Harry was silent. A few minutes more, and there was a sudden crackle of rifles in front of them.
"The dawn isn't here, but Grant is," said Harry.
The crackling fire doubled and tripled, and then the fire of the Southern rifles replied in heavy volume. The lighter71 field guns opened with a crash, and the heavier batteries followed with rolling thunder. Leaves and twigs72 fell in showers, and men fell with them. The deep Northern cheer swelled73 through the Wilderness and the fierce rebel yell replied.
Gray dawn, rising as if with effort, over the sodden74 Wilderness found two hundred thousand men locked fast in battle. It might have been a bright sun elsewhere, but not here among the gloomy shades and the pine barrens. The firing was already so tremendous that the smoke hung low and thick, directly over the tops of the bushes, and the men, as they fought, breathed mixed and frightful75 vapors.
Both sides fought for a long time in a heavy, smoky dusk, that was practically night. Officers coming from far points, led, compass in hand, having no other guide save the roar of battle. As the Southern leaders had foreseen, Grant was throwing in the full strength of his powerful army, hoping with superior numbers and better equipment to crush Lee utterly76 that day.
The great Northern artillery77 was raking the whole Southern front. Hancock, the superb, was hurling78 the heavy Northern masses directly upon the main position of the South. He had half the Army of the Potomac, and at other points Warren, Wadsworth, Sedgwick and Burnside were advancing with equal energy and contempt of death. Fiercer and fiercer grew the conflict. Hancock, remembering how he had held the fatal hill at Gettysburg, and resolved to win a complete victory now, poured in regiment79 after regiment. But in all the fire and smoke and excitement and danger he did not neglect to keep a cool head. Hearing that a portion of Longstreet's corps80 was near, he sent a division and numerous heavy artillery to attack it, driving it back after a sanguinary struggle of more than an hour.
Then he redoubled his attack upon the Southern center, compelling it to give ground, though slowly. Harry felt that gliding81 movement backward and a chill ran through his blood. The heavy masses of Grant and his powerful artillery were prevailing82. The strongest portion of the Southern army was being forced back, and a gap was cut between Hill and Longstreet. Had Hancock perceived the gap that he had made he might have severed83 the Southern army, inflicting84 irretrievable retreat, but the smoke and the dusk of the Wilderness hid it, and the moment passed into one of the great "Ifs" of history.
Harry, on horseback, witnessed this conflict, all the more terrible because of the theater in which it was fought. The batteries and the riflemen alike were frequently hidden by the thickets. The great banks of smoke hung low, only to be split apart incessantly85 by the flashes of fire from the big guns. But the bullets were more dangerous than the cannon balls and shells. They whistled and shrieked86 in thousands and countless87 thousands.
Lee sat on his horse impassive, watching as well as he could the tide of battle. Messengers covered with smoke and sweat had informed him of the gap between Hill and Longstreet, and he was dispatching fresh troops to close it up. Harry saw the Invincibles march by. The two colonels at their head beheld89 Lee on his white horse, and their swords flew from their scabbards as they made a salute60 in perfect unison90. Close behind them rode St. Clair and Happy Tom, and they too saluted in like manner. Lee took off his hat in reply and Harry choked. "About to die, we salute thee," he murmured under his breath.
Then with a shout the Invincibles, their officers at their head, plunged91 into the fire and smoke, and were lost from Harry's view. But he could not stay there long and wonder at their fate. In a few minutes he was riding to Longstreet with a message for him to bear steadily92 toward Hill, that the gap might be closed entirely93, and as soon as possible.
He galloped94 behind the lines, but bullets fell all around him, and often a shell tore the earth. The air had become more bitter and poisonous. Fumes95 from swamps seemed to mingle28 with the smoke and odors of burned gunpowder96. His lips and his tongue were scorched97. But he kept on, without exhaustion98 or mishap99, and reached Longstreet, who had divined his message.
