place where had stood the barn.

From beyond a curtain of green woods there came the sound of some
stupendous scuffle, as if two animals of the size of islands were
fighting. At a distance there were occasional appearances of swift-
moving men, horses, batteries, flags, and, with the crashing of infantry
volleys were heard, often, wild and frenzied cheers. In the midst of it
all Smith and Ferguson, two privates of A Company, were engaged in a
heated discussion, which involved the greatest questions of the national
existence.

The battery on the hill presently engaged in a frightful duel. The
white legs of the gunners scampered this way and that way, and the
officers redoubled their shouts. The guns, with their demeanours of
stolidity and courage, were typical of something infinitely self-
possessed in this clamour of death that swirled around the hill.

One of a "swing" team was suddenly smitten quivering to the ground, and
his maddened brethren dragged his torn body in their struggle to escape
from this turmoil and danger. A young soldier astride one of the leaders
swore and fumed in his saddle, and furiously jerked at the bridle. An
officer screamed out an order so violently that his voice broke and
ended the sentence in a falsetto shriek.

The leading company of the infantry regiment was somewhat exposed, and
the colonel ordered it moved more fully under the shelter of the hill.
There was the clank of steel against steel.

A lieutenant of the battery rode down and passed them, holding his
right arm carefully in his left hand. And it was as if this arm was not