But instead of saying come, it said: "Fall back! Fall back!" and the great clouds of smoke that had protected the Northern advance now covered the Northern retreat.
The firing had been so rapid and so heavy that the whole field in front of the fort was covered with smoke, through which they caught only the gleam of bayonets and glimpses of battle flags.

But they knew that the Northern troops were retiring, carrying with them their wounded, but leaving the dead behind.

Harry, excited and eager, was about to leap upon the crest of the earthwork, but Colonel Talbot sharply ordered him down.
"You'd be killed inside of a minute!" he cried.

"Carrington is out there with the guns! As soon as their troops are far enough back he'll open on us with the cannon, and he'll rake this fort like a hurricane beating upon a forest.

Only the earthworks will protect us from certain destruction." He sent the order, fierce and sharp, along the line, for every one to keep under cover, and there was ample proof soon that he knew his man.
The Northern infantry had retired and the smoke in front was beginning to lift, when the figure of a tall man in blue appeared on a hillock at the edge of the forest.