"The line will be solid in a few minutes," he said, and while the battle was still at its height on the long front he touched hands with Hill. Then both drove forward with all their might against Hancock, rushing to the charge, with the Southern fire and recklessness of death that had proved irresistible100 on so many fields. The advance, despite the most desperate efforts of Hancock and his generals, was stopped. Then he was driven back. All the ground gained at so much cost was lost and the Southern troops, shouting in exultation101, pushed on, pouring in a terrible rifle fire. Longstreet, in his eagerness, rode a little ahead of his troops to see the result. Turning back, he was mistaken in the smoke by his own men for a Northern cavalryman102, and they fired upon him, just as Jackson had been shot down by his own troops in the dusk at Chancellorsville.
The leader fell from his horse, wounded severely103, and the troops advancing to victory became confused. The rumor104 spread that Longstreet had been killed. There was no one to give orders, and the charge stopped. Harry and a half-dozen others who had seen the accident or heard of it, galloped to Lee, who at once rode into the very thick of the command, giving personal orders and sending his aides right and left with others. The whole division was reformed under his eye, and he sent it anew to the attack.
The battle now closed in with the full strength of both armies. Hancock strove to keep his place. The valiant105 Wadsworth had been killed already. The dense106 thickets largely nullified Grant's superior numbers. Lee poured everything on Hancock, who was driven from every position. Fighting furiously behind a breastwork built the night before, he was driven from that too.
Often in the dense shades the soldiers met one another face to face and furious struggles hand-to-hand ensued. Bushes and trees, set on fire by the shells, burned slowly like torches put there to light up the ghastly scene of man's bravery and folly107. Jenkins, a Confederate general, was killed and colonels and majors fell by the dozen. But neither side would yield, and Grant hurried help to his hard-pressed troops.
Harry had been grazed on the shoulder by a bullet, but his horse was unharmed, and he kept close to Lee, who continued to direct the battle personally. He knew that they were advancing. Once more the genius of the great Confederate leader was triumphing. Grant, the redoubtable108 and tenacious109, despite his numbers, could set no trap for him! Instead he had been drawn into battle on a field of Lee's own choosing.
The conflict had now continued for a long time, and was terrible in all its aspects. It was far past noon, and for miles a dense cloud of smoke hung over the Wilderness, which was filled with the roar of cannon, the crash of rifles and the shouts of two hundred thousand men in deadly conflict. The first meeting of the two great protagonists110 of the war, Lee and Grant, was sanguinary and terrible, beyond all expectation.
Hundreds fell dead, their bodies lying hidden under the thickets. The forest burned fiercely here and there, casting circles of lurid111 light over the combatants, while the wind rained down charred112 leaves and twigs. The fires spread and joined, and at points swept wide areas of the forest, yet the fury of the battle was not diminished, the two armies forgetting everything else in their desire to crush each other.
Harry's horse was killed, as he sat near Lee, but he quickly obtained another, and not long afterward he was sent with a second message to Ewell. He rode on a long battle front, not far behind the lines, and he shuddered113 with awe114 as he looked upon the titanic115 struggle. The smoke was often so heavy and the bushes so thick that he could not see the combatants, except when the flame of the firing or the burning trees lighted up a segment of the circle.
Halfway116 to Ewell and he stopped when he saw two familiar figures, sitting on a log. They were elderly men in uniforms riddled117 by bullets. The right arm of one and the left leg of the other were tightly bandaged. Their faces were very white and it was obvious that they were sitting there, because they were not strong enough to stand.
Harry stopped. No message, no matter how important, could have kept him from stopping.
"Colonel Talbot! Colonel St. Hilaire!" he cried.
"Yes, here we are, Harry," replied Colonel Leonidas Talbot in a voice, thin but full of courage. "Hector has been shot through the leg and has lost much blood, but I have bound up his wound, and he has done as much for my arm, which has been bored through from side to side by a bullet, which must have been as large as my fist."
"And so for a few minutes," said Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, valiantly118, "we must let General Lee conduct the victory alone."
"Not at all," replied Colonel Talbot. "There is so much smoke about that you can't see much, but if it clears a little you will behold120 Lieutenant St. Clair and the youth rightly called Happy Tom and some three score others, lying among the bushes, not far ahead of you, giving thorough attention to the enemy."
