There was no time for any one in the Southern army to
bother about him.
Then he understood too, that he was free. The whole Orphan Brigade
had passed on into the red heart of the battle, and had left him there
alone. Now his mind leaped out of its paralysis. All his senses became
alert. In that vast whirlwind of fire and smoke no one would notice
that a single youth was stealing through the forest in an effort to
rejoin his own people.
Action followed swift upon thought. He curved about in the woods and
then ran rapidly toward the point where the fire seemed thinnest.
He did not check his pace until he had gone at least a mile. Then he
paused to see if he could tell how the battle was going. Its roar
seemed louder than ever in his ears, and in front of him was a vast red
line, which extended an unseen distance through the forest. Now and
then the wild and thrilling rebel yell rose above the roar of cannon
and the crash of rifles.
Dick saw with a sinking of the heart--and yet he had known that it would
be so--that the red line of flame had moved deeper into the heart of the
Northern camp. It had passed the Northern outposts and, at many points,
it had swept over the Northern center. He feared that there was but a
huddled and confused mass beyond it.
He saw something lying at his feet. It was a Confederate military cloak
which some officer had cast off as he rushed to the charge. He picked
it up, threw it about his own shoulders, and then tossed away his cap.
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