Dick rode at the head of the Kentuckians, but a bullet struck his horse in the chest.  The boy felt the animal shiver beneath him, and he leaped clear just in time, the horse falling heavily and lying quite still.  But Dick alighted on his feet, and still brandishing his sword, and shouting at the top of his voice, ran on.

In an instant they reached the Indiana troops, who turned with them, and the combined forces hurled themselves upon the enemy.  The Southerners, refusing to yield the ground they had gained, received them, and there began a confused and terrible combat, shoulder to shoulder and hand to hand.  Elsewhere the battle continued, but here it raged the fiercest.  Both commanders knew that they were to win or lose upon this hill, and they poured in fresh troops who swelled the area of conflict and deepened its intensity.

Dick saw Warner by his side, but he did not know how he had come there, and just beyond him the thick and powerful figure of Sergeant Whitley showed through the hot haze of smoke.  The back of Warner’s hand had been grazed by a bullet.  He had not noticed it himself, but the slow drip, drip of the blood held Dick for a moment with a sort of hideous fascination.  Then he broke his gaze violently away and turned it upon the enemy, who were pouring upon them in all their massed strength.

Thomas had sent the Kentuckians to the aid of the Indiana men just in time.  The hill was a vast bank of smoke and fire, filled with whistling bullets and shouts of men fighting face to face.  Some one reeled and fell against Dick, and for a moment, he was in horror lest it should be Warner, but a glance showed him that it was a stranger.  Then he rushed on again, filled with a mad excitement, waving his small sword, and shouting to the men to charge.

From right to left the roar of battle came to his ears, but on the hill where he stood the struggle was at its height.  The lines of Federals and Confederates, face to face at first, now became mixed, but neither side gained.  In the fiery struggle a Union officer, Fry, saw Zollicoffer only a few feet away.  Snatching out his pistol he shot him dead.  The Southerners seeing the fall of the general who was so popular among them hesitated and then gave back.  Thomas, watching everything with keen and steady gaze, hurled an Ohio regiment from the right flank upon the Southern center, causing it to give way yet further under the shock.

“We win!  We win!” shouted Dick in his ardor, as he saw the Southern line yielding.  But the victory was not yet achieved.  Crittenden, who was really Zollicoffer’s superior in the command, displayed the most heroic courage throughout the battle.  He brought up fresh troops to help his weakened center.  He reformed his lines and was about to restore the battle, but Thomas, silent and ever watchful, now rushed in a brigade of Tennessee mountaineers, and as they struck with all their weight, the new line of the South was compelled to give way.  Success seen and felt filled the veins of the soldiers with fresh fire.  Dick and the men about him saw the whole Southern line crumble up before them.  The triumphant Union army rushed forward shouting, and the Confederates were forced to give way at all points.