Mounted officers poked up out of the advancing mass, lone and remote. There was a faint scattering of fire down along the Emmetsburg road—from Codoris’ and Niedes’ yards. Bale thought, That can’t be Uncle Otto shooting at them; probably the whole family’s run away. They should have … little blue morsels behind every rock and fence corner, and toy puffs of smoke marking them. The dirt color fell wider, wider, spreading, spreading, you could see lines: three immense billows of dust and steel-shine, filling the dish of the valley from Sherfys’ all the way up past the Bliss place.

They’ll get it on the left. Naw, it’s coming this way. The devil you say—it’s coming all along. Must be their whole army. Suddenly a man wheeled away from the wall and started toward the rear, his gun hung loosely from his hand. He kept looking over his shoulder. “Come on back,” several voices yelled. Captain Ballou sprinted after the man. He cried, “What do you mean?” The soldier began to sob … only a youngster, someone grunted … He crouched, whirled, and raced back to the wall once more. Over by the copse they were crying, Get some rails on top of that wall. Pile it up, Appleton, pile it up … brown swarm had legs; it was all men as it flowed toward the road, but you would never have known it before.

Blue morsels oozed in retreat, firing back as they came up the field from the highway. The last dirty wave was well out of the groves across the valley. Anxious cannon started in to the right and left: Gom—g-g-gom, and bursts of white and gold appeared in the middle of the swarm. They came on, seriously and steadily. A tiny, mounted figure fell from its horse, the horse stood motionless, the sea came past, vermillion flags and all. They began to make a sound. That Noise, Bale said. His finger-nails bent against the stones where he stood, watching. It was a wind, a gusty sighing that gained volume and shrillness as it trampled ahead. The colored flags, blue and rosy alike, bowed and nodded. The dust of exploding shells was thicker across them. Whoooooooo.