st gap appeared in the
Southern line before them, but in a minute or two it closed up, and
the Southern masses came on again, as menacing as ever. Again Dick's
regiment poured its shattering fire upon the Southern columns and their
front lines were blown away. Colonel Winchester at once wheeled his men
into a new position to meet the mass of Forrest's cavalry rushing down
upon their flank. He was just in time to help other troops, not in
numbers enough to withstand the shock.

There were few moments in the lives of these lads as terrifying as those
when they turned to face the fierce Forrest, the uneducated mountaineer
who had intuitively mastered Napoleon's chief maxim of war, to pour the
greatest force upon the enemy's weakest point.

The hurricane sweeping down upon them sent a chill to their hearts. Dick
saw a long line of foaming mouths, the lips drawn back from the cruel
white teeth, and manes flying wildly. Above them rose the faces of the
riders, their own eyes bloodshot, their sabers held aloft for the deadly
sweep. And the thunder of galloping hoofs was more menacing than that of
the cannon.

Dick looked around him and saw faces turning pale. His own might be
whiter than any of theirs for all he knew, but he shouted with the other
officers:

"Steady! Steady! Now pour it into 'em!"

It was well that most of the men in the regiment had become
sharpshooters, and that despite the thumping of their hearts, they were
able to stand firm. Their sleet of bullets emptied a hundred saddles,
and slipping in the cartridges they fired again at close range. The
cavalry charge seemed to stop dead in its tracks, and in an instant a
scene of terrible confusion occurred. Wounded horses screaming in pain
rushed wildly back upon their own comrades or through the ranks of the
foe. Injured men, shot from their saddles, were seeking to crawl out of
the way. Whirling eddies of smoke alternately hid and disclosed enemies,
and from both left and right came the continuous and deafening crash of
infantry in battle.

But Forrest's men paused only a moment or two. A great mass of them
galloped out of the smoke, over the bodies of their dead comrades and
directly into the Winchester regiment, shouting and slashing with their
great sabers. It was well for the men that their leader had so wisely
chosen ground rough and covered with bushes. Using every inch of
protection, they fired at horses and riders and thrust at them with
their bay