“I suspect they’re trying to cut us off completely from our own army,” he said to Dalton.

“Seems likely to me, too,” said Dalton.  “Wipe us out here, and hold the river for themselves.  Our scouts assured us that there was no large force of the enemy in this region.  It must have been gathered in great haste.”

“In whatever way it was gathered, it’s here, that’s sure.”

There was a good moon now, and, using his glasses, Harry saw many details of the battle.  The attack was being pressed with great vigor and courage.  He saw in a valley numerous bodies of cavalry, firing their carbines, and he saw two batteries, of eight light guns each, move forward for a better range.  Soon their shells were exploding near the hill on which Harry stood, and the fire of the rifles, unbroken now, grew rapidly in volume.

But the men under Sherburne, youthful though most of them might be, were veterans.  They knew every trick of war, and columns of infantry swept forward to meet the attack, preceded by the skirmishers, who took heavy toll of the foe.

“If they’d been able to make it a surprise they might have rushed us,” said Harry.

“Nobody catches Sherburne sleeping,” said Dalton.

“That’s true, and because they can’t they won’t be able to overcome him here.  Now there go our rifles!  Listen to that crash.  I fancy that about a thousand were fired together, and they weren’t fired for nothing.”

“No,” said Dalton, “but the Yankees don’t give way.  You can see by their line of fire that they’re still coming.  Look there!  A powerful body of horse is charging!”

It was unusual to see cavalry attack at night, and the spectacle was remarkable, as the moonlight fell on the raised sabers.  But the defiant rebel yell, long and fierce, rose from the thicket, and, as the rifles crashed, the entire front of the charging column was burned away, as if by a stroke of lightning.  But after a moment of hesitation they came on, only to ride deeper into a rifle fire which emptied saddles so fast that they were at last compelled to turn and gallop away.

“Brave men,” said Harry.  “A gallant charge, but it had to meet too many Southern rifles, aimed by men who know how to shoot.”

“But their infantry are advancing through that wood,” said Dalton.  “Hear them cheering above the rifle fire!”

The Northern shout rang through the forest, and the rebel yell, again full of defiance, replied.  The cavalry had been driven off, but the infantry and artillery were far from beaten.  The sixteen guns of the two batteries were massed on a hill and they began to sweep the Southern lines with a storm of shells and shrapnel.  The forest and the dark were no protection, because the guns searched every point of the Southern line with their fire.  Sherburne’s men were forced to give ground, before cannon served with such deadly effect.

“What will the colonel do?” asked Dalton.  “The big guns give the Yankees the advantage.”