waved in hundreds over their heads. The bands were still playing,
and the great batteries which they had left on Stafford Heights across
the river continued that incessant roaring fire over their heads at the
Southern army on its own heights. The smoke from the cannon, whitish in
color, drifted away down the river with the fog, and the whole spectacle
still remained in the brilliant sunlight.

Harry's respect for the Union artillery, already high, increased yet
further. The field was now mostly open, where all could see, and the
gunners not only saw their targets, but were able to take good aim.
The storm of shot and shell from Stafford Heights was frightful.
It seemed to Harry--again his imagination was alive--that the very air
was darkened by the rush of steel. Despite their earthworks and other
shelter the Southern troops began to suffer from that dreadful sleet,
but the little conference on Lee's Hill went on.

Longstreet, sitting his horse steadily, looked long at the dense masses
below.

"General," he said to General Jackson, "doesn't that myriad of Yankees
frighten you?"

"It won't be long before we see whether we shall frighten them," replied
Jackson.

General Lee said a few words, and then Jackson and Longstreet returned
to their respective divisions, Jackson, as Harry noted, showing not the
least excitement, although the resolute Union general, Franklin, with
nearly sixty thousand men and one hundred and twenty guns, was marching
directly against his own position.