The Scouts of Stonewall | Page 9

artillery, just a light gun or two," said Sherburne,
"we'd give 'em such a surprise that they'd never get over it."
"But we haven't got it."
"No, we haven't, but maybe rifles and carbines will serve."
The hoofbeats were fast growing louder, and Harry knew that the head
of the Northern column would appear in a minute or two. Every light in
the warehouse or about it and all in the village had been extinguished,
but the moonlight was clear and more stars had come into the full sky.
"We can see well enough for a fight," murmured Captain Sherburne.
Everybody could hear the hoofbeats now, and again there was a stir in
the ranks of the defenders. The dark line appeared in the road three or
four hundred yards away and then, as the horsemen emerged into the
open, they deployed rapidly by companies. They, too, were trained men,
and keen eyes among their officers caught sight of the armed dark line
before the warehouse. The voice of the trumpet suddenly pealed forth
again, and now it was loud and menacing.
"It's the charge!" cried Sherburne, "and I can see that they're all you
said, Kenton! A magnificent body, truly! Ready, men! Ready! For
God's sake don't fire too soon! Wait for the word! Wait for the word!"
He was all the leader now, and in the excitement of the moment McGee
did not notice it. The superior mind, the one keen to see and to act, was

in control.
"Here, Kenton!" cried Sherburne, "hold back these recruits! My own
men will do exactly as I say!"
Harry ran along the infantry line, and here and there he knocked down
rifles which were raised already, although the enemy was yet three
hundred yards away. But he saw a figure in front of the charging
horsemen wave a sword. Then the trumpet blew another call, short but
fierce and menacing, and the ground thundered as nearly a thousand
horsemen swept forward, uttering a tremendous shout, their sabers
flashing in the moonlight.
Harry felt a moment of admiration and then another moment of pity.
These men, charging so grandly, did not know that the defenders had
been reinforced. Nor did they know that they rode straight to what was
swift and sudden death for many of them.
It was hard to stand steady and not pull the trigger, while that line of
flashing steel galloped upon them, but the dismounted cavalrymen
looked to their leader for commands, and the officer held the infantry.
Harry's moment of admiration and pity passed. These were soldiers
coming to defeat and destroy, and it was his business to help prevent it.
His own pulse of battle began to beat hard.
That front of steel, spread wide across the open, was within two
hundred yards now! Then a hundred and fifty! Then a hundred! Then
less, and fierce and sharp like the crack of a rifle came Captain
Sherburne's command: "Fire!"
Four hundred rifles leaped to the shoulder and four hundred fingers
pressed trigger so close together that four hundred rifles sang together
as one. The charge halted in its tracks. The entire front rank was shot
away. Horses and men went down together, and the horses uttered
neighs of pain, far more terrific than the groans of the wounded men.
Many of them, riderless, galloped up and down between the lines.
But the splendid horsemen behind came on again, after the momentary

stop. Half of them armed with short carbines sent a volley at the
defenders, who were shoving in cartridges in frantic haste, and the
swordsmen galloped straight upon the Virginians.
Harry saw a great saber flashing directly in his face. It was wielded by
a man on a powerful horse that seemed wild with the battle fever. The
horse, at the moment, was more terrible than his rider. His mouth was
dripping with foam, and his lips were curled back from his cruel, white
teeth. His eyes, large and shot with blood, were like those of some huge,
carnivorous animal.
The boy recoiled, more in fear of the horse than of the saber, and
snatching a heavy pistol from his belt, fired directly at the great
foam-flecked head. The horse crashed down, but his rider sprang clear
and retreated into the smoke. Almost at the same instant the defenders
had fired the second volley, and the charge was beaten back from their
very faces.
The Southerners at the war's opening had the advantage of an almost
universal familiarity with the rifle, and now they used it well.
Sherburne's two hundred men, always cool and steady, fired like
trained marksmen, and the others did almost as well. Most of them had
new rifles, using cartridges, and no cavalry on earth could stand before
such a fire.