"
"We are," said Dick. Then he rubbed his head as if some sudden thought
had occurred to him.
"What is it, Dick?" asked Warner.
"I've realized all at once that I'm tremendously hungry. The
Confederates broke up our breakfast. We never had time to think of
dinner, and now its nothing to eat."
"Me, too," said Pennington. "If you were to hit me in the stomach I'd
give back a hollow sound like a drum. Why don't somebody ring the
supper bell?"
But fires were soon lighted along their whole front, and provisions were
brought up from the rear and from the steamers. The soldiers, feeling
their strength returning, ate ravenously. They also talked much of
the battle. Many of them were yet under the influence of hysterical
excitement. They told extraordinary stories of the things they had seen
and done, and they believed all they told were true. They ate fiercely,
at first almost like wolves, but after a while they resolved into their
true state as amiable young human beings and were ashamed of themselves.
All the while Buell's army of the Ohio was passing over the river and
joining Grant's army of the Tennessee. Regiment after regiment and
brigade after brigade crossed. The guns that Nelson had been forced to
leave behind were also brought up and were taken over with the other
batteries. While the shattered remnants of the army of the Tennessee
were resting, the fresh army of the Ohio was marching by it in the late
hours of the night in order to face the Southern foe in the morning.
Pages:
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325