"Where are the Germans?" asked Alfred.
"Probably two miles beyond," was the reply.
"Why do they commence so soon?" inquired Ralph.
"The object is to throw an enemy into confusion as early as possible in an engagement, and endeavor to prevent formations of the troops."
"Do these guns carry that far?" inquired Alfred.
"Yes; they are now sending shrapnel; when——"
Roland's voice was submerged by a terrific explosion not a hundred feet away, and when they had time to recover they saw three men on the ground, lying quite still, while a half dozen or more were on the ground, and turning and twisting about. Then came several groans, and then the second explosion, like the first, but farther to the right.
The boys' face blanched. They did not know which way to go nor what to do. Then something happened which entirely changed their feelings. The two lines of infantry, lying behind the fences, not a hundred feet ahead, began to fire, setting up a terrific din which was punctuated by the shots from the batteries.
Then a new battery on their left began to take part, then another, but during all this time the infantry were pouring out a steady stream of hail. The boys stood petrified, at first, but the great din, the terrible confusion of sounds, the scattering debris, which appeared to fall about them, the staggering men, who were reeling about; all these things began to act like a tonic to them.
The greater the noise and confusion, the braver they became.