"And is that all that's left of the Invincibles?"
"It's a wonder that they're so many. You were right about this man, Grant, Harry. He's a fighter, and their artillery is numerous and wonderful. John Carrington himself must be in front of us. We have not seen him, but the circumstantial evidence is conclusive121. Nobody else in the world could have swept this portion of the Wilderness with shell and shrapnel in such a manner. Why, he has mowed122 down the bushes in long swathes as the scythe123 takes the grass and he has cut down our men with them. How does the battle go elsewhere?"
"We're succeeding. We're driving 'em back. I can stop only a moment now. I'm on my way to General Ewell."
"Then hurry. Don't be worried about us. I'll help Hector and Hector will help me. And do you curve further to the rear, Harry. The worst thing that a dispatch bearer can do is to get himself shot."
Waving his hand in farewell Harry galloped away. He knew that Colonel Talbot had given him sound advice, and he bore back from the front, coming once more into lonely thickets, although the flash of the battle was plainly visible in front of him, and its roar filled his ears. Yet when he rode alone he almost expected to see Shepard rise up before him, and bid him halt. His encounters with this man had been under such startling circumstances that it now seemed the rule, and not the exception, for him to appear at any moment.
But Shepard did not come. Instead Harry began to see the badly wounded of his own side drifting to the rear, helping124 one another as hurt soldiers learn to do. Two of them he allowed to hang on his stirrups a little while.
"They're fighting hard," said one, a long, gaunt Texan, "an' they're so many they might lap roun' us. This man of theirs, Grant, ain't much of a fellow to get scared, but I guess Marse Bob will take care of him just ez he has took care of the others who came into Virginia."
"They're led in the main attack by Hancock," said the other, a Virginian. "I caught a glimpse of him through the smoke, just as I had a view of him for a minute back there by the clump of trees on the ridge125 at Gettysburg."
"Are you one of Pickett's men?" asked Harry.
"I am, sir, one of the few that's left. I went clear to the clump of trees and how I got back I've never known. It was a sort of red dream, in which I couldn't pick out anything in particular, but I was back with the army, carrying three bullets that the doctors took away from me, and here I've gathered up two more they'll rob me of in just the same way."
He spoke quite cheerfully, and when Harry, curving again, was compelled to release them, both, although badly wounded, wished him good luck.
He found General Ewell in front, stamping back and forth on his crutches126, watching the battle with excitement.
"And so you're here again, Harry. Well it's good news at present!" he cried. "It seems that their man, Grant, is going to school to Lee just like the others."
"But some pupils learn too fast, sir!"
"That's so, but, Harry, I wish I could see more of the field. An invisible battle like this shakes my nerves. Batteries that we can't see send tornadoes127 of shot and shell among us. Riflemen, by the thousands, hidden in the thickets rain bullets into our ranks. It's inhuman128, wicked, and our only salvation129 lies in the fact that it's as bad for them as it is for us. If we can't see them they can't see us."
"You can hold your ground here?"
"Against anything and everything. Tell General Lee that we intend to eat our suppers on the enemy's ground."
"That's all he wants to know."
As Harry rode back he saw that the first fires were spreading, passing over new portions of the battlefield. Sparks flew in myriads130 and fine, thin ashes were mingled with the powder smoke. The small trees, burnt through, fell with a crash, and the flames ran as if they were alive up boughs. Other trees fell too, cut through by cannon balls, and some were actually mown down by sheets of bullets, as if they had been grass.
His way now led through human wreckage131, made all the more appalling132 by an approaching twilight, heavy with fumes and smoke, and reddened with the cannon and rifle blaze. His frightened horse pulled wildly at the bit, and tried to run away, but Harry held him to the path, although he stepped more than once in hot ashes and sprang wildly. The dead were thick too and Harry was in horror lest the hoof of his horse be planted upon some unheeding face.
