"Good-by, little sweetheart.
Hide under the rocks and keep close."

"Good-by, Morrison," Gary said, as they struck hands. "I can't wish you
luck--but our hearts are with you as a man."

"Thanks, old fellow," said the enemy, as he sprang over the wall "It
helps--God knows."

He caught at his horse's mane and threw himself into the saddle without
touching the stirrup, while his voice roared out his command.

"Ready, men! Forward!"

"Good-by," shrilled Virgie in her childish treble. "Good-by, Colonel!
Don't get hurt."

"Daddy!" she cried, as they crouched down in their hiding place behind
the wall. "Is there going to be a--a _battle_?"

"Only a little one. But you won't be afraid."

A rattle of approaching wheels came from down the road, the shock of
steel tires striking viciously against the stones, the cries and oaths
of the drivers urging the horses forward.

"Look!" cried Cary, springing to his feet in spite of the danger in
which his gray uniform placed him. "Here come the field pieces. In a
minute now the dogs will begin to bark."

With a roar of wheels and a clash of harness and accouterments the guns
rushed by while the child stared and stared, her big eyes almost
starting out of her face.

"The dogs!" she said in wonder. "There wasn't a single dog there!"

"Another kind of dog," her father said with a meaning look. "And their
teeth are _very_ long. Ah! There they go! Over yonder on the hill--in
the edge of the woods. The Yankee dogs are barking. Now listen for the
answer."

Together they listened, father and daughter, with straining
ears--listened for the defiant reply of those men who, being Americans,
were never beaten until hunger and superior numbers forced them to the
wall.

"Boom!" A great, ear-filling sound crashed over the hills and rolled,
echoing, through the woods.

"That's us! That's us!" the man cried out exultantly, while he caught
the child closer in his arms. "Hear our people talking, honey? Hear 'em
talk!"

But overhead something was coming through the air and the child shrank
down in terror--something that whined and screamed as it sped on its
dreadful way and seemed like a demon out of hell searching for his prey.

"Lord a' mercy, Daddy!" the child cried out. "What's _that_?"

He patted her head consolingly. "Nothing at all but a shell. They sound
much worse than they really are. Don't be afraid. Nothing will hurt
you."

From the forks of the road the sound of volley fi