A Daughter of the Union Part 11
He paused and waited for a few moments, but not a man stirred from his place.
"Then listen," he went on briskly. "We'll finish giving the Commodore his supplies, and then barricade the boat with bales of cotton. Under the protection of one of Davis's gunboats we will try to run the batteries under cover of the darkness. Now fall to, my hearties. There is much to be done."
There was another cheer and the men sprang to their tasks. The Captain looked down at the girl by his side. Jeanne's eyes were like stars, and her cheeks were red as roses. The blood of her Revolutionary ancestors was up and she showed no sign of fear.
"What will your father say if I do not bring you safely through this?"
asked the Captain.
"It is a risk that we must run," said Jeanne. "There is no more danger for me than for you and the men."
"True, child; yet we are men, and you are only a girl. I don't know just where you ought to stay through this affair. One part of the boat will be just as safe as another."
"Don't mind me, Captain. You will have your duties to attend to, and I will not bother if I am 'only a girl.'"
"Ah! that touched you, did it?" laughed the Captain. "But I do mind you, child. I don't half like this idea of your going. You are sure that you won't stay here?"
"Sure, Captain. Indeed, I must get to New Orleans, and there is no other way, is there?"
"No; to try to make it by land on either side the river would be through the enemy's country with every chance in favor of capture. This is a desperate risk but sometimes desperate chances stand the best show of success. Once past Vicksburg and the rest is easy."
"Then please don't say anything more about my staying," pleaded Jeanne. "I will try not to be the least bit in the way."
And so it came about that the transport made ready to run the batteries of Vicksburg with Jeanne on board. The girl watched the men as they worked, and waited impatiently for the time to come for them to start. At last night fell. There was no moon, and a little before midnight a gunboat drifted out of Miliken's Bend where the fleet lay, and, showing no light from its chimney, moved like some great bird down the noiseless current, while the transport, hugging the western sh.o.r.e under the cover of the friendly darkness, followed close in the rear.
No sound could be heard from the heights of Vicksburg, nor could any lights be seen. The city lay in the brooding darkness as calmly quiet as though no dread batteries lay at her feet waiting but the word of command to belch forth their terrible fire. An hour pa.s.sed, and Jeanne, sitting in the darkness of the cabin listening with strained ears to catch the least sound, began to believe that they would get safely past the city undiscovered.
Suddenly there came a flash followed by a crash that shook the sh.o.r.es.
Lights danced along the heights. Thunder answered thunder and the roar of batteries from land and water rent the air. Presently a blaze flickered, flashed and then sprang up in a great sheet of flame upon the heights throwing the gunboat and the transport into a strong light, and turning the gloom of the black midnight into the brilliancy of day.
The Confederates had fired a ma.s.s of combustibles with which to spy out the whereabouts of their enemies.
With the first burst of the artillery Jeanne ran up on deck.
"Back to the cabin, girl," shouted the Captain hoa.r.s.ely. "This is no place for you."
But as Jeanne turned to obey him a shot tore through the cabin and fell hissing into the water beyond. The girl paused. Captain Leathers caught her arm and drew her behind a bale of cotton.
"Stay there!" he panted. "You will be as safe as anywhere."
At this moment a terrible shape loomed out of the darkness making straight for the gunboat. A shout went up from the crews of the gunboat and the transport as the rebel ram Arkansas was recognized. Determined to make a grand effort to escape, Captain Leathers ordered all steam to be crowded on, thinking to run down the river while the gunboat engaged the ram.
The Gem responded n.o.bly to the appeal and her prow cut the waters until they rolled from her in one ma.s.s of foam. But the Captain's design was penetrated instantly by the enemy, and shot and sh.e.l.l sizzed through the air like hail. It seemed miraculous that the transport escaped being riddled.
Meantime the gunboat saw that the ram designed to run her down, and swinging round, welcomed the visitor with a full broadside. As the sound of the guns and their tremendous reverberations ran along the sh.o.r.e, the answer came in a terrific onslaught from the batteries above. Pandemonium seemed to have broken loose. Shot and sh.e.l.l whistled and sang through the air carrying death and desolation in their wake. Shouts and cries added to the confusion of the moment.
