lescopic rifles, who could pick a man's ear off half-a-mile away. The
bullets from their guns had a peculiar sound, something like the buzz of
a bumble-bee, and the troopers' horses would stop, prick up their ears
and gaze in the direction whence the hum of those invisible messengers
could be heard. Unable to reach them mounted, we finally deployed
dismounted along a staked rail fence. The confederates were behind trees
and shocks of grain, at least half-a-mile away. They would get the
range so accurately that it was dangerous to stand still a moment. It
was possible, however, to dodge the bullets by observing the puffs of
smoke from their guns. The distance was so great that the puff was seen
some seconds before the report was heard, and before the arrival of the
leaden missile. By moving to the right or left the shot could be
avoided, which in many cases was so accurately aimed as to have been
fatal, had it been awaited. Once I was slow about moving. The scamp in
my immediate front had evidently singled me out and was sending them in
so close as to make it sure that he was taking deadly aim. I took my eye
off his natural fortress for an instant, when he fired, and before I
could jump, the ball struck a rail in front of me, and passing through
the rail, fell to the ground at my feet.

Most of the men were content to keep behind the fence and try and give
the confederates as good as they sent, aiming at the points whence the
puffs of smoke came. But there was one daring fellow, Halleck by name,
who climbed over the fence and amused himself shelling and eating the
wheat while he dodged the bullets. So keen an eye did he keep out for
the danger, that he escaped without a scratch. While he was there a man
named Mattoon, a good soldier, came up, and seeing Halleck, jumped over
with the exclamation, "What are you doing here?" "Just wait a minute and
you will see," said Halleck. Mattoon was a fat, chubby fellow, and in
just about "a minute" a bullet struck him in the face, going through the
fleshy part of the cheek and making the blood spout. "I told you so,"
said Halleck, who kept on eating wheat and defying the sharpshooters,
who were unable to hit him, though he was a conspicuous target. The
secret of it was he did not stand still, but kept moving, and they had
to hit him, if at all, like a bird on the wing which at the distance was
a hard shot to make.

The entire day was passed in this kind of skirmishing, and it was bot