To the horror of the young soldier he saw that the chaplain was lifeless. The expression upon the face of the dead man was as peaceful as that of one who has fallen asleep in his own home.

The strange declaration which the chaplain had made, that he expected to fall in the fight into which he was about to enter, came back to Noel now and strongly impressed him. It was strange, he thought, that such a premonition should have taken hold upon a man who was so sane and thoughtful.

There was little time, however, for consideration of matters of sentiment. The struggle was not yet ended, and it was plain that the Confederates desperately were holding their ground.

Meanwhile the success which had been won stimulated the Union soldiers, and with shouts and shots they again pressed forward.

Not far before him Noel saw a line of men in gray who were loading and firing steadily, and soon afterward he saw the line begin to waver. Directly in front of his own regiment the men gave way, and several companies from the right pressed forward at one side and in this manner became separated from the regiment itself.

Looking hastily behind him, Noel saw that he and his companions were thirty or forty paces in advance of the main line and now were within twenty or thirty steps of the Confederate soldiers who were on their left. It was plain, too, that the Southern soldiers were not as yet aware of the approaching force.

In a brief time, however, they were dropping as grain falls before a sickle. As Noel watched them a great wave of pity rushed over him. He saw that they were falling by scores.

Suddenly, at the extreme end of the line, he saw a tall man in gray hastily loading his gun. There was no regular command to fire now, and instantly, hardly daring to hope that he was in time, Noel raised his gun to his shoulder and fired. He saw the soldier pitch forward and fall into a crevice between the rocks.

Unable to stop, step by step Noel Curtis with his companions pushed up the steep side of the mountain. It was a marvelous sight to see the determination of the boys in blue and the steady resistance which their opponents offered in such a place.

There was a halt made soon, and then Noel ran swiftly to the place where he had seen the man, at whom he had fired, fall.

When the young soldier arrived at the crevice, he saw the wounded soldier sitting erect, and somehow a feeling of gratitude swept over Noel's heart that the man was not dead.

"Are you wounded?" he inquired hastily, as he stopped a moment.

Without speaking the man mournfully nodded his head in reply. Noel saw that there was a wound in the neck of the soldier and also one in his arm.

"Same bullet," said the Confederate briefly. "I was just ramming a bullet home and had my arm reaching out this way." As he spoke, he rose to his feet and Noel was delighted to find that he was able to walk.

"You understand," said Noel, "that you are a prisoner?"

"I reckon I do," said the Confederate.

"I'll find some one to take charge of you and take you to the rear, where you will be out of danger and where the surgeon can attend to you."

"That's good of you. I reckon you don't know who I am."

The man's face was discolored by smoke and powder, but as he spoke Noel instantly recognized him as the husband of Sairy Ann's sister.

There was no time, however, for further conversation, and as soon as he saw that the prisoner had been placed in charge of one of the boys, Noel threw himself upon the ground and crawled back among the rocks to a position where he was about fifteen paces in advance of his company. His intention now was to act as a sharpshooter, although he had received no orders to that effect.

Cocking his gun he rose abruptly from his position behind the rock, and there, directly in front of him and not ten paces away, he beheld a grim rebel just bringing his gun to aim. His dark eyes seemed to flash fire as they scowled fiercely from beneath the broad brim of a large, ugly hat. He was aiming directly at the young soldier, too, and there was slight chance of escape.

It was impossible for Noel to take careful aim under such circumstances. More quickly than ever before he brought his gun to his shoulder and blazed away, as it seemed to him almost at random, and then dropped instantly behind the protecting rock. He hardly dared to breathe during the excitement. Every part of a second seemed like a long time. There was a fear that the fire of the rebel would reach him before he could gain the protection of the rock, and, just as Noel dropped, the bullet tipped the edge of the stone above his head.

Step by step the enemy now were retiring. Without venturing from the position of safety which he had found, Noel waited until his line advanced.

