Along a line of miles the fires burned and the men crowded about them.

But Dick, who had been working on the snowy plain that was the battlefield, and who had heard many moans there, now heard none.

All who lay in that space were sleeping the common sleep of death, their bodies frozen stiff and hard under the snow.
Dick, sitting by one of the fires, saw the cold dawn come, and in those chill hours of nervous exhaustion he lost hope for a moment or two.
How could anybody, no matter how resolute, maintain a siege without ammunition and without food.

But he spoke cheerfully to Pennington and Warner, who had slept a little and who were just awakening.
The pale and wintry sun showed the defiant Stars and Bars floating over Donelson, and Dick from his hill could see men moving inside the earthworks.

Certainly the Southern flags had a right to wave defiance at the besieging army, which was now slowly and painfully rising from the snow, and lighting the fires anew.
"Well, what's the program today, Dick ?" asked Pennington.
"I don't know, but it's quite certain that we won't attempt another assault.