He knew that the day was waning133 fast and that the dark was due in some degree to the setting sun, and not wholly to the smoke and ashes. Yet the fury of the battle was sustained. The southern left maintained the ground that it had gained, and in the center and right it could not be driven back. It became obvious to Grant that Lee was not to be beaten in the Wilderness. His advance suffered from all kinds of disadvantages. In the swamps and thickets he could mass neither his guns nor his cannon. Communications were broken, the telegraph wires could be used but little and as the twilight darkened to night he let the attack die.
Harry was back with the commander-in-chief, when the great battle of the Wilderness, one of the fiercest ever fought, sank under cover of the night. It was not open and spectacular like Gettysburg, but it had a gloomy and savage134 grandeur135 all its own. Grant had learned, like the others before him, that he could not drive headlong over Lee, but sitting in silence by his campfire, chewing his cigar, he had no thought, unlike the others, of turning back. Nearly twenty thousand of his men had fallen, but huge resources and a President who supported him absolutely were behind him and he was merely planning a new method of attack.
In the Southern camp there was exultation, but it was qualified136 and rather grim. These men, veterans of many battles and able to judge for themselves, believed that they had won the victory, but they knew that it was by no means decisive. The numerous foe with his powerful artillery was still before them. They could see his campfires shining through the thickets, and their spies told them that, despite his great losses, there was no sign of retreat in Grant's camp.
An appalling night settled down on the Wilderness. The North American Continent never saw one more savage and terrible. Twenty thousand wounded were scattered137 through the thickets and dense shades, and spreading fires soon brought death to many whom the bullets had not killed at once. The smoke, the mists and vapors gathered into one dense cloud, that hung low and made everything clammy to the touch.
Lee stood under the boughs of an oak, and ate food that had been prepared for him hastily. But, as Harry saw, the act was purely138 mechanical. He was watching as well as he could what was going on in front, and he was giving orders in turns to his aides. Harry's time had not yet come, and he kept his eyes on his chief.
There was no exultation in the face of Lee. He had drawn Grant into the Wilderness and then he had held him fast in a battle of uncommon139 size and fierceness. But nothing was decided140. He had studied the career of Grant, and he knew that he had a foe of great qualities with whom to deal. He would have to fight him again, and fight very soon. He heard too with a sorrow, hard to conceal141, the reports of his own losses. They were heavy enough and the gaps now made could never be refilled. The Army of Northern Virginia, which had been such a powerful instrument in his hands, must fight with ever diminishing numbers.
Harry was sent to inquire into the condition of Longstreet, whom he found weak physically142 and suffering much pain. But the veteran was upborne by the success of the day and his belief in ultimate victory. He bade Harry tell the commander-in-chief that his men were fit to fight again and better than ever, at the first shoot of dawn.
Harry rode back in the night, the burning trees serving him for torches. Nearly all the soldiers were busy. Some were gathering143 up the wounded and others were building breastworks. His eyes were reddened by the powder-smoke, and often the heavy black masses of vapor5 were impenetrable, save where the forest burned. Now he came to a region where the dead and wounded were so thick that he dismounted and led his horse, lest a hoof be planted upon any one of them. But he noticed that here as in other battles the wounded made but little complaint. They suffered in silence, waiting for their comrades to take them away.
Then he passed around a section of forest that was burning fiercely. Here Southern and union soldiers had met on terms of peace and were making desperate efforts to save their helpless comrades. Harry would have been glad to give aid himself, but he was too well trained now to turn aside when he rode for Lee.
He saw many dark figures passing before the flaming background, and as he walked more slowly than he thought, he saw one that looked remarkably144 familiar to him. It was impossible to see the face, but he knew the walk and the lift of the shoulders. Discipline gave way to impulse now, and he ran forward crying:
"Dick! Dick!"
Dick Mason, who had just dragged a wounded man beyond the range of the flames, turned at the sound of the voice. Even had Harry seen his face at first he would not have known him nor would Dick have known Harry. Both were black with ashes, smoke and burned gunpowder. But Dick knew the voice in an instant. Once more were the two cousins to meet in peace on an unfinished battlefield.
