pull the trigger also Slade was gone.

Now, the colonel called to his men, and rising they charged into the
wood. It was evidently no part of Slade's plan to risk destruction as he
blew a long high call on his whistle, and then he and all his men save
the dead melted away like shadows. The Winchesters stood among the trees,
gasping and staunching their wounds, but victorious.

Now they had only a few moments for rest. Bugles called and they rushed
back to their old position just as the Southern cavalry, sabers circling
aloft swept down upon them again. They went once more through that
terrible turmoil of fire and flashing steel, and a second time the
Winchesters were victorious. But they could have stood no more, and
Thomas watching everything hurried to their relief a regiment, which
formed up before them to give them breathing time.

The young soldiers threw themselves panting upon the ground, and were
assailed by a burning thirst. The canteens were soon emptied, and still
their lips and throats were parched. Exhausted by their tremendous
exertions, many of them sank into a stupor, although the battle was at
its zenith and the earth shook with the crash of the heavy batteries.

"General Thomas has had news that we're driven in elsewhere," said Dick.

"And we've yielded ground here, too," said Warner.

"But so slowly that it's been only a glacial movement. We've made 'em
pay such a high price that I think old 'Pap' can boast he has held his
ground."