_me_?" But even as the
words were thought out it had passed, high in air, clean to the rear,
and burst harmlessly. A few faces turned upward and a few eyes glanced
backward, as if to see the invisible enemy. But there was no pause in
the column; it flowed onward quietly, eagerly, and with business-like
precision; it gave forth no sound but the trampling of feet and the
muttering of the officers, "Steady, men! Forward, men."

The Confederates, however, had got their range. A half minute later
four puffs of smoke dotted the ridge, and a flight of hoarse humming
shrieks tore the air. A little aureole cracked and splintered over
the First, followed by loud cries of anguish and a brief, slight
confusion. The voice of an officer rose sharply out of the flurry,
"Close up, Company A! Forward, men!" The battalion column resumed its
even formation in an instant, and tramped unitedly onward, leaving
behind it two quivering corpses and a wounded man who tottered
rearward.

Then came more screeches, and a shell exploded over the high road,
knocking a gunner lifeless from his carriage. The brigade commander
glanced anxiously along his batteries, and addressed a few words to
his chief of artillery. Presently the four Napoleons set forward at a
gallop for the wood, while the four Parrotts wheeled to the right,
deployed, and advanced across the fields, inclining toward the left of
the enemy. Next, Taylor's regiment (the Eighth) halted, fronted, faced
to the right, and filed off in column of march at a double-quick until
it had gained the rear of the Parrotts, when it fronted again, and
pushed on in support. A quarter of a mile further on these guns went
into battery behind the brow of a little knoll, and opened fire. Four
companies of the Eighth spread out to the right as skirmishers, and
commenced stealing toward the ridge, from time to time measuring the
distance with rifle-balls. The remainder of the regiment lay down in
line between the Parrotts and the forest. Far away to the right,
five companies of cavalry showed themselves, maneuvering as if they
proposed to turn the left flank of the Southerners. The attack on this
side was in form and in operation.

Meantime the Confederate fire had divided. Two guns pounded away at
Taylor's feint, while two shelled the main column. The latter was
struck repeatedly; more than twenty men dropped silent or groaning out
of the hurrying files; but the survivors pushed on without faltering,
an