Each driven by the same impulse stepped forward, and their hands met in the strong grasp of blood kindred and friendship, which war itself could not sever67.
"You're alive, Harry!" said Dick. "It seems almost impossible after what has happened to-day."
"And you too are all right. Not harmed, I see, though your face is an African black."
"I should call your own color dark and smoky."
"I wasn't sure that you were in the East. When did you come?"
"With General Grant, and I knew that you were on General Lee's staff. I've a message to give him by you. Oh! you needn't laugh. It's a good straight talk."
"Go ahead then and say it to me."
"You say to General Lee that it's all over. Tell him to quit and send his soldiers home. If he doesn't he'll be crushed."
Harry laughed again and waved his finger at the somber battlefield, upon which he stood.
"Does this look like it?" he asked. "We're farther forward to-night than we were this morning. Wouldn't General Grant be glad if he could say as much?"
"It makes no difference. I know you don't believe me, but it's so. The North is prepared as it never was before. And Grant will hammer and hammer forever. We know what a man Lee is. The whole North admits it, but I tell you the sun of the South is setting."
"But unlimited146 men, unlimited cannon and rifles, unlimited ammunition147 and supplies and a general who is willing to use them, are. Of course I know that you can't carry any such message to General Lee, but I feel it to be the truth."
"We've a great general and a great army that say, no."
Nobody paid any attention to the two. It was merely another one of those occasions when men of the opposing sides stood together amid the dead and wounded, and talked in friendly fashion. But Harry knew that he could not delay long.
"I've got to go, Dick," he said. "And I've a message too, one that I want you to deliver to General Grant."
"What is it?"
"Tell him that we've more than held our own to-day, and that we'll thrash him like thunder to-morrow, and whenever and wherever he may choose, no matter what the odds148 are against us."
Dick laughed.
"I see that you won't believe even a little bit of what I tell you," he said "and maybe if I were in your place I wouldn't either. But it's true all the same. Good-by, Harry."
The two hands, covered with battle grime, met again in the strong grasp of blood kindred and friendship.
"Take care of yourself, old man!"
The words, exactly alike, were uttered by the two simultaneously149.
Both were stirred deeply. Harry sprang on his horse, looked back once, waving his hand, and rode rapidly to General Lee. Later in the night, he received permission to hunt up the Invincibles, his heart full of fear that they had perished utterly in the gloomy pit called the Wilderness, lit now only by the fire of death.
He left his horse with an orderly and walked toward the point where he had last seen them. He passed thousands of soldiers, many wounded, but silent as usual, while the unhurt were sleeping where they had dropped. The Invincibles were not at the point where he had seen them last, and the colonels of several scattered regiments150 could not tell him what had become of them. But he continued to seek them although the fear was growing in his heart that the last man of the Invincibles had died under the Northern cannon.
His search led toward the enemy's lines. Almost unconsciously he went in that direction, however, his knowledge of the two colonels telling him that they would take the same course. He turned into a little cove88, partly sheltered by the dwarfed151 trees and he heard a thin voice saying:
"Nonsense, Leonidas. I scarcely felt it, but yours, old friend, is pretty bad. You must let me attend to it. Keep still! I'll adjust the bandage."
"Hector, why do you make a fuss over me, when I'm only slightly hurt, and sacrifice yourself, a severely injured man!"
"With all due respect you'd better let me attend to you both," said a voice that Harry recognized as St. Clair's.
"And maybe I could help a little," said another that he knew to be Happy Tom's. But their voices, like those of the colonels, were weak. Still he had positive proof that they were alive, and, as his heart gave a joyful152 throb153 or two, he stepped into the glade154. There was enough light for him to see Colonel Leonidas Talbot, and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, sitting side by side on the grass with their backs against the earthly wall, very pale from loss of blood, but with heads erect155 and eyes shining with a certain pride. St. Clair and Langdon lay on the grass, one with an old handkerchief, blood-soaked, bound about his head and the other with a bandage tightly fastened over his left shoulder. Beyond them lay a group of soldiers.