The enemy still were falling back and the boys in blue still pressed steadily forward. More prisoners were secured and were regularly being conducted to the rear. The bodies of those who had fallen and the wounded were lying among the rocks.

For the first time Noel became aware that night was almost at an end. A feeling of indescribable weariness swept over him. Even the bodies of the fallen men, some of which were within ten feet of the place where he was standing, seemed to be vague and unreal.

The hospitals had been established about halfway down the hill. To them the wounded wherever they were found were still being carried. Gradually the sound of the guns off to the left had been dying away. Ricketts's men were holding the fence, while the regiment in the midst of which Noel Curtis and Dennis had been struggling was resting on its arms. No mounted orderlies could be found, as they had all been withdrawn to other parts of the army. Such horses as were left were secured by being tied to the trees.

After the necessary dispositions for the night had been made, the men, wrapped in their cloaks or having donned their heavier coats, in utter weariness threw themselves upon the ground.

Noel was far from feeling easy in his mind. With his comrades he was fearful that the enemy might make a night attack and was afraid of what might follow in the darkness and confusion.

The issue of the battle on the left was still uncertain and with this feeling of uneasiness still prevalent throughout the regiment the men sought to rest.

In spite of the excitement through which they had passed and in spite of the near-by presence of the dead, not many minutes elapsed before everything was forgotten and every man was asleep.

Awake early the following morning, Noel was surprised to find that his nearest sleeping comrade was Dennis. He had seen but little of the young Irishman thus far in the engagement and, indeed, he had seldom thought of his friend.

Discovering that Dennis was awake, Noel in a low voice said to him, "Dennis, how is it that any of us are left alive?"

"Indade, 'tis a wonder," answered Dennis.

"Not so great, after all," remarked another soldier who was lying near the boys and had heard Noel's question. "The waste of ammunition in a battle is something marvelous. Our colonel told us that it takes almost a man's weight in lead to kill one soldier."

"It doesn't seem so," said Noel thoughtfully, "when you hear the volleys shrieking above your head or flying close to your ears, and when men, all excited and anxious, are trying to fire just as fast as they are able. It doesn't seem possible that so many can come alive out of a fight."

"You must not forget," said the soldier, "that most of the men make no pretense at taking aim."

"And I guess," suggested Dennis, "that most of them don't. They act like they were aiming at nothin' and trying to hit it."

"It is strange," said Noel, "how still the wounded men were. I didn't hear many who were groaning or making any cry. The most of them were either limping off, or being carried to the rear, or they were lying down where they fell, all quiet and still."

"The worst shock I got," suggested Dennis, "was when I stumbled over the bodies of some of the dead boys. That shook my nerves and made me tremble like a leaf."

By this time the army was stirring once more and preparations for the approaching day were being made. The great matter for rejoicing with Noel and Dennis was the fact that there had been no attack by the enemy during the preceding night.

Hasty arrangements were made for the burial of the dead. The young soldier was marvelously impressed by the peaceful expression of most of the upturned faces which he saw.

The first question among the living, however, was, "Where is the enemy?"

In front of the fence which General Ricketts's troops were still holding there was no sign of the Confederates. Indeed, a strange, almost unnatural, silence rested over the entire region. The little stretch between the men and the cornfield seemed to be entirely free from the presence of soldiers. There was a slight mist resting on the mountain-side and through this could be dimly seen the fallen dead of the enemy.

With others Noel had been designated to care for the bodies of his comrades who had been killed in the fight. As he was moving about among the rocks and stumps, suddenly, a slight, boyish form without any weapon and clad in the customary gray uniform of the Confederate soldiers, was seen by Noel kneeling over the body of a fallen man. To his inexpressible horror Noel saw that the man was using his knife and trying to remove a ring from the finger of the dead soldier.

Startled by the approach of Noel, the man suddenly looked up, and, instantly rising, said quickly, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot me! I vas your prisoner."

The feeling of rage and disgust which had seized upon Noel's heart quickly gave way when to his surprise he saw that the approaching man was none other than the little sutler, Levi Kadoff.