noon
The body was quivering yet as they came on again ; and John , as he ran by , shouted to a sergeant to drag it off : for his own left hand hung powerless , and the colours encumbered his right . In front of him repeated charges had broken a sort of pathway through the abattis , swept indeed by an enfilading fire from two angles of the breastwork , slippery with blood and hampered with corpses ; but the grape-shot which had accounted for most of these no longer whistled along it , the French having run off their guns to the right to meet the capital attack of the Highlanders . Through it he forced his way , the pressure of the men behind lifting and bearing him forward whenever the ensign-staff for a moment impeded him . He noted that the leaves , which at noon had been green and sappy , with only a slight crumpling of their edges , were now grey and curled into tight scrolls , crackling as he brushed them aside . How long had the day lasted , then ? And would it ever end ? The vision of young Sagramore followed him .