as they looked upon the area of conflict.

The dead lay in windrows between the two armies which were waiting to
fight on the dawn. Dick and the colonel walked toward the field where
the corn had been waving high that morning, and where it was now mown
by cannon and rifles to the last stalk. In the edge of the wood the boy
paused and grasping the man suddenly by the arm pulled him back.

"Look! Look!" he exclaimed in a sharp whisper. "The Confederate
skirmishers! The woods are full of them! They are making ready for a
night attack!" Both he and Colonel Winchester sprang back behind a big
tree, sheltering themselves from a possible shot. But no sound came,
not even that of men creeping forward through the undergrowth. All they
heard was the moaning of the wind through the foliage. They waited, and
then the two looked at each other. The true reason for the extraordinary
silence had occurred to both at the same instant, and they stepped from
the shelter of the tree.

Awed and appalled, the man and the boy gazed at the silent forms which
lay row on row in the woods and in the shorn cornfield. It seemed as if
they slept, but Dick knew that all were dead. He and Colonel Winchester
gazed again at each other and shuddering turned away lest they disturb
the sleep of the dead.

When they returned to a position behind the guns they heard others
coming in with equally terrible tales. A sunken lane that ran between
the hostile lines was filled to the brim with dead. Boys, yet in
their teens, with nerves completely shattered for the time, chattered
hysterically of what they had seen. The Antietam was still running red.
Both Lee and Stonewall Jackson had been killed and the whole Confederate
army would be taken in the morning. Some said, on the other hand, that
the Southerners still had a hundred thousand men, and that McClellan
would certainly be beaten the next day, if he did not retreat in time.

None of the talk, either of victory or defeat, made any impression upon
Dick. His senses were too much dulled by all through which he had gone.
Words no longer meant anything. Although the night was warm he began to
shiver, as if he were seized with a chill.

"Lie down, Dick," said Colonel Winchester, who noticed him. "I don't
think you can stand it any longer. Here, under this tree will do."

Dick threw himself down and Colonel Winchester, finding a blanket,
spread it over him. Then the boy closed his eyes, and, for a while,
phase