tinging blows, and round
shot screamed in the air. Sometimes a dead man would be lifted from
where he lay and hurled backward, while every instant men cried hoarsely
and joined the dead. In the midst of this thunder and carnage, Aladdin
came suddenly upon Peter, smiling like a favorite at a dance, and
shouted to him. They grinned at each other, and as Aladdin grinned he
looked about to see where he could be of use, and sprang toward a gun
half of whose crew had been blasted to death by a bursting shell. The
sweat ran down his face, and already it was black with burning powder.
The flash of the guns set fire to the clothing of the dead and wounded
who lay in front, and on the recoil the iron-shod wheels broke the
bones of those lying behind. It was impossible to know how the fight was
going. It was only possible to go on fighting.

There was a voice in front of the battery that kept calling so terribly
for water that it turned cold the stomachs of those that heard. It
came from a Confederate, a general officer, who had been wounded in
the spine. Occasionally it was possible to see him through the smoke.
Sometimes a convulsion seized him, and he beat the ground with his whole
body, as a great fish that has been drawn from the water beats the deck
of a vessel. It was terrible to look at and hear. Bullets and shot tore
the ground about the man and showered him with dust and stones. Aladdin
shook his canteen and heard the swish of water. It seemed to him, and
his knees turned to water at the thought, that he must go out into that
place swept by the fire of both sides, and give relief to his enemy.
He did not want to go, and fear shook him; but he threw down the rammer
which he had been serving, and drawing breath in long gasps, took a step
forward. His resolve came too late. A blue figure slipped by him and
went down the slope at a run. It was Manners. They saw him kneel by the
dying Confederate in the bright sunlight, and then smoke swept between
like a wave of fog. The red flashes of the guns went crashing into the
smoke, and on all sides men fell. But presently there came a star-shaped
explosion in the midst of the smoke, hurling it back, and they saw
Manners again. He was staggering about with his hands over his eyes,
and blood was running through his fingers. Even as they looked, a shot
struck him in the back, and he came down. They saw his splendid square
chest heaving, and knew that he was not yet dead. Then the smoke