"Good evening, heroes!" said Harry lightly as he stepped forward.
He was welcomed with an exclamation156 of joy from them all.
"We meet again, Harry," said Colonel Talbot, "and it is the second time since morning. I fancy that second meetings to-day have not been common. We have the taste of success in our mouths, but you'll excuse us for not rising to greet you. We are all more or less affected157 by the missiles of the enemy and for some hours at least neither walking nor standing will be good for us."
"Mohammed must come to all the mountains," said St. Clair, weakly holding out a hand.
Harry greeted them all in turn, and sat down with them. He was overflowing158 with sympathy, but it was not needed.
"A glorious day," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot.
"Truly," said Harry.
"A most glorious day," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire.
"Most truly," said Harry.
"An especially glorious day for the Invincibles," said Colonel Talbot.
"The most glorious of all possible days for the Invincibles," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire.
There was an especial emphasis to their words that aroused Harry's attention.
"The Invincibles have had many glorious days," he said. "Why should this be the most glorious of them all?"
"We went into battle one hundred and forty-seven strong," replied Colonel Talbot quietly, "and we came out with one hundred and forty-seven casualties, thirty-nine killed and one hundred and eight wounded. We lay no claim to valor159, exceeding that of many other regiments in General Lee's glorious army, but we do think we've made a fairly excellent record. Do you see those men?"
"Not one of them has escaped unhurt, but most of us will muster160 up strength enough to meet the enemy again to-morrow, when our great general calls."
Harry's throat contracted for a moment.
"I know it, Colonel Talbot," he said. "The Invincibles have proved themselves truly worthy161 of their name. General Lee shall hear of this."
"But in no boastful vein162, Harry," said Colonel Talbot. "We would not have you to speak thus of your friends."
"I do not have to boast for you. The simple truth is enough. I shall see that a surgeon comes here at once to attend to your wounded. Good night, gentlemen."
"Good night," said the four together. Harry walked back toward General Lee's headquarters, full of pride in his old comrades.
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1
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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3
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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vapors
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| n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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croak
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| vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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bridled
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| 给…套龙头( bridle的过去式和过去分词 )； 控制； 昂首表示轻蔑（或怨忿等）； 动怒，生气 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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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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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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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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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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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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dirge
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| n.哀乐，挽歌，庄重悲哀的乐曲 | |
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25
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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27
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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29
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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33
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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38
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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39
croaking
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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40
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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41
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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42
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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43
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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44
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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45
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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46
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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47
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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48
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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49
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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50
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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51
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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52
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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53
deftness
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54
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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55
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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56
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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57
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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58
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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59
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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60
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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61
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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62
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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63
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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64
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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65
hooted
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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67
sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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68
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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69
postponement
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| n.推迟 | |
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70
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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71
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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72
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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73
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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74
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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75
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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76
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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77
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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78
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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79
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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80
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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81
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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82
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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83
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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84
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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85
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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86
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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88
cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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89
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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90
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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91
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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92
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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93
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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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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95
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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96
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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97
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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98
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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99
mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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100
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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101
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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102
cavalryman
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| 骑兵 | |
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103
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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104
rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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105
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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106
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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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
redoubtable
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| adj.可敬的；可怕的 | |
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109
tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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110
protagonists
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| n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者 | |
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111
lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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112
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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113
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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114
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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115
titanic
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| adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的 | |
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116
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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117
riddled
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| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
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118
valiantly
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| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
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119
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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120
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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121
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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122
mowed
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| v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
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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124
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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125
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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126
crutches
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| n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑 | |
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127
tornadoes
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| n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 ) | |
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128
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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129
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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130
myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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131
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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132
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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133
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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134
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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135
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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136
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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137
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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138
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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139
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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140
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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141
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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142
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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143
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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144
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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145
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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146
unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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147
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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148
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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149
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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150
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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151
dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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152
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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153
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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154
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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155
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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156
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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157
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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158
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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159
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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160
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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161
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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162
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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