The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-06-07

never witnessed yet.
Suddenly the cannonade ceases, and
then the air rings with the ear piercing
yell of the southern war cry, and the
northern soldiers see diInly through the
rolling smoke huge dark gray wave,
crested with glittering spray of bayo-
nets, come surging up the slope straight
toward their lines.
And now the Federal artillery speaks
out in its turn, and the sharp craclle of
small arms ningles with the thunder of
the cannon. Men fall at every step in
the ranks of the charging column, and
down goes Hood himself, struck by a
bullet; but the rush Of Longstreet's men
comes on unchecked, and bursts into
the foremost battery like waterfall
And, after that, all is like the whirl
of troubled dream. A wild vision of
fierce faces and tossing arms, half seen
through billowy smoke-a furious clam
or of mingled cries-a hot, sitting reek
of dust and gunpowder-a wild beast
longing to tear and kill, tingling to the
very finger tips of every man in the
melee.
The guns are tal1en--the defenders are
driven back-and then comes des-
perate rally, and the figure of ''Never-
die joe is seen for moment in the fore
front of the fight, whirling his dubbed
rifle round his head like fail, and
striking right and left with the strength
of giant. Then the pail of smoke
closes round him, and he is seen no more.
The men in gray press on-the men in
blue, stubbornly contesting every foot of
ground, are forced back step by step
when all at once a deep voiced shout
peals forth from the rear, and the dash
ing Hancock and his men come up at a
run to restore the fight. There is flash
of leaping fame through the smoke, like
lightning playing in cloud-a fierce,
short spasm of hand-to-hand battle--a
swaying to and fro of struggling masses
Of bluecoats and graycoats, like conflict
ing waves sand then the tide of assault
wavers, rolls back and GIBBS sullenly
away
'As sure as my names Bill Slocum,"
said one of two men who were going
over the battle field with lanterns few
hours later, ''we'n find him alive yet.
Don't ye remember how, at Chancellors-
vile, he was the only man left ont of
hull comp'ny? Seems to me, Mike. as
Deaths someways like a woman; when
you run arter him he fights shy and
slides OFF; but the minute You begin to
look as if you didn't care for his conp'ny,
up he comes right awayT
Its that I'D be glad to behave that
same" growled O'Reilly, .sbut didn't
see him fall wild my own two eyes?'
what of it," said Bill consolingly.
81 guess he was only wounded, anyhow.
You mustn't call any man dead, Mick,
till he's bin returned as stitch on the
fetal list O killed and wounded" 9
''Troth, it's aisy to talk" rejoined
Mike ruefully, "but hasn't many da-
cent bhoy thought himself only wounded
whin he was dead all the timer"
Bills broad laugh at this splendid
"bull" was suddenly checked by the
sight of Illinois Dicks mighty form
lying lifeless, with upturned face, upon
a heap of dead.
''Joe's bin true prophet, reckon.
He said either he or poor old Dick was
bound to die. Well, if Dicks dead, Joe
must be alive. and / guess he amt far
off, neither, for it was jist somewheres
round here as 1 seed him last. HeIlol
here's one reb Twin yet, anyway. How
do, johnny How dye feel2"
Kind o shaky, reckon" said the
southerner, with faint laugh.
"Thry dhrop O. this, me bhoy," cried
Mike, offering his canteen; It'll do yez
more good than amy medicine, bad luck
to that same dirty stuff Troth, twas
an illigant lick ye got" added he. eying
admiringly fearful cash on the fallen
mans head-"purty enough for ould
Donnybrook, amy day!''
''That's So" said the Confederate,
seemingly revived by his draught. 1.-THE
last lick he Civ wur the one l got, and
don't want to order no more at the same
store, tell yeri He wur tall Yank,
with smooth face that looked like
putty gal, and fit like forty wildcatsw
s'By thunder! that must ha' bin Joe
hisselfp cried Bill eagerly. "Say, john
ny, what becomed of him, anyway
dead, / reckon-and lucky for us,
too, else he'd ha' laid out our hull bat
TALON single handed. We hollered to
him to surrender when he wur left all
alone right in among us all; but it
warn't a mite O. use. He jist clinched
his teeth and kept hammerin' away with
his dubbed piece, same as if he wur
thrashin' corn, till at last Tom Wiley
he'd to shoot him jist tobe done with it."
"And here he is, cried Slocum, whose
keen eye had been scanning the sur
rounding corpses while the man was
speaking. 'Hellol what's this? Great
Scottl his hands warmi"
Warm, is it2 Hurroon shouted
O'Reilly, with true Tipperary yell.
Hes alive, thin--divil lessl Hurroor'
Steady, Mick, " said his cooler COM
rade; 'fwe want to handle him carefully,
you know, If he's badly hit. Hellol is
the feller's skin bullet proof? Here's
bah in his clothes as FIT as buckwheat
cakeI Show light, Mick"
O'Reilly held up the lantern, and the
marvel was at once explained
Hidden in the breast Of the soldiers
shirt was fiat metal case, which had
stopped the ball that would otherwise
have reached his heart. AS Bill touched