hick bushes hid everything from
Harry's sight, as he rode swiftly through the winding paths of the
Wilderness. When the tumult sank at last he heard a new thunder in front
of him, and now he knew that the Southern center under Hill had been
attacked also, and with the greatest fierceness.

As Harry approached, the roar of the second battle became terrific.
Uncertain where General Lee would now be, he rode through the sleet of
steel, and found Hill engaged with the very flower of the Northern army.
Hancock, the hero of Gettysburg, was making desperate exertions to crush
him, pouring in brigade after brigade, while Sheridan, regardless of
thickets, made charge after charge with his numerous cavalry.

Harry remained in the rear on his horse, watching this furious struggle.
The day had become much darker, either from clouds or the vast volume of
smoke, and the thickets were so dense that the officers often could not
see their enemy at all, only their own men who stood close to them.
The struggle was vast, confused, carried on under appalling conditions.
The charging horsemen were sometimes swept from the saddle by bushes and
not by bullets. Infantrymen stepped into a dark ooze left by spring
rains, and pulling themselves out, charged, black to the waist with mud.
Sometimes the field pieces became mired, and men and horses together
dragged them to firmer ground.

Grant here, as before Ewell, continually reinforced his veterans, but
Hill, although he was not able to advance, held fast. The difficult
nature of the ground that Lee had chosen helped him. In marsh and
thickets it was impossible for the more numerous enemy to outflank him.
Harry saw Hill twice, a slender man, who had suffered severe wounds but
one of the greatest fighters in the Southern army. He had been ordered
to hold the center, and Harry knew now that he would do it, for the day
at least. Night was not very far away, and Grant was making no progress.

He rode on in search of Lee and before he was yet beyond the range of
fire he met Dalton, mounted and emerging from the smoke.

"The commander-in-chief, where is he?" asked Harry.

"On a little hill not far from here, watching the battle. I'm just
returning with a dispatch from Hill."

"I saw that Hill was holding his ground."

"So my dispatch says, and it says also that he will continue to hold it.
You come from Ewell?"

"Yes, and he has done more than stand fast. He was driven back at first,