Читать книгу The Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald онлайн

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Five minutes later a column of men from the 3rd Virginia burst out from the woods and ran toward the house. A galling fire broke out from the Federal lines and many a brave man fell, among whom was their leader, a young lieutenant. Jack Sanderson sprang to the front and waving his gun encouraged the men onward. Halfway between the Confederate lines and the house was a small mound, and behind this the men threw themselves to get a minute’s respite.

A minute later a figure sprang up and ran toward the house, and before the Union troops saw him he was halfway across the bullet-swept clearing. Then the Federal fire was directed at him. He staggered for a moment and placed his hand to his forehead. On he ran and reaching the house he quickly opened the door and went inside. A minute later a pillar of flame shot out of the windows of the house and almost immediately afterwards the Federal occupants were in full flight. A long cheer rolled along the Confederate lines and then the word was given to charge and they charged sweeping all before them. That night the searchers wended their way to the half-burned house. There on the floor, beside the mattress he had set on fire, lay the body of he who had once been John Sanderson, private, 3rd Virginia. He had paid his debt.