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.
Harry again saw the flashing sabers more than once, and there was a vast turmoil of fire and smoke in front of him, but in a few minutes the trumpet sounded again, loud and clear over the crash of battle, and now it was calling to the men to come back.
The two forces broke apart.

The horsemen, save for the wounded and dead, retreated to the forest, and the defenders, victorious for the present, fired no more, while the wounded, who could, crawled away to shelter.
They reloaded their rifles and at first there was no exultation.

They barely had time to think of anything.

The impact had been so terrible and there had been such a blaze of firing that they were yet in a daze, and scarcely realized what had happened.
"Down, men! Down!" cried Captain Sherburne, as he ran along the line.
"They'll open fire from the wood!" All the defenders threw themselves upon the ground and lay there, much less exposed and also concealed partly.