They are to
meet the attack there on the hill, where our troops are wavering!"
Dick, aflame with excitement, leaped into the saddle, and while the roar
of battle was still in his ears reached the brigade of Carter, already
marching toward the thick of the conflict. One entire regiment,
composed wholly of Kentuckians, was detached to help the Indiana troops
who were being driven fiercely by Zollicoffer.
Dick rode at the head of the Kentuckians, but a bullet struck his horse
in the chest. The boy felt the animal shiver beneath him, and he leaped
clear just in time, the horse falling heavily and lying quite still.
But Dick alighted on his feet, and still brandishing his sword, and
shouting at the top of his voice, ran on.
In an instant they reached the Indiana troops, who turned with them,
and the combined forces hurled themselves upon the enemy. The
Southerners, refusing to yield the ground they had gained, received them,
and there began a confused and terrible combat, shoulder to shoulder and
hand to hand. Elsewhere the battle continued, but here it raged the
fiercest. Both commanders knew that they were to win or lose upon this
hill, and they poured in fresh troops who swelled the area of conflict
and deepened its intensity.
Dick saw Warner by his side, but he did not know how he had come there,
and just beyond him the thick and powerful figure of Sergeant Whitley
showed through the hot haze of smoke.
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