Sitting their horses quietly, their lives endangered every moment by shot and shell that dropped around them and whistled by their heads, Hal and Chester watched keenly the hand-to-hand struggle that ensued.

The two bodies of horsemen met with a crash less than a quarter of a mile from where the two lads had taken their places.  With swords and sabers flashing aloft, the Austrians had charged with a wild yell.  The Italian cavalry, stationary and braced for the shock, received their foes silently.

Hal and Chester could see that the opposing bodies of horse were about evenly matched; and they realized that skill, horsemanship and fighting prowess would play important parts in the encounter.

The very fierceness of the Austrian charge swept away the front rank of the Italian cavalry; and, over the fallen bodies of men and horses the foe pressed on, taking no count of their own dead and injured that reeled and fell from the saddles.  The horses themselves became imbued with the spirit of battle, and bit and struck at each other as their riders fought with sword, saber and pistol.

It was a terrible sight, and the lads shuddered unconsciously.  It was more frightful to the spectator than it was to the struggling men themselves, who, in the heat of battle, took no thought of the dead and the dying and pressed forward bent only upon protecting themselves while they sought the lives of their foes.

For an hour the fierce hand-to-hand struggle raged, with advantage apparently first to one side and then to the other.  In other sections of the field, at least where Hal and Chester could see, operations had ceased for the moment, each commander evidently loath to hurl forward additional troops until the cavalry action had been decided.  However, the troops were engaged in other quarters of the field.  Upon the right the Italians had made no impression on the Austrian, but the Italian left wing had had better success.  The first line of trenches of the enemy had fallen to the attacking forces after a fierce bayonet charge by the infantry, and the left wing had now taken shelter in the trenches and was preparing to beat off a counter attack which the Austrian commander even now was about to make.

And in the center the cavalry still fought sullenly and fiercely.

Suddenly Hal uttered an exclamation of dismay.

From a quarter of a mile to the left of the struggling cavalry, a second body of Austrian horsemen appeared.  These men had been ordered to make a detour and fall upon the Italian horse from the left.  They now charged with a shout.

Apparently this had taken the Italian commander by surprise, for no additional Italian troops were for the moment hurled forward to the support of the cavalry.  Beset by this new foe, the Italians were forced back slowly, fighting every minute, however, and contesting every foot of ground as they retreated.

Hal and Chester now realized for the first time that they were directly in the line of retreat.