Harry's horse was killed, as he sat near Lee, but he quickly obtained
another, and not long afterward he was sent with a second message to
Ewell. He rode on a long battle front, not far behind the lines, and he
shuddered with awe as he looked upon the titanic struggle. The smoke
was often so heavy and the bushes so thick that he could not see the
combatants, except when the flame of the firing or the burning trees
lighted up a segment of the circle.
Halfway to Ewell and he stopped when he saw two familiar figures, sitting
on a log. They were elderly men in uniforms riddled by bullets. The
right arm of one and the left leg of the other were tightly bandaged.
Their faces were very white and it was obvious that they were sitting
there, because they were not strong enough to stand.
Harry stopped. No message, no matter how important, could have kept him
from stopping.
"Colonel Talbot! Colonel St. Hilaire!" he cried.
"Yes, here we are, Harry," replied Colonel Leonidas Talbot in a voice,
thin but full of courage. "Hector has been shot through the leg and has
lost much blood, but I have bound up his wound, and he has done as much
for my arm, which has been bored through from side to side by a bullet,
which must have been as large as my fist.
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