every
moment to be hurled upon the rebel battalions, or to meet the impetuous
onset of the foe.

Between ten and eleven, when the men were nearly worn out by the
exhausting labors of the march, they were ordered to halt in the road, and
bivouac for the rest of the night. What a time and what a place for
repose! They could only wrap themselves up in their wet blankets, and
stretch themselves upon the ground, soaked with water, and with the rain
still pouring down upon them. But they slept, and enjoyed their rest, for
Nature was imperative in her demands.

At daylight the march was resumed; for the intrepid Hooker, ever faithful
to the trust confided to him, was wholly in earnest. At half-past five the
column was halted in the woods. The rebel works before Williamsburg were
in sight, and General Hooker rode to the front to examine the position of
the enemy.

In front of the rebel batteries, and on each side of the roads, the trees
had been felled, in order to give the guns in the field works full play
upon an approaching force.

"Hurrah!" shouted some of the boys on the right of the column. "Our
brigade is to commence the attack."

"How do you know?" growled Hapgood, who did not think a soldier ought to
know any thing about the plan of the battle.

"We are ordered to move," replied Tom. "I suppose that's all they know
about it."

The prophets on the right were correct this time, for the regiment was
soon sent to the right of the road, and ordered to deploy as skirmishers.
A battery was thrown forward in front of the felled timber; but before a
gun could be fired, two officers and two privates were seen to fall before
the unerring aim of the rebel sharpshooters, occupying the rifle pits
which dotted the cleared land in front of the forts.

"That's a hot place," said Ben Lethbridge.

"We shall all see hot work before the sun goes down to-night," replied
Tom. "But let us stand up to it like men."

"That's the talk, Tom!" exclaimed Hapgood.

"Have you got those socks on, my boy?"

"I have, uncle; and I have the letter and the photograph in my pocket."

"Good, Tom! After this day's work is over, you can write the lady a
letter, and tell her that her socks have been in a battle."

"And that I didn't run away in them."

The roar of the guns in Fort Magruder interrupted the conversation. The
gunners of the battery in front of them had been driven from their pieces;
but it was almost instantly manned by volunte