I would advise that you wait a
short time. I will send you word when the time comes." The advice was
acted upon, the guns were turned out by the side of the road, and the
men directed to lie down.
[Illustration: Tree Between Lines Showing Bullet Holes. This Tree Grew
on Low Ground.]
During the gallop to the front they had been compelled to run to keep
up, there not being sufficient accommodation for them to all go
mounted on the guns. They were panting heavily, and they obeyed the
order and crept under the guns, taking advantage of such little shade
as was offered. Troops continued to pass to the front. The crackle of
musketry gradually extended to the right and to the left, showing that
the deployment was being completed. More men were hit, but no
complaints or groans were heard. A ball struck a limber-chest; a man
lying on his face in the road, during a momentary pause of one of the
companies, was perforated from head to foot: he never moved--just
continued to lie there; the flies began to buzz around the spot and
settle on the clotted blood, that poured out from the fractured skull,
in the dust of the road. Down at the ford, some twenty-five or thirty
yards in advance, men were being hit continually.
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