Oleah Tompkins and many others of the company had on more than one occasion shown superior courage, and the raw troops, with very few exceptions, promised excellent behavior on this occasion.
Corporal Diggs was there; he had fastened January to a small tree, near a stump that would enable him to mount. Mr. Diggs was very cool on this occasion. He sat behind a tree, his gun across his lap, and although he felt some uneasiness, yet, when he looked about him and saw the many strong, armed men standing in front of him in double ranks, he felt almost brave. Occasionally a shudder would pass through his frame, especially when he heard that the Yankees were in sight.
The roar of cannon shook the air, and a ball, whizzing through the tree-tops, just over the heads of Colonel Scrabble's raw troops, scattering leaves and clipping branches in its course, shivered a tree to splinters in the rear.
"Steady, boys!" shouted the colonel. "Never mind that. Don't fire till you get the word." But a few of the more nervous did fire.
"Steady!" cried the captains as they heard the shots.
"Steady!" repeated the file-closers in trembling tones.
"Stop that firing, you fools! Wait for the word," cried the enraged colonel, galloping furiously up and down the line.
"Steady!" said Corporal Diggs, in a hoarse whisper, lying flat on the ground behind his tree, the branches of which still trembled from the passage of the ball.
Soon a long line of blue coats could be seen on the opposite side of the small stream; fire belched from their guns, and a shower of leaden hail fell among the regiment of Colonel Scrabble.