Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1896-05-16
CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER vi.
Yet all along that fateful ridge, now
obscured and confused with thin cross
ing smoke drifts from file firing, like
partly rubbed out slate pencil marks,
or else, when cleared of those drifts,
penetrating only an indistinguishable
map of zig-zag lines of struggling wag-
ons and horses, unintelligible to any
eye but his, the singular magnetism of
the chief was felt everywhere. Whether
it was shown in the quick closing in of
resistance to some sharper onset of the
enemy or the more logged stand of in
action under fire, his power was al
ways dominant. A word or two of,
comprehensive direction, sent through
an aid-de-camp, or the sudden relief of
his dark, watchful, composed face, up
lifted above a line of bayonets, never
failed in their magic. Like all born,
leaders, he seemed, in these emergen-i
cies, to hold charmed life, injecting his
followers with like disbelief in death.
Men dropped to right and left of him
with serene assurance in their CHASTITY
| faces or cry of life and confidence in
their last gasp. Stragglers fell in and
closed up under his passing glance; a
hopeless inextricable wrangle around an
overturned caisson, at turn of the
road, resolved itself into an orderly.
quiet, deliberate clearing away of the
impeachment, before the significant wait:
ing of that dark, silent horseman.
Yet under this imperturbable mask
ne was keenly conscious of everything;
u that apparent concentration there
was sharpening of all his senses and
his impressibility; he saw the first
trace OF doubt or alarm in the face of
a subaltern to whom he was giving an
order; the first touch of sluggishness
in a reforming line; the more sig
nificant clumsinesso of a living evolution
that he knew was clogged by the dead
bodies of comrades; the ominous ST.
lence of a breastwork; the awful inertia
of some rigidly kneeling files beyond,
which still kept their form but never
would move again; the melting away
of skirmish points; the sudden gaps
here and there; the sickening incurv-
| ing of what a moment before had been
straight line-all these he saw in
all their fatal significance. But even
at this moment, coming upon hasty
| barricade of overset commissary wag-
ons, he stopped to glance at familiar
| figure he had seen but an hour ago,
who now seemed to be commanding
group of collected stragglers and
camp followers. Mounted on wheel,
with a revolver in each hand and a
bowie knife between his teeth-the-
atrical even in this paroxysm of I'M
doubted courage lared Jim Hooker!
And Clarence Brant, with the whole re-
sponsibility of the field on his shout
ders, even at that desperate moment,
found himself recalling vivid picture
of the actor Hooker personating the
character of "Red Dick" in Resale,
the Prairie Flower" as he had seen
him in California theater five years
before!
1t wanted still an hour of the dark
ness that would probably close the fight
of that day. Could he hold out, keeping
his offensive position SO long? a hasty
council with his officers showed him
that the weakness of their position had
already infected them. They reminded
him that his line of retreat was still
open-that in the course of the night
the enemy, although still pressing to-
wards the division center, might yet
turn and outfank him-or that their
strangely delayed supports might come
up before morning. Brants glass,
however, remained fixed on the main
column still pursuing its way along
the ridge. 1t struck him suddenly,
however, that the steady current had
stopped, spread out along the crest on
both sides and was now at right angles
with its previous course. There had
been a check! The next moment the
thunder of guns along the whole hori-
zon and the rising cloud of smoke re-
vealed line of battle. The division
center was engaged. The opportunity
he had longed for had come-the des-
perate chance to throw himself on
their rear and cut his way through
the division-but it had come too late,
He looked at his shattered ranks
scarce a regiment remained. Even as
q demonstration attack would fail
against the enemy's superior numbers.
Nothing clearly was left to him now
but to remain where he was-within
supporting distance, and await the is
sue of the fight beyond. He was put
ting up his glass when the dull boom
of cannon in the extreme western limit
Of the horizon attracted his attention.
By ths stu cleaning sky he could see