Swayne, a slender, fair man, not over twenty-three, smiled and extended a hearty hand, which Harry received with equal heartiness. The smile turned into a slight twinkle.
"I"ve been glad to meet your friends here, Mr. Kenton," he said, "but the meeting has brought a disappointment with it."
"How"s that?"
"Until we began talking I thought I had won the Seven Days and the Second Mana.s.sas all by myself. Now, it seems that I have to share the honors with you fellows."
"So you do," said Langdon, and then he sang:
"There comes a voice from Florida, From Tampa"s lonely sh.o.r.e, It speaks of one we"ve lost, O"Brien is no more.
In the land of sun and flowers, His head lies pillowed low, No more he"ll drink the gin c.o.c.ktail, At Benjamin Haven"s, Oh!
At Benny Haven"s, Oh!
At Benny Haven"s, Oh!"
"Do I get it right, Swayne? Remember that I heard you sing it only three times."
"Fine! Fine!" said Swayne with enthusiasm. "You have it right, or as near right as need be, and you"re using it in a much better voice than I can."
"I"m a great soldier, but my true place is on the operatic stage," said Langdon modestly.
"It"s an old West Point song of ours, Kenton," said Swayne. "While I was lying here listening to the continued roar of all those great guns, I couldn"t keep from humming it as a sort of undernote."
"This gully has a queer effect," said St. Clair, who, lying on a blanket, was dusting every minute particle of dried mud from his uniform. "It seems to soften the sounds of all those guns-and they must be a couple of hundred at least. It produces a kind of harmony."
"It"s the old G.o.d Vulcan and a thousand a.s.sistants of his hammering away on their anvils," said Harry, "and they hammer out a regular tune."
"Besides hammering out a tune," said St. Clair, "they"re also hammering out swords and bayonets to be used against us."
As he spoke he drew from his pocket a tiny round mirror, not more than three inches in diameter, and carefully examined the collar of his coat.
"Have you found a speck, Arthur?" asked Langdon. "If I hadn"t seen you risk your life fifteen or twenty thousand times I"d say you"re a dandy."
"I am a dandy," said St. Clair. "At least, I mean to be one, if I come out of the war alive."
"What do you intend to wear?" asked Harry.
"Depends upon what I can afford. If I have the money, it"s going to be the best, the very best any market can afford."
"A dozen suits, I suppose."
"At least as many, with hats, shoes, overcoats, cloaks, shirts and all the et ceteras to match. Why shouldn"t I wear fine clothes if I want "em? Do you demand that instead I spend it on fiery whisky to pour down me, as so many public men and leading citizens do? The clothes at least don"t burn me out and finally burn me to death."
Langdon put up his hands in defense.
"I haven"t jumped on you, Arthur," he said. "I admire you, though I can"t equal you. And as I"m not willing to be second even to you, I"m going to our sea island, near the Carolina coast, when this war is over, lie down under the shade of a live oak, have our big colored man, Sam, to bring me luxurious food about once every three hours, and between these three-hour periods I"ll be fanned by Julius, another big colored man of ours, and I won"t make any exertion except to tell day by day to admiring visitors how I whipped the Yankees every time I could get near enough to see "em, and how a lot more were scared to death just because they heard me crashing through the brush."
"You"ll do the bragging part, all right, Happy," said St. Clair. "I believe you could keep up the sort of existence you describe for a year at least."
"I"d like to try. Now, what under the stars is that?"
Nothing had happened. Something had merely ceased to happen. The great cannonade had stopped in an instant, as if by a preconcerted signal, and their nerves, attuned so long to such a continuous roar, seemed to collapse, because some support was withdrawn. Harry"s face turned white and his heart beat very fast, but in a few moments he recovered himself.
"I suppose they"ve given it up for the time being," he said, "but they"re sure to try it again in some other way."
"That"s a safe prediction," said St. Clair. "Burnside is trying to get across the Rappahannock to attack us, because the whole North is driving him on, and he hasn"t got the moral courage to hold back until he can choose his time and place. Funny how this silence oppresses one."
The whole Southern army, along its six miles of length, was now standing up and looking toward the point on the other sh.o.r.e of the Rappahannock where the Union batteries were ma.s.sed. All work seemed to have been abandoned there, although the troops were still cl.u.s.tered along the sh.o.r.e and about the bridge head. Clouds of smoke from the great batteries floated down the river.
"A Yankee failure so far, Harry," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot. "The bridge has advanced no further, and I should say that our sh.o.r.e is now enriched by about fifty thousand pounds of steel hurled from those batteries and with little harm to us."
"I"ve no doubt you"re right, sir," said Harry, "and now that a period of rest has come, I shall hurry back to General Jackson, who may need me to carry some order."
"A moment, please, Harry, my boy," said Colonel Talbot, twirling his mustaches. "You are near to General Jackson, of course, being his personal aide. If it should fall out conveniently, would you do myself and my most excellent friend and second, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, a small favor?"
"Of course, Colonel. Gladly. What is it?"
"If the enemy should cross the river, as he probably will, and if you should be near enough to Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, and if the moment should be propitious, would you kindly whisper in his ear that the skeleton regiment, known as the Invincibles, Leonidas Talbot, Colonel, and Hector St. Hilaire, Lieutenant-Colonel, would be overjoyed at the honor of leading the attack upon the intrusive and invading Yankee army?"
"Promise, Harry, promise!" seconded Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire in his softest and most persuasive South Carolina accent. "You really owe that to us."
"I promise gladly," replied Harry; "but you know what General Jackson is. He makes his plans without telling anybody what they are, and he carries them out. If it is a part of his plan for the Invincibles to lead the attack, so far as his division is concerned, you"ll lead it. If not, you won"t."
"But still a word in his ear might have some influence," persisted Colonel Talbot. "It might come at the very moment when he was hesitating over a choice, and it would probably decide him in our favor."
"Then I shall do my best, sir," said Harry. "You can rely upon me"
He returned to General Jackson, but found that his commander was yet inactive. He was still waiting and watching with a patience that seemed equal to that of the Sphinx. Noon came, food was served, and the hours trailed their slow length on.
Then they saw a great movement in the Union army. The Northern generals were about to make their supreme effort. Hooker, who had shown such desperate courage at Antietam and who had won the name of Fighting Joe, called for men who would cross the river in boats under the fire of the Mississippi rifles. It looked like certain death, but four entire regiments came forward at once. They entered the boats, which promptly pulled for the right bank, and the great batteries at once opened a covering fire.
The Mississippians once more sent forth their hail of bullets, but the boats were so numerous that, although some were stopped, the majority came on. Man after man, shot through, fell over the sides into the deep river. Sometimes a boat itself sank, but the main force rapidly approached the Southern side.
"They have lost many men, but they will make the crossing at last, Harry," said Dalton.
"So it seems," said Harry. "I suppose our generals could bring up enough men to drive them back, but it looks as if they don"t want to do it."
"It may be that they"re holding the trap open for the victim to walk in."
"However it may be, they"re across. See, they"re landing in thousands, and the Mississippians, leaving their rifle pits, are retreating. Now they can finish the bridge and as many more as they need at their leisure."
The retreating Mississippians rejoined their comrades, and still the Southern army did not stir. The Northern army, almost unmolested, continued its bridge building, and the afternoon and a dark night pa.s.sed.
CHAPTER V
FREDERICKSBURG
Before night the Union army had three bridges across the Rappahannock, and before morning it had six. The regiment that had crossed held the right bank of the river, that is, the side of the South, and the boats moved freely back and forth in the stream.