"Don't be too enthusiastic, Jim," said Henry.
"I won't," replied Long Jim, "I'm cured."
Lower crouched the five, taking advantage of the bushes and little
hillocks, and sending a bullet every time they saw a flitting figure in
the forest in front of them. Behind them they could still hear the roar of
the combat on the river. The crackle of the rifles and the muskets was
steady in their ears, while now and then the note of a cannon boomed above
it, and a solid shot, curving over their heads, whizzed into the
thickets. But they paid little attention to the main battle; it was
merely a chorus, a background, as it were, for their own corner of the
struggle, which absorbed all their energies.
Their fire was so incessant, it was so well aimed, and it stung the allied
army so severely, that an increasing force was steadily concentrating in
front of them. Nor did they escape wholly unhurt. A bullet grazed Henry's
arm and another did the same for Shif'less Sol's shoulder; but neither
paid any attention to his wounds, loading and reloading, facing the enemy
with undiminished zeal and courage.
Its whole aspect was now a phantom battle to them all. The incessant crash
and roaring in their ears, and the smoke and vapor in their nostrils,
heated their brains and made everything look unreal.
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