In obedience to orders, Co. Q moved briskly out and deployed as skirmishers, covering the regimental front. As the line advanced through field and thicket Si Klegg's heart was not the only one that thumped against the blouse that covered it. It was not long till a squad of cavalrymen came galloping back, yelling that the rebels were just ahead. The line was halted for a few minutes; while the Generals swept the surrounding country with their field glasses and took in the situation. The skirmishers, for fear of accidents, took advantage of such cover as they could find. Si and Shorty found themselves to leeward of a large stump. "D'ye reckon a bullet 'd go through this 'ere stump?" said Si. Before Shorty could answer something else happened that absorbed their entire attention. For the time they didn't think of anything else. 'Boom-m-m-m!' "Great Scott! d'ye hear that?" said Si through his chattering teeth. "Yes, and there's somethin' comin' over this way," replied Shorty. A shell came screaming and swishing through the air. The young Hoosiers curled around the roots of that stump and flattened themselves out like a pair of griddle-cakes. If it was Si that the rebel gunners were after, they timed the shell to a second, for it burst with a loud bang just over them. The fragments flew all around, one striking the stump and others tearing up the dirt on every side. It Burst With a Loud 'bang.' 145 To say that for the moment those two soldiers were demoralized would be drawing it very mildly. They showed symptoms of a panic. It seemed as though they would be hopelessly stampeded. Their tongues were paralyzed, and they could only look silently into each other's white faces. Si was the first to recover himself, although it could hardly be expected that he could get over his scare all at once. "D-d-did it hit ye, Sh-Shorty?" he said. "N-no, I guess not; b-b-but ain't it aw-awful. Si? You look so bad I th- thought you was k-k-killed!" "Who's afeard?" said Si. "I was only skeered of you. Shorty. Brace up, now same's I do!" "Skirmishers—Forward!" was heard along the line. "Come on, Shorty!" said Si, and they plunged bravely ahead. Emerging suddenly from a thick wood, they came upon the rebel skirmishers in full view, posted on the opposite side of the field. Crack! Crack!—Zip! Zip! "Guess there's a bee-tree somewhere around here, from the way the bees are buzzin'," said Si. "'Taint no bees," replied Shorty; "it's a mighty sight worse'n that. Them's bullets, Si Don't ye see the dumed galoots over yonder a-shootin' at us?" Si was no coward, and he was determined to show that he wasn't. The shell a little while before had taken the starch out of him for a few minutes, but that was nothing to his discredit. Many a seasoned veteran found himself exceedingly limber under such circumstances. "Let's give the rascals a dose," said he; "the best we've got in stock!"