"Awful! awful!" moaned the girl.
"Oh! if Madison is meeting that onset!" shrieked Mrs. Whately,
beside herself with horror, yet compelled to look by a terrible
fascination.
Just as the two opposing forces dashed together a bolt of lightning
gleamed over them, turning the upraised sabres for an instant into
swords of fire. The crash of thunder followed so swiftly that it
appeared to result from the impact of the two charging lines. An
impression of annihilation was given, but so far was it from being
realized, that the slope was seen to be alive with a struggling,
seething mass, waving back and forth, at first downward, then
stationary, then gradually upward, upward, until Mr. Baron shouted,
"Hurrah! our men are carrying the ridge!"
The cry was scarcely uttered before another dark line of horsemen on
the far right was seen galloping forward toward the Confederate
flank. Again there was another vivid flash, lighting up the scene
with a lurid, momentary glare. The peal which followed created the
illusion of sounding this new charge or else to be the thunder of
the onset.
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