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THE WAR LIBRARY.
19
force that all the breath, and it would seem
the very life, was knocked out of him.
“Come!” .
As he thus finally called, Raymond deliv-
ered a blow with his trenchant weapon,
which, though the Confederate succeeded in
_parryingit and saving his head from the
gleaming edge, sent the latter to his knees
on the ground with his right arm and
wrist sorely wrenched. “
Raymond did not pause to follow up.this
advantage. .
. Away he darted into the deep shadows be-
yond and in the direction he knew Jack Roy
‘had gone with Uarla.
The Irishman; withal his bravery, was not
foolish enough to remain now, when the of-
ficer could come to the assistance of his men,
and, perhaps, in an altered mind run him
through with his sword.
Promptly he followed the captain, having
made clear his opportunity to do so by
knocking Gown another of his assailants.
Below Bennings Hill, at the point where
thesmall affluent makesin to Rock Creek,
Raymond came upon the lieutenant and
Uarla, who, with Snow, were waiting in a
favorable concealment for his arrival.
- “Come,” he said, the instant he joined
them; ‘‘ weare in great danger yet, for itis
here that the Jeft of the Confederate forces
terminates. Be cautious; and let me hope
that there will be no more such foolish be-
trayal of our movements as that of a few
moments past.”
“Divil’s the word: I'll beafther utterin’,
captain garlin’ .
“Why you doesn’t shet yo’ mouf-trap, yo
Trisher Mthssa Pad!”
* Silence!” commanded Raymond,
dserving the greatest caution, the party
now began their march again toward the
turnpike.
Though realizing that they had passed
through many dangers, they did not really
know the full extent of the peril besetting
their path at the time. .
It was surely a dispensation of Providence
that they found themselves at last within
the rear of the Union army without any
further adventure than the one recorded.
Leaving Uarla with her father, and with a
short word of good-by to Casey and Snow,
Lieutenant Jack Roy lost no time in seeking
‘vsurgeon when they had passed the Union
pickets. . .
His arm was sorely paining him, and in-
deed, if he had to go much Jonger without
proper attention, itis probable that serious
consequences might have ensued for him.
When at last he found himself stretched
out and under the manipulation of the sur-
geon, hechafed at the confinement which
was about to be forced upon him, while all
around was bustle and_ activity in prepara-
tion for the shock of the two armies again
on the morrow.
As he lay with splintered member, half
dozing ina spot that would perhapsafford
shelter. when the conflict raged, he was
aroused by a gentle hand on his brow. |
. “You are feverish,” said a familiar voice.
Ah! how quickly was he awake.
Uarla was there. . . .
Her hand was pleasantly cooling on his
brow; and more, there was. something in
the tender touch which thrilled the young
soldier to his soul’s center. |
“You are very kind, Miss Raymond, to
seek meout. Yes, J amafraid Ishall havea
spell of fever; I was without attention for
too long a time, so the surgeon said. wy ould
you please give me a drink of water?
As if anticipating his desire, she had
brought a small canteen with her, and this,
as she held it to his dry lips, was richer to
him than all thenectar that has been praised
in the parable of poesy. .
“Thanks,”
And then, with the delightful touch of
her hand on his brow, he seemed soothed
into asleep wherein there were pleasant
dreams of this beautiful girl to whom. his
heart had gove out ina limitless love since
the first hour of their meeting. -
Twice—and again—the red blood mounted
ina half concealed blush to her cheeks, as
she remained there like a guardian angel
above him; for he uttered lowly ip the un-
consciousness of slumber :
“Uarla! Uarlal It is the name I love
best of all, Uarla!”
—_—_—_—_——— e
CHAPTER XXV.
WHERE BLOOD RAN LIKE WATER.
In the early hour of morning there broke
once more the thunder of guns that hurled
death into the ranks of the Confederate
i
ashe
general at his dearly bought position on
Culp’s Hill.
The divisions of Williams and Geary, with
Shaler’s brigade, were ‘early at the fight,
which waged at once and fiercely.
For hours again on that day of the third
of July, the tenacious foe held fast to the
advantage gained in the gloaming of the
day before; and not until the troops of
Geary charged was the original line retaken
by the boys in blue.
While the musketry rattled here, other
preparatious were apparent among thecol-
umus of ray afar, where battery after bat-
tery could be seen wheeling rapidly into
position to sweep open the slopes.
Tremendous was the artillery force being
concentrated in prospect for the final strug-
gle—tremendous on both sides. .
The morning passed, nnd noonday came
before there arose the sound that quaked
the shuddering heavens with the apprisal of
more fighting, more slaughter, more of the
awful pieture of war.
Boom!
And then:
Boom !—boom !—boum!
Suddenly the air, the earth, was shaken
by the flaming and resonant throats of those
long lines of batteries on the crest held by
the Confederato troops.
The huge iron hail began to tear and plow
and mow with a titanic savagery.
Then, when the first rumbles had risen
and passed, to sink sullenly into the vault of
the skies—then another sound.
Booin!—boom!
More throats of fire—more guns that fhun-
dered and hailed back in ready response to
the guus of the gray clad host.
Then along the battle front the sound
grew louder.
Louder and deafening—louder and deadly.
The roar, the destruction, of two hundred
cannon made horrible the echoes that filled
the woods, the hills, the dells, and rolled in
wavy hurricanes of explosion for miles.
Two hundred guns that belched asif to
rend the ancient fabric of the ridges, and to
darken with their accompanying smoke the
light of day. .
