The young lieutenant sprinted like a deer for the locomotive. The remaining line peeled off one pony at a time, trotting behind their mates toward the train, shepherded by sergeants and corporals. Not all of them made it as the unit's increasing vulnerability began to tell. Without orders some of the boarded soldiers took up firing as best they could from the boxcars' open doorways. Their greater height above the ground helped, but the angles were bad.