The wagon jerked and swayed as it bumped over the dryground.
Jack felt as though he were frying pan the hot sunlight. Dustfrom the road filled his throat and eyes.
The boom of cannons grew louder and louder. Jack heardpopping sounds, too, like the noise of firecrackers.
"What's that popping noise?" he shouted, blinded by the dustand sunlight.
"Musket fire!" said Clara.
Jack remembered that muskets were long, old-fashioned guns.
"What are those flashes?" asked Annie.
Jack tried to open his eyes and see what she was talkingabout.
He saw bright flashes of light in the distance and puffs ofsmoke in the sky.
"Cannon shells exploding," said Clara Bar-ton. "Shells are likesmall bombs. They have ruined much farmland." Jack squinted at the passing countryside. The ground wasfilled with ugly holes. Long ditches were also cut through thefields.
"Did the shells make those ditches, too?" he asked.
"No. Those are trenches the soldiers dug for a battle," Clarasaid. "Each side digs their own. Day after day, they sit in thetrenches, firing their muskets at one another."Jack tried to imagine how terrible it would be to sit in a trenchall day, waiting to be shot--or waiting to shoot someone else.
"We have to get some water," said Clara.
She drove the wagon to a narrow creek. A stream of waterflowed downhill, running over rocks.
The wagon came to a halt. Jack heard a whistling sound, thenanother.
"Keep low!" cried Clara.
"What's that?" Jack asked. "Cannon fire!" she said. Jack andAnnie crouched down in the driver's seat.
Jack felt a rush of panic. He pulled out their list. His handswere shaking as he read:
Be braveOh, great, he thought.
Another cannon shell whizzed overhead, then another.
The ground exploded over and over in flashes of light. Dirtclods flew everywhere. Clouds of smoke and more dust filled theair.
The horses neighed and whinnied.
Be brave! Jack thought. Be brave! |