Rally Cry Read Online Free PDF

horses," O'Donald said sadly. "We brought along enough for two guns and a caisson—the rest went on another ship. Most of them will have to be destroyed, or are already dead. I checked your horse, sir—he made it through all right."
    The tearful remorse in the major's voice was rather a strange paradox coming from a man with his reputation.
    "Your field glasses, sir," Hawthorne cried, near breathless as he raced up to Andrew's side.
    Andrew brought them up and focused.
    "Well, that is the damnedest," he whispered softly.
    If this was reb cavalry, then they sure as hell were scraping the bottom. The man wore a beard that came near to his waist, with long shaggy hair curling down past his shoulders, and which, even more curious, was topped by what appeared to be a conical iron helmet. His dirty white tunic, which looked as if it had a high clerical collar to it, was buttoned off to one side.
    The man didn't even have boots; his lower legs were covered with rags, wrapped cross-hatched with strips of leather. And Hawthorne was right—the man was indeed carrying a spear.
    In front of Petersburg he saw deserters coming in almost daily, but at least they still were carrying guns and had a semblance of a uniform.
    Andrew handed the field glasses to O'Donald, who started to laugh.
    "Faith and upon my soul! So there is the vaunted reb cavalry."
    As if realizing he was being watched, the lone horseman turned his horse about, and kicking it into a trot he disappeared from view.
    "Old men and children in the trenches, and now cavalry carrying spears on draft horses. Won't those poor sots ever give up?"
    Still laughing, he handed the field glasses back.
    "He might look comical, major, but this could prove serious."
    "And how so?"
    "Those low hills there. Whatever it was you were laughing at could be going to get help right now. If they have a single section of artillery handy, all they need do is position themselves up there and shell us into surrender."
    O'Donald fell silent and turned to look back down the deck.
    "Too much of a cant here to deploy my guns to respond."
    "Exactly," Andrew replied. "We'd better get my men ashore immediately and dig in. Get your men moving and bring those Napoleon field pieces of yours topside. That lifeboat there should be enough to ferry them ashore."
    Andrew looked back to where Vincent still stood.
    "Son, you'd better help me on with that sword," he said softly.
    "Colonel, with the captain's compliments he wants you back aboard ship."
    "Damn it all, what now?" Andrew turned on the messenger and saw that it was Bullfinch, the young ensign who had first led him aboard ship.
    "I'm sorry, sir, but the captain did not confide that in me," the boy said meekly.
    "All right. Just give me a minute."
    Andrew quickly surveyed the ground around him. One thing could certainly be said for the men of his regiment— six months of siege work in front of Petersburg had taught them how to dig. A triangular outworks forming a perimeter a hundred yards across at the base was already laid out in the dark loamy soil. It was already several feet deep on the two sides facing inland. O'Donald's men were finished with the first gun emplacement, commanding the apex of the line, and were now turning their attention to flanking position. One twelve-pound Napoleon had already been ferried out and emplaced. Looking back to the ship, he could see that the second weapon was being lowered over the side.
    It must have been one hell of a wave that pushed them this far in, Andrew thought, as he looked at the damaged hull resting in less than ten feet of water. Even as a nonsailor Andrew had realized another curious fact about the place they had come to rest: there was no tide.
    And there was the question of the sun. His timepiece was useless after the soaking the storm had given it, but somehow the day had seemed awfully damn short. Besides that, from the ship's compass the shoreline ran due east to west, and he could recall no such