Cold food was given to them, and they ate it hastily.

But they fondled their rifles and muskets, and turned their faces toward the point where the Northern army lay, and from which no sound came.
Dick shivered all over.

His head burned and his nerves throbbed.

Too late now! He had hoped all through the long night that something would happen to carry a warning to that unsuspecting army.

Nothing had happened, and in five minutes the attack would begin.
He stood up at his full height and sought to pierce with his eyes the foliage in front of him, but the massed ranks of the Southerners now stood between, and the batteries were wheeling into line.
A great throb and murmur ran through the forest.