"I'm here, old Abe!"
"I'm glad—and sorry!" said Abe.
The company had halted, awaiting the movement of the troops in front.
"We are getting into a splendid position!" said Gray, who had passed through the undergrowth to reconnoitre. "We're fairly on their flank, and not discovered yet!"
"How far did you go?" asked Captain Edney.
"To the clearing, which is just there where the woods look lighter. I could see the guns of the battery blazing away, and rebels in the woods supporting it. They're too busy to notice us."
"We're discovered, though!" said Captain Edney as a bullet came chipping its way among the twigs above them.
"The sharpshooters are after us!" said Gray, gayly. "And now we're after them!"
The order was given to advance. The men dashed forward through the bushes. They soon made the clearing, and marching along its edge, opened fire by file upon the battery and the rebels in the woods.
"You do well, Frank!" said Atwater, seeing his young companion coolly loading and firing at his side.