Behind them they heard the battle swelling anew, but Dick
knew that a new force of the foe was coming here, and he felt proud that
his own regiment had been moved to meet an attack which would certainly
be made with the greatest violence.
"Who are those men down in the wheat-field?" asked Pennington.
"Our own skirmishers," replied Warner. "See them running forward,
hiding behind the shocks of straw and firing!"
The riflemen were busy. They fired from the shelter of every straw stack
in the field, and they stung the new Southern advance, which was already
showing its front. Southern guns now began to search the wheat field.
A shell struck squarely in the center of one of the shocks behind which
three Northern skirmishers were kneeling. Dick saw the straw fly into
the air as if picked up by a whirlwind. When it settled back it lay
in scattered masses and three dark figures lay with it, motionless and
silent. He shuddered and looked away.
The edge of the wood was now lined with Southern infantry, and on their
right flank was a numerous body of cavalry.
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