Isaac had not, like many others, thrown his canteen away, and he gave freely to the thirsty George, who, with each draught, felt his pulse grow stronger, while his eyes kindled with fresh zeal as the noise of the battle grew louder, and seemed to be coming nearer. The onslaught was terrible now. Cannon after cannon belched forth its terrific thunder, ball after ball sped on its deadly track, battery after battery opened its blazing fire, shell after shell cut the summer air, and burst with murderous hiss; shout after shout rent the smoky sky, shriek after shriek went down with the rushing wind, officer after officer bit the dust, rank after rank was broken up, soul after soul went to the bar of God, and then there came a pause. The firing ceased, the stifling smoke rolled gradually away, and showed a dreadful sight,—men mutilated and torn, till not a vestige of their former looks was left to tell who they had been. Mingled together, in one frightful mass, the dead and dying lay, smiles wreathing the livid lips of some, and frowns disfiguring others. Arms, hands, and feet, heads, fingers, toes, and clots of human hair, dripping red with blood, were scattered over the field,—parts of the living mass we saw but a few hours agone moving on so hopefully beneath the morning moonlight, “Like leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,” they lay there now, their mangled remains crying loudly to Heaven for vengeance on the heads of those who brought this curse upon us. CHAPTER VIII. THE RETREAT. The day was ours, nobly won with sweat and toil and blood, and the brave men who won it were thinking of the laurels so laboriously earned, when suddenly the entire scale was turned, and ere they knew what they were doing, the tired, jaded troops found themselves rushing headlong from the battle-field, never so much as casting a backward glance, but each striving to out-run the other, and so escape from they knew not what! How that panic happened no one can tell. Some charged it to the reckless conduct of a band of Regulars sent back for ammunition, and others upon the idle lookers on, the curious ones, who had come “to see the Rebels whipped,” and who at the first intimation of defeat joined in the general stampede, making the confusion worse, and adding greatly to the fright of the flying multitude. It was a strange retreat our soldiers made. All law and order were at an end, company mixed with company, regiment with regiment, and together they rushed headlong down the hill, many in their dismay fording the creek regardless of the shot and shell sent after them by the astonished foe, now really in pursuit.