The rush of feet sounded behind. Lieutenant Prescott rushed to the rear, but soon waved his sword reassuringly. It was the balance of B Company advancing on the run.
Captain Cortland now took command in person. He ordered another rush forward toward C Company's position.
Three volleys were fired after the rush. The fire was not answered. A cautious advance developed the fact that the force of C Company men had retired, nor could the line of their flight be discovered. B Company halted for a few moments, that the men might clean their sooty rifle chambers.
"We didn't really see the enemy," Hal remarked, as he worked his cleaning rod and a bit of waste through his gun barrel.
"In warfare nowadays you rarely do see the enemy," remarked Sergeant Hupner. "Attacking an enemy's position, nowadays, is a good deal like taking a gun and going into a dark room where some one is shooting at you. You can't see the other fellow, but you have a mighty uncomfortable notion that he sees you and is shooting straight at you."
"Pleasant, when the game is real war," laughed Noll.
"Deadly, of course," commented Hupner.
Once again, late in the afternoon, C Company endeavored to ambush B Company. Captain Cortland's point and flankers, however, developed the enemy's position by drawing their fire. B Company, after a brisk fight of twenty minutes' duration, drove C Company back and continued to advance.
Despite the fact that no one had been really killed or wounded, most of the soldiers, who were serving their first enlistment, now found the game a wholly exciting one. When B Company halted, after the second engagement, the men fell into an eager discussion of the late engagement, the sergeants and other older men adding many comments out of their experiences in actual fighting.
"It leaves only real war to be desired," declared Hal, his cheeks glowing and his eyes snapping.