The ram, foiled in her first attempt to run down the Yankee, withdrew a short distance and turned again upon the boat. This time she got her sharp bow full in upon the heavy iron sides of the gunboat but her headway was not sufficient to cause any very serious damage. Before she could get away the Captain of the Yankee vessel rushed upon the hurricane deck and seizing a pistol shot the rebel pilot dead. The rebel crew retaliated by shooting him down. In the meantime the ram prepared for another blow, withdrawing for a terrific onslaught.
Just at this moment a sh.e.l.l struck the magazine of the plucky gunboat.
There was an instantaneous explosion and the boat was blown to atoms, her gallant crew perishing with her.
"We are doomed," groaned Captain Leathers. "Nothing can save us now. Are you ready to die, little girl?"
"Ready, Captain," came from Jeanne's pale lips, and she arose from her place behind the cotton. "But I want to die standing. I wish we could shoot, Captain."
"So do I. But we are at their mercy. It would be a relief to do something, but to die without a chance for a shot. Ah!"
The exclamation was caused by the fact that the light of the bonfires was dying down, and the transport was nearing the turn of the lower bend.
The shadows grew deeper and longer, and soon only a pale flickering flame remained of the brilliant light of a short time before. Then the blackness of night settled once more upon the river and a cheer broke from the crew as the transport rounded the lower bend of the great loop upon which Vicksburg stood, and pa.s.sed out from under the batteries of the modern Gibraltar.
"Will that terrible vessel come after us?" asked Jeanne hardly realizing that the danger was over.
"No, child. We are safe. The ram knows that Farragut is somewhere near here, and she will not venture out to-night. We are safe; thank G.o.d!"
"Thank G.o.d!" echoed the girl faintly. "Safe! Oh, Captain, Captain!" and she burst into a pa.s.sion of weeping.
"Why, my little heroine, what does this mean?" cried Captain Leathers dismayed. "You were cool enough through that fire of grape and canister.
'Ready to die,' you said; 'just so that you could die standing.' It was enough to frighten the bravest man, yet you were not afraid. And now you break down?"
"Leab her ter me, ma.s.sa," said old Tenny coming up on deck. "Jest you leab dat chile ter ole Tenny. Ef dis night ain't been enuff ter make an angel weep den I dunno nuffin. Lawsie, ma.s.sa! I'se been suah dat I wuz daid fer de las' hour. Fiah an' brimstone nebber scare me no mo'. De bad man ain't got no wuss ter gib dan dis has been, an' I knows it. Come, chile! Come, honey! Ole Tenny'll put yer ter bed now."
"Yes; that is the best place for her," said the Captain as the girl continued to sob uncontrollably. "I'll carry her down, Tenny, and you see to her."
He lifted Jeanne up bodily in his arms, and bore her into the cabin picking his way carefully through the debris scattered about.
"I--I can't help but cry," sobbed Jeanne with an effort at self-control.
"It's all right, my little girl. Cry all you want to. You are nervous and overwrought. I feel as if I'd like to do the same if I wasn't a man.
Sleep well because you are safe now, and you won't have any more of this to go through. Good-night."
"Good-night," murmured Jeanne and presently she grew calm under Tenny's soothing ministrations.
CHAPTER IX
JEANNE MEETS THE HERO OF NEW ORLEANS
It was late before Jeanne awoke the next morning. The sun was shining brightly and she lay idly watching the dancing of the sunbeams upon the wall scarcely realizing where she was. Presently it all came back to her, and a convulsive shudder shook her frame as she seemed to hear again the whistle of shot and sh.e.l.l, the cries of the wounded and the shrieks of the unhappy crew of the gunboat as it blew to atoms.
"How can the sun shine after all that has happened?" asked the girl with that wonder that comes to all of us when, after some great calamity, nature presents the same undisturbed aspect. "Oh, how can I ever laugh again!"
"Is you 'wake, honey?" queried old Tenny peering in at the door. "Ma.s.sa Cap'n say when it's 'venient fer yer he laik ter hab yer k.u.m ter see 'Miral Farragut."
"What! have we reached Commodore Farragut? He said 'Commodore' didn't he, Tenny?" inquired Jeanne, who did not know that Farragut had been recently made a rear admiral.
"No, honey; he said 'Miral, I'se suah," returned the negress.
Jeanne dressed quickly and then hastened to Captain Leathers.