Their ranks were searched by shot and shell, and the bullets
whizzed among them like a continuous swarm of hornets.
Dick was still unwounded, but so much smoke and vapor had drifted about
his face that he was compelled at times to rub his eyes that he might
see. He felt a certain dizziness, too, and he did not know whether the
incessant roaring in his ears came wholly from the cannon and rifle fire
or partly from the pounding of his blood.
"I feel that we are shaking," he shouted in the ears of Warner, who lay
next to him. "I'm afraid we're going to give ground."
"I feel it, too," Warner shouted back. "We've been here for hours,
but we're shot to pieces. Half of our men must be killed or wounded,
but how old Sherman fights!"
The Southern leaders brought up fresh troops and hurled them upon
Sherman. Again the combat was hand to hand, and to the right and left
the supports of the indomitable Northern general were being cut away.
Those brigades who had proved their mettle at Donelson, and who had
long stood fast, were attacked so violently that they gave way, and the
victors hurled themselves upon Sherman's flank.
Dick and his two young comrades perceived through the flame and smoke
the new attack. It seemed to Dick that they were being enclosed now by
the whole Southern army, and he felt a sense of suffocation. He was
dizzy from such a long and terrible strain and so much danger, and he
was not really more than half conscious.
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