Grimly waited the boys in blue in the rear
of this terrific cannonade—grimly aud with
compressed lips, as they contemplated the
prospect of this fresh day for carnage that
was sure to come,
Deadlier shocks were yet to come.
And when at last the duel between the
cannoneers began to sound and roar less
loud, less fast, tighter were the weapons of
stern soldiers grasped, and keener _pricked
the ears that expected the command to take
them into the clamor of charging and vol-
leying infantry.
‘Asif the firing grew gradually less severe,
suddenly could be seen, through the smoky
rifts, the advancing columns of gray that
had been busy forming on Seminary Ridge.
Forward they came—the gray-clad and
fierce men of Kemper, Garnett, Armistead
and Wilcox—forward too the men of Petti-
Trew.
. Fifteen thousand warriors in gray, where
the grim faces of Virginians and Carolinians
were turned with a fierce resolve toward
the waiting foe.
Forward in magnificent array, compact
and firm, asif each soldier there knew well
that he was a hero on that fateful day,
Then boomed the artillery upon them,
Then showered the slugs from the mus-
kets of the Vermonters on their flank.
The havoe was begun!
Forward still—forward into the cannon’s
mouth—forward over that memorable plain
that soon began to pile with dead,
Yet on the brave host that could thus face
death that cameupon them from right and
left, from before, obliquely, everywhere it
seemed—on—on, in the face of iron and lead
till the plain was another Fontenoy, where
troops stood and marched and marched
again in the flame, the smoke, the death
that grew thicker and thicker at every
step!
‘There was at last a waver,
Along the line of Pettigrew’s troops rung
theshout that told of recognition of the
presence of the Army of the Potomac.
And back, back they went under the galling
fire,
Pickett stood!
The Virginians stood as solid as a rock—
though through that rock of bristling front
was mowing the fire of the boys in blue,
thinning, killing, gaping open -the war
tempered ranks that would not waver, but
marched on,and on—and on, defying the
volleys, the cannonades, the array that was
before them on Cemetery Ridge, waiting to
mow and smite again after that horrible
march into the cannon’s mouth over the
plain below.
Yells—mad and vengeful yells—were as-
cending from the throuts of these remark-
able Virginians as they marched on—still
on!
Then upward—up to the very breast-
works, with their torn and draggling stand-
ards raised above the slaughter!
Through shot and steel had they come,
and no troops could withstand such wonder-
ful valor and courage, for the Union line
was driven back, back from where had been
the jaws of hell these men of Pickett had
faced and conquered,
With the battle flags of the Confederacy
flaunting there, for awhile it appeared as if
Lee would at last drive his foe from the
ridges in defeat.
Confusion was in the lines of blue.
Confusion—yet a stern resolution to re-
take every inch that had been lost by the ir-
resistible advance of the Virginians; and
ere long there rung the cheers of Massachu-
setts and New York,as the Union colors
were thrust forward into the midst of the
momentarily victorious enemy, and these
supported nobly by the hotly received regi-
ments,
Forward vow the boys in blue!
Forward the stars and stripes into the
hell that raged afresh at the memorable
stone wall! .
The men of Pickett wavered now,
Death was coming before them. Death to
the right and the left of them. Death inthe
plain below if they started to retreat.
In the very storm of carnage that raged
on the brow of the hill so dearly bought by
the Confederates, there was a bare-headed
and white-haired oflicer who, with sword iu
hand, often plunged into the thickest of the
general melee that came when the conflict
ing troops swept and swayed backward and
forward over the stone wall.
Brave Captain Raymoud showed here
again the daring and valor which had made
him famous at Fredericksburg.
Hard smote his terrible sword on more
than one skull as he darted into the midst of
his foes; and once there were no less than
four bayonets directed against his breast
simultaneously.
Butthe trenchant blade swept them aside
like pipe-stems, and the weapon's point
struck deep into the breasts of those before
him by turns.
He was not entirely unscathed.
A red stain was on his commanding face—
astain of blood that flowed from « slight
wound on his head.
Then the menof Pickett threw up their
hands, some laying flat upon the ground to
escape the hail of lead that seemed to be.
come thicker and deadlier amid the smoke
that billowed up with the rapid and crack-
ling volleys from the boysin blue.
Brilliant bad been the tighting at this point
in the great battlefield.
But the men of Hancock swarmed ina
mighty avalanche that carried all before,
eapturing Confederates, capturing nearly all
that were on that hill after the decimation
of horrid death, with the standards which
had so shortly previous been planted yvio-
toriously on the wall.
Still boomed the artillery.
For now across that slippery plain was ad-
vancing another array of the fierce gray,
The men of Wilcox.
Perhaps they didnot know of the terrible
result of that previous charge by Pickett;
perhaps {hey were deceived by tho sound of
the conflictinto which they now marched,
and their eyes, fixed abead for tho sight of
the hated Yankees, disregarded the heaps of
slain that were in every step of theircourse,
disregarded, too, the batteries that promptly
opened on them, laying low whole companies
like wheat under the reaper's sharp scythe.
Then the battle of fresh musketry. °
Loud again the battle burst.
For the volleys and thechargings and the
cheers of the Vermonters sounded presently
at flank and rear!
More carnage there on the fleld of Gettys-
urge.
Thrown into dismay by such a reception,
the rebels broke and fled,
After them came the volleys and the hail,
and hundreds, unable to exclude tho fireand
the ranks of llue that seemed to close
around them as if by wagic, yielded as pris-
oners,
Bloody Gettysburg!
Perhaps the god of war was sufficiently
glutted ut last.
For now came a lull over the gory flelds.
Tho Confederate host, beaten, shattered,
—.-., a