The Gatling Gun man, the Army and Navy Journal man,
and the assistant adjutant-general stepped to the windward a few yards
to be clear of the smoke. The range was given by the battery
commander--2600 yards; the objective was named, a small, almost
indistinguishable redoubt, below the hospital about 300 yards. The
cannoneers braced themselves, No. 3 stretched the lanyard taut on his
piece, and Grimes remarked, in a conversational tone, "Let her go."
The report of the field-piece burst with startling suddenness upon the
quiet summer morning, and a dense cloud of grayish-colored smoke
spurted from the muzzle of the gun. Everybody involuntarily jumped,
the sound was so startling, although expected. The piece recoiled
eight or ten feet, and the gunners jumped to the wheels and ran it
forward again into battery. Field-glasses were glued upon the vicinity
of the brick hospital. There was a puff of white smoke and an
exclamation, "A trifle too long!" The second piece was aimed and
fired. There was no response. The third, and fourth, and fifth, with
like results. It was like firing a salute on the Fourth of July. There
was no indication of any danger whatever; laugh and jest were
beginning to go round.
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