Dalton spoke boldly, because he saw that Jackson was leading him on.
“The right spirit,” said Jackson quietly. “I see it throughout the army, and so long as it prevails we cannot lose.”
Then he turned his glasses again toward the river and paid them no further attention. Officers of greater age and much higher rank came near, but he ignored them also. His whole soul seemed to be absorbed in the searching examination that he was making of the river and the opposite shore. Harry and Dalton watched him a little while and then went back to the shelter of the ridge, where, sitting with their backs against the earth, they, too, took up the task of watching.
The earth was frozen hard now, but toward morning they saw the fog rising again.
“It will cover the river, the far shore, and what’s left of the town,” said Dalton, “but what do we care? They’ll be protected by it as they advance on the bridges, but they wouldn’t dare move through it to attack us here on the heights.”
“Here’s the dawn again,” said Harry. “I can see the ghost of the sun over there trying to break through, but as there’s no wind now the fog’s going to hang heavy and long.”
Breakfast was served once more to the waiting army on the heights, and then the youths in gray saw that the Union army, having let the night pass, was beginning to cross the river. When the dawn finally came many regiments were already over and the wheels of the heavy cannon were thundering on the bridges. But the Confederate army lay quiet on the heights, although before morning it had drawn itself in somewhat, shortening the lines and making itself more compact.
“Look how they pour over the bridges!” said Harry, who stood glass to eye. “They come in thousands and thousands, regiments, brigades and whole divisions. Why, George, it looks as if the whole North were swarming down upon us!”
“They’re a hundred and twenty thousand strong. We know that positively, and they’re as brave as anybody. But we’re eighty thousand strong, just sitting here on the heights and waiting. Harry, they’ll cross that river again soon, and when they go back they’ll be far less than a hundred and twenty thousand!”
He spoke with no sign of exultation. Instead it was the boding tone of an old prophet, rather than the sanguine voice of youth.
The fog deepened for a little while, and then some of the marching columns were hidden. Out of the mists and gloom came the quick music of many bands, playing the Northern brigades on to death. Then the fog lifted again, and along the heights ran the blaze of the Southern cannon as they sent shot and shell into the black masses of the Union troops crowding by Fredericksburg.
But as the echoes of the shots died away, Harry heard again the bands playing, and from the great Northern army below came mighty rolling cheers.
“The battle is here now, Harry,” said Dalton, “and this is the biggest army we’ve ever faced.”
The Union brigades, black in the somber winter dawn, seemed endless to Harry. From the point where he stood the advancing columns as they crossed the river looked almost solid. He knew that men must be falling, dead or wounded, beneath the fire of the Southern guns, but the living closed up so fast that he could not see any break in the lines.
“You can’t see any sign of hesitation there,” said Dalton. “The Northern generals may doubt and linger, but the men don’t when once they get the word. What a tremendous and thrilling sight! It may be wicked in me, Harry, but since there is a war and battles are being fought, I’m glad I’m here to see it.”
“So am I,” said Harry. “It’s something to feel that you’re at the heart of the biggest things going on in the world. Now we’ve lost ’em!”
His sudden exclamation was due to a shift of the wind, bringing back the fog again and covering the river, the town and the advancing Union army. The Confederate cannon then ceased firing, but Harry heard distinctly the sounds made by scores of thousands of men marching, that measured tread of countless feet, the beat of hoofs, the rumbling of cannon wheels over roads now frozen hard, and the music of many bands still playing. The thrill was all the keener when the great army became invisible in the fog, although the mighty hum and murmur of varied sounds proved that it was still marching there.